About This Project

Our 'graph-enabled idea board' serves as a hub for capturing excess research ideas, allocating microprojects, and properly attributing credit. We'd like to investigate its potential for enabling newcomers to quickly and effectively contribute to ongoing projects.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Research labs often face a dilemma: experienced researchers generate a surplus of project ideas while newcomers struggle to find an entry point. This dilemma, which we think of as 'knowledge-context asymmetry,' often arises due to concerns around credit attribution, hindering collaboration and making it more difficult for new researchers to integrate into the lab.

We developed a collaborative tool called Lab Discourse Graphs to address this issue. Preliminary use within our lab suggests a marked acceleration in group coordination and the integration of new members. We want to share this innovation with the world and collect some data demonstrating its utility.

What is the significance of this project?

This tool tackles a universal lab challenge: aligning experienced researchers' overflow of ideas with newcomers' need for context. By consolidating 'data requests' in a dashboard embedded within the lab's knowledge base, our prototype lets established researchers 'bookmark' insights and newcomers to rapidly integrate and contribute.

Our lab prototype has generated 95 such requests between researchers. Quantifying the extent of collaboration via this tool offers immediate benefits: it allows feature refinement and paves the way for an accessible open-source utility. In the long run, these publicly available boards have the potential to revolutionize how research labs identify bottlenecks, connect innovative ideas with suitable collaborators, and secure microfunding.

What are the goals of the project?

We aim to quantify the extent to which our Issues board aids newcomers in quickly identifying and executing impactful starter projects. We expect that this tool enables a rapid onboarding process and targeted, effective researcher contributions. Our graph-centric lab software equips us with metrics to quantify the extent of idea exchange and contribution between established and junior researchers.

Utilizing the Issues board, student researchers will choose potential microprojects to initiate. Based on the students' contributions, a data analytics student will pull relevant metrics from the lab graph software (see Methods section). This data will guide our 'cybrarian' in refining the board's design. We can launch the project immediately.