Facebook for scientists: requirements and services for optimizing how scientific collaborations are established

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Sciences
• Information Science
• Social Networks in Science

Background:

• Biomedical research is increasingly interdisciplinary, necessitating effective collaboration.
• Existing expertise locating systems often use social networking but their efficiency is unproven.
• Social networks are crucial for forming scientific collaborations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify requirements for systems that facilitate collaborator discovery in biomedical science.
• To determine which information technology services can meet these requirements.

Main Methods:

• Literature review, affinity diagramming, contextual inquiry, and semistructured interviews were used.
• Generative design methods, including brainstorming and concept validation with end users, were employed.
• A prototype system, Digital|Vita, was developed and evaluated.

Main Results:

• Five key requirements emerged: compatibility, communication, intermediation, information quality/access, and motivation.
• Successful collaboration depends on expertise, personality, work style, and social factors.
• Digital|Vita prototype features include biographical information management, expert searching, and social network building.

Conclusions:

• Collaboration formation is influenced by social connectedness, compatibility, and power dynamics, not just data.
• Current systems inadequately model these complex collaboration factors.
• Digital|Vita offers a novel approach by integrating workflow with collaboration-searching functions, though adoption barriers exist.