Poptech - Collaboration

Collaboration

Philip E. Bourne UC San Diego

[email protected]

PopTech Aug 5, 2011 1

What is Collaboration?

• To me it is one of those nebulous things, like “reputation” and “scholarly output” that are important to a scientific career but hard to define

• What follows are a few somewhat random thoughts and experiences around collaboration that we can use to seed a discussion


There Are the Official Definitions…

collaboration (kəˌlæbəˌreɪʃən)

— n (often foll by on, with, etc )

1.the act of working with another or others on a joint project

2. something created by working jointly with another or others

From the World English DictionaryPopTech Aug 5, 2011 3

Then There is This Definition …

collaboration

From 1860, noun of action from collaborate

In a bad sense, "tratorious cooperation with an occupying enemy," it is recorded from 1940; earliest references are to the Vichy Government of France.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper


I Like These Definitions Since They Express Both the Positive and

Negative Aspects of Collaboration Which We Will Explore a Bit..


The Mechanics: Ten Simple Rules for a Successful Collaboration

1. Select collaborations carefully

2. Set the ground rules before you start

3. Do what you said you would do

4. Be open and honest

5. Feel respect; get respect

6. Communicate, communicate, communicate

7. Protect yourself from souring

8. Always acknowledge and cite collaborators

9. Seek advice from those more experienced

10. Keep a good thing going

Vicens & Bourne PLoS Comp Biol 2007 3(3) e44 PopTech Aug 5, 2011 6

The Mechanics Are Important, but Somewhat Self Evident

Can Collaboration Take Us from Being Good to Great?

The Average Scientist Would Seem to Think So Based on the Trends


What Are the Global Trends Towards Collaboration?

Source www.vadlo.com

Source Lars Jensen

# active authors doubles every 17 years # papers doubles every 22 years

# of co-authors per paper doubles every 33 years# papers co-authored doubles every 63 years


What Are the Individual Trends Towards Collaboration?

Gerwick

Source: http://pubnet.gersteinlab.org/

• Both UC Professors IX• Approximate same number of papers, H-index• Different topologies Bourne

• Gerwick more nodes (collaborators)• Both predominant edges; Bourne some thicker edges• Bourne “tripartite” authoring strong


Trends: Erdős Number

• My number is 3 – True or False?

Source: Microsoft Academic Searchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdős_number

False:Pictures do not match people I know


Trends: Lets Not Blame Microsoft –Others Are Not Better

http://www.researcherid.com/

http://www.biomedexperts.comhttp://www.scholar.google.com


Thoughts Thus Far?

• We are increasingly obsessed with measuring ourselves?

• Why? Advancement has come to demand it

• We rely on qualitative metrics to measure a quantitative activity

• Collaboration is at this time an implicit part of the metrics we use – will it ever become explicit?


Towards Quantification


A Unique Identifier is Going to Happen

• It is DOIs for people

• Some scientists will resist

• The winner is ORCID?

I an Not a Scientist I am a NumberPLoS Comp. Biol. 2008 4(12) e1000247PopTech Aug 5, 2011 14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29JewlGsYxs&feature=related

With All Aspects of Our Scholarship Identified Opportunities for Collaboration Are Broadened

I an Not a Scientist I am a NumberPLoS Comp. Biol. 2008 4(12) e1000247


With More Aspects of Scholarship Being Tagged, Collaborations Can Start in More Ways both Manual

and Automated


Ways Collaborations Start / Might Start

• Proximity• Read my papers• Conferences• Known expertise• Shared infrastructure• Third party – students in particular• Shared ideas• Shared data• Shared protocols (including software)• ePosters• Other shared research objects


eScience Facilitates Collaboration at all Stages of the Research Enterprise

Scientist

Idea

Experiment

Data

Conclusions

Publish 18PopTech Aug 5, 2011

Consider a Couple of Examples


The Protein Data Bank – Amazon Model

• We know usage trends

• If you looked at these two structures most likely you are interested in this one…

• We don’t do this right now


The Protein Data Bank

• We allow structural annotations but we do not invite collaboration around these data objects


There Are Other Types of Research Objects Through Which Providers

Can Enable Collaboration


Products

ApplicationProduct Primary Customers

Journals PubCast Journals, publishers, societies

Meetings PosterCast Societies, conference orgs.SlideCast

Comm. PaperCast Societies, journalsPodcastSlideCast

Education PosterCast Societies, universitiesSlideCast

Books BookCast Publishers, book sellers

Posters, Slides, Journal Clubs


Findings From Our Own Experiences

• Collaboration is occurring within a community but not across communities

• Will only happen if there is a recognizable reward

• The tools to foster collaboration are not yet good enough but are evolving

• Today serendipitous discovery does not happen across the literature let alone across other research objects


Tools Start with Research Object Management and Accessibility

Taverna


Changes in Why and How We Collaborate Will Depend Very Much

on the Elephant in the Room


"tratorious cooperation with an occupying enemy”

• R01 grants were cut $300,000,000 for FY2008 despite a budget $1.5 billion higher than in FY2004

• In the post-doubling era (FY2003-2008) the NIH budget increased by $2.8 billion, and only 3% of that increase was allocated to the R01 program


"tratorious cooperation with an occupying enemy"

• On the other hand ….

• Glue grants seem to be going out of favor

• CaBIG is a thing of the past

• Go figure!


Can Collaboration Take Us From Being Good To Great?

• Yes - if we work with people smarter than us

• Yes – if done judiciously

• Yes – if we are all part of maximizing the use of our own research objects

• Yes - if we learn to effectively utilize the increasing number of collaborative tools

• Yes – if we use the right funding opportunities and the funding bodies are smart
