Data Collaboration Working Group - 2001 "end of year" survey

Working Group: Data Collaboration

Areas of interest / research: Data colaboration

Working Group Chair: Mary Trauner

WG Members: Still under consideration

What were your goals for 2001? Did you meet those goals? If not, which fell behind, and why? I had intended to get the working group going via some email discussions. Early traffic was light or non-existent. Due to some Internet2 portal development issues, I didn't get much done during the fall. 2002 is going to be bigger/better.

Are you happy with the progress you made in 2001? No.

What are your goals for 2002? Get website rolling including database of data collab systems. The database will allow queries by anyone and entry of info from working group members. Test out various potential SURA- and Internet2-wide collaboration products.

Do you expect your working group to expand in the coming year? If so, what kind of people are you looking for? Hopefully. I'd like to see a few more people join in. I'd like to see members have strong interests in or be academic and research faculty and tech support.

In your opinion, of what importance is the research your working group did this past year? How does it affect universities? The hardware or software market? The general public? I feel we are very early into this. I think that our work holds the promise of finding several, "off the shelf", fully featured, cost-effective data collaboration for general use and across our region and beyond. We may find that some vendors will listen to additional needs from the academic community (speaking as ViDe, SURA, and Internet2)

Was your WG represented at any conferences or conventions this year? Were you happy with the representation? Do you have conference or convention plans for the coming year? I presented 4-5 times last year. The last one wasn't quite as far along as I had hoped. Plans for 2002 include possibilities at ViDe events, Educause, Collaborate.

If you could change one thing about your WG from the past year, what would it be? What about your WG from 2001 are you most proud of? This is hard to say. I wish I could have organized my time to get more things going…..inspire people to move on despite my limited time. I'm not sure about what I would be proud about - maybe just staking a place in the ground for our group working on this - looking for good tools for the "common teacher and researcher" as opposed to those with the luxury of access to The Grid. I'm proud that vendors know we are looking and are contacting me to show me their products.