One of the major developments on the World Wide Web in the last few years has been the rapid growth of 'Web 2.0' applications allowing web users to be both readers and writers of online resources; to take part in collaborative activities; and to engage with groups of like-minded people. 'Social Networks' like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn allow individuals to build up personal profiles, networks of friends and colleagues, and organise online and offline events.

However, these environments are not ideally suited to the needs of academic researchers, who may have specific concerns, want to build research relationships which do not fit into Social Software models, and who want to be able to establish secure and private working spaces as well as engaging with different 'publics'.

A new pilot project funded by ESRC has been charged with exploring how social software could be combined with existing VRE functions, and resources from TLRP, the Applied Education Research Scheme in Scotland, and the Research Capacity Building Network, to form the nucleus of a sustainable Social and Professional Network for Education Researchers, with an initial focus on 'Early Career Researchers'.

A participatory design process will identify the most useful features of existing Virtual Research Environments and Social Software platforms, and the customised 'gadgets' which would add most value and make the work of education researchers easier and more productive.

	+		+
Existing Virtual Research Environment		Elements of Social Software		Flexibility and Personalisation
(Like the Current Sakai Instance)		(Like LinkedIn or MySpace)		(Like iGoogle)

Find Out More

The project is directed by Dr. Patrick Carmichael at the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET) at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Chris Taylor, of the University of Cardiff is Co-Director and Helen Burchmore is the Project Research Associate.

You can download a copy of the Project Poster here.

News from the project will be publicised through the main TLRP website. We will also have a stand at the TLRP conference in November 2008.

Get Involved!

The project will be organising a series of seminars and design workshops around the UK early in 2009. News of these will be posted on the main TLRP website.

Contact

Patrick Carmichael: wpc22@cam.ac.uk.