Studying the effects of virtual biodiversity research infrastructures

By

Duin, Daphne
Besselaar, Peter van den

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2011

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

150

Pages

193-210

Subjects

biodiversity and taxonomic research infrastructure , impact assessment , knowledge creation , scientific collaboration , users , virtual communities of practice , Webscience

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.150.2164

 

Abstract

The research environment of scholars is increasingly web-based. This makes it urgent to study the effects of moving to the Web on research practices, scholarly output and innovation. We propose a theoretical framework and a methodology to study these effects. In a pilot study, we apply theory and method on an online community in biodiversity research, to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach. We also indicate the practical relevance of this kind of analysis for improving the quality of virtual research environments. In the last section, directions for further research are suggested.