Cyberinfrastructure and Scientific Collaboration: Application of a Virtual Team Performance Framework with Potential Relevance to Education
WCER Working Paper No. 2010-12
Sara Kraemer and Christopher A. Thorn
October 2010, 23 pp.
ABSTRACT: This paper presents a preliminary framework for the analysis of virtual team performance and the use of high throughput computing (HTC). This area of research may have potential relevance to education as districts build data systems and infrastructure to handle the complex requirements of data-driven decision making. In this context, districts need new models of collaboration and teaming that include distributed systems, and virtual teaming is one such model. The case study reported here explored the applicability of a virtual team performance framework to two scientific research teams engaged in collaboration using distributed cyberinfrastructure—one, a collaboration in particle physics supporting a neutrino detector at the South Pole, and the other, a small research laboratory conducting molecular and computational genomics research. Semistructured focus group sessions were conducted with scientists and research staff on each team. An input-process-output (IPO) framework was adapted to characterize virtual team performance, with a specific emphasis on aspects of scientific collaboration and distributed cyberinfrastructure technologies. To explore the feasibility of applying the framework, a between- and within-case qualitative analysis was performed. Some similarities were identified across the two teams, along with differences in formal organizational structure, documented work practices, and culture. The IPO virtual team performance framework was found to be a viable tool for studying collaboration in virtual teams using distributed cyberinfrastructure, but more research is needed to fully illuminate and validate key performance dimensions across various types of teams.
keywords: Virtual Team Performance; Collaboration; Interdisciplinary; High Throughput Computing; Qualitative Case Study; Sociotechnical Systems
