RSNA research - final presentation

1. Serena Cangiano
New requirements for future users and users of
research social networking applications
Intermediate presentation of results
31 July 2012
Canobbio
Skype Conference with Petra Kauer-Ott

2. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
Summary of the project proposal and goals
Assumptions
The use of research social networks for research communication and dissemination and for
fund raising activities is not yet widespread within research communities, particularly in
Switzerland, due to several weaknesses of RSNAs, such as the following:
– they offer limited functionalities and services to fulfill specific needs related to
academic research activities;
– they usually do not support communication and networking within all
stakeholders of academic research (funding institutions, universities, private partners
such as companies and non profit organizations).
(funding institutions, universities, private partners such as companies and non profit
organizations).

3. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
Summary of the project proposal and goals
Goals
– To gather all necessary information for designing a RSNA that is tailored to Swiss
research communities and that supports the inclusion of research
stakeholders.
– To mapping and evaluating existing RSNAs and to provide the description of
improvements that must be implemented to enhance the use of RSNAs within academia.
– To define the requirements for an English-based platform for Swiss
researchers and for foreign researchers who want to collaborate with Swiss Universities
and Universities of Applied Sciences.
and for foreign researchers who want to collaborate with Swiss Universities and
Universities of Applied Sciences.

4. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
Methodology
Research activities
+ a benchmarking study of the existing research
social networking applications
+ a survey of users
+ the definition of a requirements document
(an advanced design draft and a cost-benefit
analysis)

5. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
1. Benchmarking study of the existing research social
networking applications
Case studies
Multidisciplinary RSNAs1. Academia.edu
2. Researchgate.net
3. Mendeley.com
4. Epernicus.com
Discipline specific RSNAs5. Labroots.com 6. Lalisio.com 7. Scitable.com8. Nature
Network 9. Biomedexpert 10. Methodspace
5. Labroots.com 6. Lalisio.com 7. Scitable.com8. Nature Network 9. Biomedexpert 10.
Methodspace
5. Labroots.com 6. Lalisio.com 7. Scitable.com8. Nature Network 9. Biomedexpert 10.
Methodspace
5. Labroots.com 6. Lalisio.com 7. Scitable.com8. Nature Network 9. Biomedexpert 10.
Methodspace

6. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
1. Benchmarking study of the existing research social
networking applications
Analysis categories (es. Academia.edu)
Functions Actions enabled
Actions enabled
Connecting creating a personal profile, connecting with Academia.edu members, inviting people, inviting people of external networks
(Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter), following topics and people, consulting journals, raising questions, looking for jobs.
Searching finding profiles, universities, research interests, papers.
Organizing
Sharing uploading papers in pdf format, embedding scribd, updating the status, uploading information about books and lectures,
sharing teaching materials and blog posts.
Collaborating tagging journals.
Promoting posting news automatically on Facebook, posting job opportunities.
Monitoring monitoring views of profiles and papers, receiving notifications about views of personal profiles.
Communicating sending private messages, asking questions to network members, updating the status

7. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
1. Benchmarking study of the existing research social
networking applications
Highlighted functionalities
Platform Highlighted functionalities
Academia.edu - Statistics on views of profiles and papers - Notifications on views of personal profile - Embedding scribd - Tagging journals -
Posting news automatically on Facebook - Connecting with people through external services
ResearchGate Following topics - Promoting good contents (review badly a content) - Posting references on Facebook and Twitter
- Follwing topics - Receiving live feed on notes, references from scientific databases, links, pictures, documents related to
topics of interest - Finding personal publications (author matching function)
Mendeley Browsing groups and publications by disciplines and subdisciplines - Sharing annotations with network members - Tracking
readership - Saving members’ publications in personal repository
Epernicus - Creating a personal page (profile sections: background, research, CV, photo, honors, publications, posters & presentations,
expertise, one figure, websites, docs) - Exploring genealogy - Finding groups by size and categories - Tracking invitations
Labroots.com - Monitoring connections with industries - Sharing videos and podcasts - Adding widgets in the homepage sidebar
Lalisio.com - Filter by language
Scitable - Creating classrooms - Creating custom e-books
Nature Network - Adding applications to the dashboard - Arranging the applications in the dashboard
BiomedExpert - Visualizing connections (network and geo-network views) - Finding organizations; searching network members of first level
(direct contact) - Searching network members of first level (co-authors)
Methodspace.co
m
- sharing call for papers - sharing funding opportunities - embedding badges of the network on personal websites - adding
apps developed by third parties

8. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
1. Benchmarking study of the existing research social
networking applications
Evaluation of RSNAs
Evaluation elements
– GUI design, concerning the aesthetic and functional quality of the interface elements;
– Usability, the effectiveness of the functionalities, navigation strategy and contents
organization of the application
– Contents and search criteria, the typology of contents accessible through the
application and the criteria for searching them within the application
the typology of contents accessible through the application and the criteria for searching
them within the application
the typology of contents accessible through the application and the criteria for searching
them within the application

9. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
2. Survey of users
Questionnaire structure
Research social networking applications
How do they support your research activities?
questionnaire accessible on-line at:
http://lcvsupsi.wufoo.eu/forms/research-social-networking-applications

10. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
2. Survey of users
Questionnaire structure
Research social networking applications
How do they support your research activities?
Call for contributions through:
- emails
- research social networking applications

11. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
2. Survey of users
Questionnaire structure
Measuring
– Usage of RSNAs
– networking and dissemination functionalities (which are the most useful?)
– available contents (which contents are more useful)
– search criteria (which are the best modalities to find contents)
– Openness to other kinds of users (other stakeholders)
– Fund raising and dissemination activities
– Openness to other kinds of users (other stakeholders)
– Fund raising and dissemination activities

12. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
2. Survey of users
Some results
The survey is still work in progress due to:
- technical issues
- lack of participation
We collected 16 questionnaire right now.
We expected to complete the survey and to provide a report of the results by the first week
of September.
We expected to complete the survey and to provide a report of the results by the first week
of September.

13. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
3. Requirements documents (version 1.0)
The Extranet platform
It contains the system requirements of an on-line social networking service addressed to
networking and dissemination activities within Swiss academia.
The name of the service is Extranet, an on-line
social networking platform aim at creating
connections among researchers, funding
institutions and third parties.
an on-line social networking platform aim at
creating connections among researchers, funding
institutions and third parties.

14. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
3. Requirements documents (version 1.0)
Core features of Extranet
Extranet core business features concern the opportunity of supporting research and
networking activities in a broader way:1) putting in contact different research
stakeholders through a shared on-line application.2) creating a digital catalogue of
the scientific research community in every country. 3) introducing open science
tools for developing research project.4) connecting thematic research networks of
different countries.
of different countries.

15. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
3. Requirements documents (version 1.0)
Core contents of Extranet
– Profiles pages of different kind of users– List of network members – List of research
projects– List of research proposals
– Updates and list of research funding opportunities
– Call for papers
– Call for papers

16. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
3. Requirements documents (version 1.0)
Core functionalities of Extranet
– Registration– Profile page – Research starter– Funds finder
– Research finder
– Project pages
– Extranet Sync button
– Openness preferences
– Openness preferences
– Openness preferences

17. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
3. Requirements documents (version 1.0)
User characteristics
The finished product will be used by:- Researchers working at universities in Switzerland or collaborating in researches involving Swiss universities.
Technical background: good- Employees of companies, associations, organizations entitled to participate to research programs.
Technical background: low- Members of research funding institutions managing web platforms of the institution (web master, content managers, etc.).
Technical background: high
Technical background: high
Technical background: high

18. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
3. Requirements documents (version 1.0)
General constraints
- the necessity to develop the platform through the use of open source systems and easy to use development frameworks.- the necessity to implement it according the
principles of modularity, interoperability and high customization in order to allow centers managing university internet infrastructures to set up the platform in their
country.
- the necessity to develop the platform through the use of open source systems and easy to use development frameworks.- the necessity to implement it according the
principles of modularity, interoperability and high customization in order to allow centers managing university internet infrastructures to set up the platform in their
country.

19. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
3. Requirements documents (version 1.0)
Assumptions and dependencies
Assumptions
the opportunity of connecting the different Extranet in order to facilitate the international
cooperation while, at same time, keeping the networks working for specific countries.
Dependencies1. The creation of university accounts automatically generate a profile page
that users, subsequently, can complete with further information while using the system.2.
Funding institutions should implement technologies such as RSS feed generator for the
pages on which they publish call for projects, deadlines and information about funding
programs. 3. Promotion within the university. A specific promotion campaign should inform
potential users of the system and give information about how to use it.
1. The creation of university accounts automatically generate a profile page that users,
subsequently, can complete with further information while using the system.2. Funding
institutions should implement technologies such as RSS feed generator for the pages on
which they publish call for projects, deadlines and information about funding programs. 3.
Promotion within the university. A specific promotion campaign should inform potential
users of the system and give information about how to use it.

20. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
3.1 Specific requirements
User requirements
- the system should allow users to customise contents and information of every macro
section without defining filters and key topics at every access.- the information and contents
of sections such as “Funds finder” should be updated often in order to avoid that
researchers keep searching information by directly access to websites of funding
institutions.- list of network members should be updated (every researcher should have a
profile page on the platform).- interface solutions should be modern and usable and provide
a good user experience.

21. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
3.2 Specific requirements
System and Integration Requirements
See page 7 of the report: Requirement documents.

22. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
3.3 Specific requirements
User interface requirements
Application mock-ups

23. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
• HomepageThe
homepage features a
payoff that describes the
core functions of the
application
It features three different
access to the registration
or sign in form.
It displays featured projects
taken from the system
database.
It displays featured projects
taken from the system
database.

24. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
2. Profile page. Updates
dashboards
The profile page features
the updates dashboard
where all notifications about
the updates are collected.
The sidebar contains the
profile pictures and the
disciplines, topics and
competences of the user.

25. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
2.1 Profile page. Profile
information
The profile page displays
the information about the
user such as the biography
and the list of projects and
publications.

26. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
3. Research starter
The research starter
presents a list of proposal
by displaying a preview with
the proposal title, the name
of the author and the
number of people following
the proposal.Proposals can
be filtered by user typology.

27. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
3.1. Research starter
with filters
Users can customize the
access to the research
starter by setting up the
preferred discipline and
topics.

28. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
4. Funds finder
The fund finder of the
Institution is a dashboard of
widgets displaying RSS
feeds from different
institutions. Users can
collect in the sidebar the list
of feeds and decide the
arrangement of the widget.

29. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
4.1 Funds finder.
Example with contents
The feeds of the funds
finder can be sorted by
priority.

30. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
5. Research finder
The research projects are
displayed according to the
topics filters. Users can set
the topics filters according to
their favorites. Two tabs
separate the research
projects in two groups: on-
going and archived.

31. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
6. Call for papers finder
The section is a
collaborative calendar with
two main tabs: general (all
conference by selected
topics) and my calls (all the
calls that users list as
favorite).

32. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
5. Next steps
1. Completion of the Requirements documents with the technological requirements
and the cost and benefit analysis
2. Completion and evaluation of the survey about the users’needs
3. Dissemination and further developments
3. Dissemination and further developments

33. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
4. Conclusions
Dissemination and further developments
1. Dissemination through the website:
http://researchsocialnetworks.wordpress.com
2. SUPSI Research Day. 6-7 September 2012.
3. Participation to the topic stream of Open Knowledge Festival: Open
research and education

34. New requirements for future users and uses of research social networking applications- SUPSI RSNA.8
Thank you