Research collaboration
Collaboration is the defining theme of eResearch.
New collaborative software tools, high-speed networks and emerging grid technologies facilitate communication and the sharing of resources and knowledge between geographically dispersed groups.
By offering improved, easier to use methods of communication and data sharing, eResearch facilitates cooperation between existing research groups and reveals possibilities for collaboration that may not have been previously apparent. The expansion of inter-disciplinary collaboration is one of the key enhancements that eResearch can bring to the broader research community.
Collaboration is supported by three major streams in eResearch:
- collaboration tools
- data sharing
- access to shared resources
Collaboration tools
Technologies that facilitate web and video conferencing continue to expand the kinds of research collaboration that are possible, all without researchers leaving their desks.
Video conferencing technologies like Access Grid and EVO enable real time interactions in which researchers can see, hear and talk to each other, whilst also sharing data and access to applications.
Web tools like Sakai, Drupal and Plone allow researchers to collaborate on the construction of shared websites and create web spaces where they can join discussion groups, contribute to blogs, develop mailing lists, and share files.
Data sharing
The infrastructure available for data sharing continues to improve access to research conducted across the globe, across the country, and across the street.
Whether the research that you want to do involves the integration and manipulation of data from different locations around the world, or whether you want to send data to a processing facility located across town, high speed networks, centralised data repositories like SASR and web-based collaboration tools like Sakai can help you share data in controlled ways within and across research teams and institutions.
Access to shared resources
Grid computing technologies and high speed networks enable the coordinated sharing of resources such as computer processing power and data storage capacity over the internet.
High performance computing is useful for researchers who need large amounts of computing power to perform mathematical modelling, analyse complex statistics, or search vast databases. Using HPC resources, researchers can understand or predict the behaviour of complex systems in work as diverse as molecular-level drug design, global warming research, and physical simulations.
By sharing the HPC infrastructure that individual institutions might otherwise be unable to afford, more researchers can gain access to advanced data processing facilities through initiatives such as the national grid computing network.
