Open Source, Collaboration, and Case Studies

This case study complements the 2007 ECAR study by Philip J. Goldstein, IT Collaboration: Multi-Institutional Partnerships to Develop, Manage, and Operate IT Resources. Researchers undertook this case study to understand the methods and practices used to manage ongoing collaborative activity and how the Kuali group partners plan for the sustainability of their collaboration. The case study highlights the collaborative nature of the Kuali Project to meet its goal of building a suite of administrative software, rather than the project’s history, structure, or operations.

This case study depicts the formation, characteristics, and organizational success factors of Georgetown University's Advanced Research Computing (ARC) division. In collaboration with university researchers, ARC provides a range of services from computational support to multi-layered, multi-institutional support for research. A companion to ECAR's 2006 research study, IT Engagement in Research: A Baseline Study, this case study describes how Georgetown created a unique, collaborative, shared-cost IT division specifically for university researchers that now provides a secure environment for computational equipment and increases Georgetown's grant and fundraising competitiveness.

In higher education, team-based, collaborative research activities, call for new modalities and methods of investigation. Calit2 is responding to this challenge by creating a next-generation research environment that includes a range of technical and nontechnical systems to foster large-scale, multidisciplinary collaborations in innovative ways. This case study explores the breadth and depth of this extensive initiative, including how Calit2 is experimenting with multiple technological methodologies to support locally based, distributed, and virtual research collaborations.