All Annotations of From Shared Databases to Communities of Practice: A Taxonomy of Collaboratories[Preview]

saved by9 people, first byLambert Heller on 2007-07-09, last byJonathan Duke on 2008-07-07

• Promoting affiliation between scientists is relatively easy, but creating larger organizational structures is much more difficult, due to traditions of scientific independence, difficulties of sharing implicit knowledge, and formal organizational barriers.
• Second, scientists work independently. Scientists generally
  enjoy a high degree of independence, both in their day-to-day work practices as
  well as in the larger directions of their work. Scientific researchers have
  greater freedom to pursue high risk/high reward ideas than do individuals in many
  other professions. Most practicing scientists would strongly resist controls
  that many corporate employees accept as normal, such as having their work
  hours, technology choices, and travel schedules dictated by others. The culture
  of independence benefits science in many ways, but it also makes it more
  difficult to aggregate scientists' labors.
• Scientific collaborations must work
  harder than other organizations to maintain open communication channels, adopt
  common toolsets, and keep groups focused on common goals.