Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP)

The Virtual Institute and Collaborative Tools

5.1 Participation in the Virtual Institute

All members of NAI Teams, as well as Focus Group participants and International Associates and Affiliates, are considered members of NAI’s virtual institute. An important goal of the NAI is to encourage and support interdisciplinary collaborative research among those who are part of its widely distributed community. NAI Central actively fosters a “culture of collaboration” and works to provide “easy collaboration from anywhere, anytime, with anyone.” NAI members, in turn, are expected to participate in NAI events, explore new approaches to pursuing their scientific collaborations using modern information technology, and provide periodic input on the further development of the virtual institute.

In order to support the development of astrobiology as a field and to benefit NASA missions, NAI was conceived as a “virtual institute” that aims not only to provide funding for astrobiological research but also to promote exchange and knowledge sharing among researchers within and across NAI teams, with members of the larger astrobiology community, and with interested members of the public. NAI members are widely distributed geographically and, represent a wide range of disciplinary expertise. Communication and productive exchange among members of the virtual institute are facilitated through multiple opportunities for both face-to-face and virtual engagement and by access to collaboration tools and technologies provided by NAI.

The challenges of encouraging and supporting collaboration across disciplines and across distance are both socio-cultural and technological. Collaboration is a potential outcome of productive exchange among scientists, but it does take time and effort to develop and maintain. Also, for some scientists, both virtual and interdisciplinary collaboration require new perspectives and new work practices.

5.2 Levels of Collaboration

Within NAI there are opportunities for collaboration at several different levels. The extent to which community members actually collaborate with one another depends on the style and approach of NAI Team leaders and project leaders, as well as the proactive steps taken by individual team members.

Within each Team, there is potential for enhanced collaboration among all the distributed members in the form of team meetings, workshops or retreats, utilizing NAI-deployed communication and collaboration tools where appropriate. Within a given team, collaboration may be planned or already exist among members of a project group or may develop unexpectedly among several team members as a result of emergent research interests.

Collaboration among Team PIs and across teams is encouraged through attendance at monthly Executive Council videoconferences. Also, IT Points Of Contact (POC) collaborate with each other and with NAI Central staff through monthly IT Working Group Meetings. Additionally IT projects may develop involving more than one team. Likewise E/PO POCs meet monthly and also engage with one another at conferences, workshops and through collaborative projects.

Among Members of the NAI community as a whole (and beyond): Collaboration among researchers is also facilitated through NAI community-wide events, conferences, seminars, such as Focus Groups, the NAI General Meeting, the NAI Video seminar series, and other venues, both in person and virtual, that enable large groups of people from different geographical locations to meet together for presentations and exchanges of various kinds. These groups may also include the larger Astrobiology community beyond the NAI itself, and/or interested members of the public.

5.3 IT Working Group

The PI of each NAI Team is expected to appoint one or more IT POCs to work with NAI Central staff as part of the IT Working Group in support of his or her team members’ effective participation in the NAI and their use of NAI’s information technology architecture.

It is important that each person who is identified as the IT POC for a specific team be in regular communication with his/her PI. It is also important that the IT POC have an understanding of the teams’ scientific goals, the particular needs of the PI and other team members regarding collaborative research support, and have a genuine interest in collaborating on this aspect of the NAI. Expertise in computer or information science is very helpful, as well as sensitivity to the social and cultural dimensions of encouraging new ways of working among their team members. Depending on the distribution of a given team and the number of Co-Is not located at the Lead Institution, it may be useful to identify additional IT POCs from these other sites.

The IT Working Group is composed of one or more IT POCS from each team, several members of the NAI Central staff who are focused on collaborative research support for the NAI community, Ames Research Center technical support staff, and other invited participants as appropriate given the issues being addressed.

The overall purpose of the IT Working Group is to share knowledge and expertise regarding both social and technical aspects of promoting virtual collaboration; to provide input into the design and evolution of NAI’s information technology infrastructure; to pilot new collaboration tools and technologies and support their deployment to the larger NAI community, especially their own teams; and to serve as a venue for communication within and across teams and between teams and NAI Central regarding collaborative research support needs, concerns, issues and ideas.

