Emergent temporal behaviour and collaborative work

Although collaboration manifestly takes place in time, the role of time in shaping the behaviour of collaborations, and collaborative systems, is not well understood. Time is more than clock-time or the subjective experience of time; its effects on systems include differential rates of change of system elements, temporally non-linear behaviour and phenomena such as entrainment and synchronization. As a system driver, it generates emergent effects shaping systems and their behaviour. In the paper we present a systems view of time, and consider the implications of such a view through the case of collaborative development of a new university timetabling system. Teasing out the key temporal phenomena using the notion of temporal trajectories helps us understand the emergent temporal behaviour and suggests a means for improving outcomes.

Paediatric research in emergency departments international collaborative (PREDICT): First steps towards the development of an Australian and New Zealand research network

Paediatric emergency research is hampered by a number of barriers that can be overcome by a multicentre approach. In 2004, an Australia and New Zealand-based paediatric emergency research network was formed, the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT). The founding sites include all major tertiary children’s hospital EDs in Australia and New Zealand and a major mixed ED in Australia. PREDICT aims to provide leadership and infrastructure for multicentre research at the highest standard, facilitate collaboration between institutions, health-care providers and researchers and ultimately improve patient outcome. Initial network-wide projects have been determined. The present article describes the development of the network, its structure and future goals.

Moomba - A collaborative environment for supporting distributed extreme programming in global software development

Global Software Development (GSD) is an emerging distributive software engineering practice, in which a higher communication overhead due to temporal and geographical separation among developers is traded with gains in reduced development cost, improved flexibility and mobility for developers, increased access to skilled resource-pools and convenience of customer involvements. However, due to its distributive nature, GSD faces many fresh challenges in aspects relating to project coordination, awareness, collaborative coding and effective communication. New software engineering methodologies and processes are required to address these issues. Research has shown that, with adequate support tools, Distributed Extreme Programming (DXP) – a distributive variant of an agile methodology – Extreme Programming (XP) can be both efficient and beneficial to GDS projects. In this paper, we present the design and realization of a collaborative environment, called Moomba, which assists a distributed team in both instantiation and execution of a DXP process in GSD projects.

Inter-organisational networks, value creation and the process of technology integration in research and development

Traditional methods of R&D management are no longer sufficient for embracing innovations and leveraging complex new technologies to fully integrated positions in established systems. This paper presents the view that the technology integration process is a result of fundamental interactions embedded in inter-organisational activities. Emerging industries, high technology companies and knowledge intensive organisations owe a large part of their viability to complex networks of inter-organisational interactions and relationships. R&D organisations are the gatekeepers in the technology integration process with their initial sanction and motivation to develop technologies providing the first point of entry. Networks rely on the activities of stakeholders to provide the foundations of collaborative R&D activities, business-to-business marketing and strategic alliances. Such complex inter-organisational interactions and relationships influence value creation and organisational goals as stakeholders seek to gain investment opportunities. A theoretical model is developed here that contributes to our understanding of technology integration (adoption) as a dynamic process, which is simultaneously structured and enacted through the activities of stakeholders and organisations in complex inter-organisational networks of sanction and integration.

The role of the learning community in the development of discipline knowledge and generic graduate outcomes

In this paper we describe a study of learning outcomes at a research-intensive Australian university. Three graduate outcome variables (discipline knowledge and skills, communication and problem solving, and ethical and social sensitivity) are analysed separately using OLS regression and comparisons are made of the patterns of unique contributions from four independent variables (the CEQ Good Teaching and Learning Communities Scales, and two new, independent, scales for measuring Teaching and Program Quality). Further comparisons of these patterns are made across the Schools of the university. Results support the view that teaching and program quality are not the only important determinants of students' learning outcomes. It is concluded that, whilst it continues to be appropriate for universities to be concerned with the quality of their teaching and programs, the interactive, social and collaborative aspects of students' learning experiences, captured in the notion of the Learning Community, are also very important determinants of graduate outcomes, and so should be included in the focus of attempts at enhancing the quality of student learning.

Making it work: Identifying the challenges of collaborative international research

In this article, we explore the challenges - and benefits - of conducting collaborative research on an international scale. The authors - from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand - draw upon their experiences in designing and conducting a three-country study. The growing pressures on scholars to work in collaborative research teams are described, and key findings and reflections are presented. It is claimed that such work is a highly complex and demanding extension to the academic's role. The authors conclude that, despite the somewhat negative sense that this reflection may convey, the synergies gained and the valuable comparative learning that took place make overcoming these challenges a worthwhile process. The experiences as outlined in this paper suggest that developing understandings of the challenges inherent in undertaking international collaborative research might well be a required component of the professional development opportunities afforded to new scholars.