Collaboratories and Cyberinfrastructure

This research theme focuses on presenting and studying blended learning approaches that involve the strategic and principled use of information and communications technologies to create “centers without walls;” and the widespread use of information and communication technologies to facilitate geographically distributed collaboration by social scientists and humanities scholars.

Projects

1. WFUNA WSIS Task Force Collaboratory
Project Leader: Jane Johnsen.
Researchers: Derrick L. Cogburn; Gayatri Iyengar.
This project explores the impact of collaboratory practices on a transnational network of developed and developing country policy actors involved in the UN World Summit on the Information Society. This project is supported by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

2. Southeast Disability Business Technology Access Centers
Project Leader: Ben Addom.
Researchers: Derrick L. Cogburn.
According to 42 U.S.C. § 12101(a)(3) (2000), some 43,000,000 Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, and this number is increasing as the population as a whole is growing older; and historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem even in this current information age. These forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue and could be seen in areas such as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services. This collaboratory is therefore being designed to facilitate the core activities being undertaken by state and local agencies working as networks in eight states of the Southeast region of United States in providing - technical assistance, education and training, materials dissemination, information and referral, public awareness, and local capacity building using these technologies in positive ways. This project is supported Syracuse University’s Burton Blatt Institute and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) through the Georgia Institute of Technology.

3. Employer Demand Project Collaboratory
Project Leader: Ben Addom.
Researchers: Derrick L. Cogburn.
Americans with disabilities have significantly lower levels of employment than their non-disabled peers. Prior studies of employment rates among people with disabilities generally have relied on a “supply-side” approach, analyzing how personal characteristics predict employment and earnings. These models have not sufficiently analyzed variables related to employer demand (and the interaction of employer demand/supply and the environment) as predictors of employment outcomes for people with disabilities. Thus, there is a need to systematically understand characteristics for qualified workers with disabilities, particularly as work requirements change over time. This project sets out scientifically rigorous and evidence-based methods to develop, identify, and evaluate employment demand-side models. This project is supported by the Syracuse University’s Burton Blatt Institute.

4. Transatlantic Crisis Management Collaboratory
Project Leader:Gayatri Iyengar
Researchers: Derrick Cogburn
This project was developed to explore the impact of collaboratory practices on a transnational network of crisis management actors in the US and Europe. This project is supported by the Moynihan Institute at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, and the European Union.

5. New York AGEP Collaboratory
Project Leader: Derrick Cogburn
Researchers: David James, Fatima Espinoza.
With the goal to address the severe national shortage in the number of domestic members of underrepresented populations (i.e., African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders) pursuing doctoral degrees in the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), the National Science Foundation (NSF) founded the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Program in 1998. The purpose of this project is to explore the degree to which the strategic deployment of cyberinfrastructure can broaden and deepen collaboration amongst AGEP alliances in New York State, as a pilot study, and to lay the empirical foundation for a larger proposal to strengthen the national integration of AGEP alliances. This project is supported by the National Science Foundation.

6. WiGEVO
Executive Director of the Wirelessgrid Research Consortium: Heshan Sun (hesun@syr.edu)
Researchers: Derrick Cogburn, Lee McKnight, Jeffery Owens
Specifically, we propose to build a virtual organization named “Wireless Grid Engineering Virtual Organization (WiGEVO) for the wireless grid engineering community. WiGEVO will allow researchers to experiment with grids available throughout the community. Major research activities will focus on active and emerging topics including power management, localization, communication protocols, security, and sensors.  All these topics address problems inherent in wireless grids including limited power and range, different communication protocols, lack of identity and security standards, limited sensor availability, lack of resource discovery mechanisms, limited work on human-computer interfaces.  WiGEVO will allow researchers to leverage grids in other researcher labs, beta-test products in different user groups, collaborate on developing solutions, and advance technology transfer to industry.

7. United Nations Global Alliance for ICT & Development
Project Leader: Sonia Arenaza
Researchers: Derrick L. Cogburn; Ran Lui, Norhayati Zakaria
Description forthcoming