The IT Working Group meets monthly using NAI deployed collaboration tools such the videoconferencing system and real-time meeting software, currently WebEx. The meetings are open, and any interested NAI member is welcome to attend. The group also interacts asynchronously, utilizing the common methods of telephone, email and listservs, as well as more recently developed tools such as instant messaging and the wide range of tools and functionalities contained in NAI’s knowledge management system, currently NX.

Monthly IT Working Group meeting agendas are designed to:

• Develop shared understanding of the steps involved in establishing and supporting a culture of collaboration;
• Exchange information and lessons learned;
• Share expertise;
• Train in the use of tools;
• Engage group members in collaborative planning and problem-solving; and
• Showcase innovative collaborative tool projects that are being conducted at the team level.

Information on the IT Working Group meeting schedule and instructions on how to participate using NAI information technology are available from Marco Boldt mboldt@arc.nasa.gov.

The group also meets face to face about once a year, either at the NAI General Meeting or the Astrobiology Science Conference. IT Working Group members are encouraged to submit poster presentations on sociological and technical aspects of the NAI, and collaborate on special tool and technology demos and trainings for conference attendees. It is expected that funding for IT Working Group members to attend these annual face-to-face meetings will be provided by each team.

5.4 NAI Tools and Technologies

The information technology architecture to support the NAI and the collaborative activities of its members continues to evolve over time. Member input is always welcomed by NAI Central. The latest collaborative tools in use across the institute are summarized online:

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/handbook/collaborative-tools

Based on the findings of the most recent assessment of member needs, significant attention is being placed on the enhancement of both interdisciplinary and virtual communication by the NAI Central staff and other NASA groups.

5.4.1 Interdisciplinary Collaboration

The challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration are being addressed through opportunities for sharing expertise face-to-face through Focus Groups, field expeditions and special sessions at the NAI General Meeting or other professional conferences. The NAI video seminar series focuses on interdisciplinary knowledge exchange using the NAI videoconferencing system and webcasting.

Two seminar series are currently offered on a monthly basis. The Director’s Seminar Series, generally on the 4th Monday of each month, features a presentation by a senior scientist working within the field of astrobiology. The Forum on Astrobiology Research (FAR), which usually occurs on the 2nd Monday of each month, is an opportunity for Post-Doctoral Fellows and graduate students to share the results of their work. Information on the NAI Seminar Series can be found at: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/seminars/ or by contacting Marco Boldt, Marco.Boldt@nasa.gov.

5.4.2 Virtual Collaboration

To meet both the synchronous and asynchronous virtual collaboration needs identified by NAI members, several tools are currently available, while research continues to identify other leading-edge virtual collaboration solutions.

Synchronous Meetings

Any NAI member can host a real-time (synchronous) meeting using the designated NAI WebEx meeting site at https://nasa.webex.com.

These real-time meetings can either be scheduled in advance or called spontaneously, using a desktop or laptop computer with an internet connection, and a telephone conferencing system. No specialized hardware or software is required, as the NAI meeting site is reached using an internet browser. Meeting participants can share desktops, applications, data or documents, view still or movie images, collaboratively work on a whiteboard, and chat with individual members or the group as a whole. The “presenter” role can be rotated among participants by the host, and those with computer cameras can be seen by one another. For instructions on the use of WebEx for NAI collaborations contact Marco Boldt .
Videoconferences

NAI has provided Polycom videoconferencing systems to each of the team sites as well as some partner sites. The Polycom can connect point to point (just like using a telephone but with video added) using the internet to any H323 system. For multiple site connections (connecting anywhere from three to 30 sites) or ISDN connections, sites can use NAI’s MCU. NAI staff can support the multipoint conference or teams can request an account that will allow them to schedule and run multipoint conferences using a web interface. Contact Marco Boldt at Marco.Boldt@nasa.gov, 650-604-3769 for more information. Instructions for placing a call can be found in the accompanying pdf file, PolycomInstruction.pdf. Instructions for using the web interface of the MCU can be downloaded here .