Do Nobel laureates change their patterns of collaboration following prize reception?

We investigate whether Nobel laureates’ collaborative activities undergo a negative change following prize reception by using publication records of 198 Nobel laureates and analyzing their coauthorship patterns before and after the Nobel Prize. The results overall indicate less collaboration with new coauthors post award than pre award. Nobel laureates are more loyal to collaborations that started before the Prize: looking at coauthorship drop-out rates, we find that these differ significantly between coauthorships that started before the Prize and coauthorships after the Prize. We also find that the greater the intensity of pre-award cooperation and the longer the period of pre-award collaboration, the higher the probability of staying in the coauthor network after the award, implying a higher loyalty to the Nobel laureate.

Constellations: A participatory, online application for research collaboration in higher education interdisciplinary courses

The research establishes a model for online learning centering on the needs of integrative knowledge practices. Through the metaphor of Constellations, the practice-based research explores the complexities of working within interdisciplinary learning contexts and the potential of tools such as the Folksonomy learning platform for providing necessary conceptual support.

The dynamics of individual teacher autonomy: A case study of teachers' work in a Queensland secondary school

The emphasis on collegiality and collaboration in the literature on teachers' work and school reform has tended to underplay the significance of teacher autonomy. This thesis explores the dynamics of teachers' understandings and experiences of individual teacher autonomy (as contrasted with collective autonomy) in an independent school in Queensland which promoted itself as a 'teachers' school' with a strong commitment to individual teacher autonomy. The research was a case study which drew on methodological signposts from critical, feminist and traditional ethnography. Intensive fieldwork in the school over five months incorporated the ethnographic techniques of observation, interviews and document analysis. Teachers at Thornton College understood their experience of individual autonomy at three interrelated levels--in terms of their work in the classroom, their working life in the school, and their voice in the decision-making processes of the school. They felt that they experienced a great deal of individual autonomy at each of these three levels. These understandings and experiences of autonomy were encumbered or enabled by a range of internal and external stakeholder groups. There were also a number of structural influences (community perceptions, market forces, school size, time and bureaucracy) emerging from the economic, social and political structures in Australian society which influenced the experience of autonomy by teachers. The experience of individual teacher autonomy was constantly shifting, but there were some emergent patterns. Consensus on educational goals and vision, and strong expressions of trust and respect between teachers and stakeholders in the school, characterised the contexts in which teachers felt they experienced high levels of autonomy in their work. The demand for accountability and desire for relatedness motivated stakeholders and structural forces to influence teacher autonomy. Some significant gaps emerged between the rhetoric of a commitment to individual teacher autonomy and decision-making practices in the school, that gave ultimate power to the co-principals. Despite the rhetoric and promotion of non-hierarchical structures and collaborative decision-making processes, many teachers perceived that their experience of individual autonomy remained subject to the exercise of 'partial democracy' by school leaders.

Transdisciplinary collaboration in wound care research

The highly complex disorder of chronic wounds is a significant problem. Information is often lacking, dynamically changing, or contradictory and thus acts to impede the progression of research and its translation into clinical care. Transdisciplinary collaboration may play an important role in chronic wound research, permitting key stakeholders with a single, central goal to take a unified approach towards addressing the problem. While transdisciplinary collaboration is not a new concept, its implementation within chronic wound research is relatively new. This is because the research area is still largely dominated by single-discipline researchers or by multiple disciplines working in isolation. Transdisciplinary research is a transcending approach, requiring a greater level of understanding between disciplines and may represent the next leap forward in wound care research. This approach necessitates a deeper understanding by all team members of the co-disciplines involved; where key stakeholders are better equipped to respond to dynamic changes and problems that arise in chronic wound research. In this paper, we illustrate what a transdisciplinary approach in wound care research may entail, with the ultimate goal of such an undertaking to improve understanding of the complexities of wound care, which could lead to potential benefits in wound management.

Information sharing in distance collaboration: A software engineering perspective

Information sharing in distance collaboration: A software engineering perspective, QueenslandFactors in software engineering workgroups such as geographical dispersion and background discipline can be conceptually characterized as "distances", and they are obstructive to team collaboration and information sharing. This thesis focuses on information sharing across multidimensional distances and develops an information sharing distance model, with six core dimensions: geography, time zone, organization, multi-discipline, heterogeneous roles, and varying project tenure. The research suggests that the effectiveness of workgroups may be improved through mindful conducts of information sharing, especially proactive consideration of, and explicit adjustment for, the distances of the recipient when sharing information.

