Framework Design

Designing the Platform for Organic Data Science

The Organic Data Science platform represents the technical approach in Organic Data Science. Our goal is to develop a social computing system that supports collaborative science.

The Organic Data Science platform is unique in its emphasis on supporting scientific tasks and processes. We are developing a detailed comparison with other frameworks for collaboration, see below.

The platform will be under development during the life of the project. Any comments and contributions are very welcome!

We draw from principles for social collaboration, explained below, to guide the design of the platform. The implementation builds on a Semantic Wiki platform.

Social Collaboration Principles that Guide the Design of the Organic Data Science Platform

STATUS: This section is still under development

Starting Communities

1. Create mechanisms to match people to activities
   
   Partly addressed by: Task Representation
2. Highlight more active tasks
   
   Partly addressed by: Task Representation, Timeline Tracking, Progress Tracking, Worklist
3. Inactive tasks should have „expected active times“
   
   Addressed by: Timeline Tracking, Progress Tracking, Timeline

Encouraging Contributions through Motivation

1. Make it easy to see and track needed contributions
   
   Addressed by: Task Representation, Explorer Navigation, Worklist, Task Alert, Timeline, User Tracking
   Partly addressed by: Progress Tracking
2. Ask specific people on tasks of interest to them
   
   Addressed by: User Tracking
3. Simple tasks with challenging goals are easier to comply with
   
   Addressed by: Task Representation
4. Specify deadlines for tasks, while leaving people in control
   
   Addressed by: Timeline Tracking, Progress Tracking, Worklist, Task Alert
   Partly addressed by: Explorer Navigation
5. Give frequent feedback specific to the goals
   Partly addressed by: Timeline Tracking, Progress Tracking, Timeline
6. Requests coming form leaders lead to more contributions
7. Publicize that others have complied with request
   Partly addressed by: Worklist
8. People are more willing to contribute: 1) when group is small, 2) when commited to the group, 3) when their contributions are unique
   Partly addressed by: Explorer Navigation, Worklist,User Tracking

Encouraging Commitment

1. Cluster members to help them identify with the community
   
   Addressed by: User Tracking
   Partly addressed by: Explorer Navigation
2. Give subgroups a name and a tagline
   Partly addressed by: Task RepresentationExplorer Navigation
3. Put subgroups in the context of a larger group
   
   Addressed by: Explorer Navigation
   Partly addressed by: Task Representation, Worklist
4. Interdependent tasks increase commitment and reduce conflict
   
   Addressed by: Timeline
   Partly addressed by: Task Representation, Worklist