Can teacher collaboration overcome barriers to interdisciplinary learning in a disciplinary university? A case study using climate change

A teacher network was formed at an Australian university in order to better promote interdisciplinary student learning on the complex social-environmental problem of climate change. Rather than leaving it to students to piece together disciplinary responses, eight teaching academics collaborated on the task of exposing students to different types of knowledge in a way that was more than the summing of disciplinary parts. With a part-time network facilitator providing cohesion, network members were able to teach into each other’s classes, and share material and student activities across a range of units that included business, zoology, marine science, geography and education. Participants reported that the most positive aspects of the project were the collegiality and support for teaching innovation provided by peers. However, participants also reported being time-poor and overworked. Maintaining the collaboration beyond the initial one year project proved difficult because without funding for the network facilitator, participants were unable to dedicate the time required to meet and collaborate on shared activities. In order to strengthen teacher collaboration in a university whose administrative structures are predominantly discipline-based, there is need for recognition of the benefits of interdisciplinary learning to be matched by recognition of the need for financial and other resources to support collaborative teaching initiatives.

Implicit and explicit interactions in video mediated collaboration

In this paper we report the results of a study comparing implicit-only and explicit-only interactions in a collaborative, video-mediated task with shared content. Expanding on earlier work which has typically only evaluated how implicit interaction can augment primarily explicit systems, we report issues surrounding control, anxiousness and negotiation in the context of video mediated collaboration. We conclude that implicit interaction has the potential to improve collaborative work, but that there are a multitude of issues that must first be negotiated.

Collaboration on social network sites: Amateurs, professionals and celebrities

Amateurs are found in arts, sports, or entertainment, where they are linked with professional counterparts and inspired by celebrities. Despite the growing number of CSCW studies in amateur and professional domains, little is known about how technologies facilitate collaboration between these groups. Drawing from a 1.5-year field study in the domain of bodybuilding, this paper describes the collaboration between and within amateurs, professionals, and celebrities on social network sites. Social network sites help individuals to improve their performance in competitions, extend their support network, and gain recognition for their achievements. The findings show that amateurs benefit the most from online collaboration, whereas collaboration shifts from social network sites to offline settings as individuals develop further in their professional careers. This shift from online to offline settings constitutes a novel finding, which extends previous work on social network sites that has looked at groups of amateurs and professionals in isolation. As a contribution to practice, we highlight design factors that address this shift to offline settings and foster collaboration between and within groups.

Investigating early childhood teachers’ understandings of and practices in education for sustainability in Queensland: A Japan-Australia research collaboration

In a study undertaken in Queensland, Australia, analysis of a survey that included both qualitative and quantitative questions revealed that, like their Japanese counterparts, early childhood teachers do not have well-developed ideas and practices in education for sustainability (EfS). Instead, they mainly practise traditional nature-based activities, such as gardening or playing outdoors, and teaching about resource conservation through books, posters or fact sheets. Teachers’ understandings of nature education, environmental education, and education for sustainability seem to influence their educational practices. Deeper understandings about sustainability are necessary to extend beyond such traditional practices. Even though national curriculum frameworks and guidelines point to the importance of sustainability within early childhood curriculum, these appear to be insufficient in strengthening early childhood teachers’ ideas of sustainability and how to practise it effectively. We suggest that it would be beneficial for early childhood teachers, both preservice and inservice, to have professional development opportunities that build deeper understandings of sustainability and its implementation in their settings.

The fabric of transcultural collaboration: Interweaving the traditional Korean vocal form of p'ansori and the contemporary Japanese dance form of butoh in a transculturally Australian context

This practice-led research investigated the negotiation processes informing effective models of transcultural collaboration. In a creative project interweaving the image-based physicality of the Japanese dance form of butoh with the traditional Korean vocal style of p'ansori, a series of creative development cycles were undertaken with a team of artists from Australia and Korea, culminating in Deluge, a work of physical theatre. The development of interventions at 'sites of transcultural potential' resulted in improvements to the negotiation of interpersonal relationships and assisted in the emergence of a productive working environment in transculturally collaborative artistic practice.

Discovering mentorship information from author collaboration networks

Researchers are assessed from a researcher-centric perspective - by quantifying a researcher's contribution to the field. Citation and publication counts are some typical examples. We propose a student-centric measure to assess researchers on their mentoring abilities. Our approach quantifies benefits bestowed by researchers upon their students by characterizing the publication dynamics of research advisor-student interactions in author collaboration networks. We show that our measures could help aspiring students identify research advisors with proven mentoring skills. Our measures also help in stratification of researchers with similar ranks based on typical indices like publication and citation counts while being independent of their direct influences.

East Asian audio-visual collaboration and the global expansion of Chinese media

In recent years, many of the world’s leading media producers, screenwriters, technicians and investors, particularly those in the Asia-Pacific region, have been drawn to work in the People's Republic of China (hereafter China or Mainland China). Media projects with a lighter commercial entertainment feel – compared with the heavy propaganda-oriented content of the past – have multiplied, thanks to the Chinese state’s newfound willingness to consider collaboration with foreign partners. This is no more evident than in film. Despite their long-standing reputation for rigorous censorship, state policymakers are now encouraging Chinese media entrepreneurs to generate fresh ideas and to develop products that will revitalise the stagnant domestic production sector. It is hoped that an increase in both the quality and quantity of domestic feature films, stimulated by an infusion of creativity and cutting-edge technology from outside the country, will help reverse China’s ‘cultural trade deficit’ (wenhua maoyi chizi) (Keane 2007).