Clinical and Translational
Science Institute / CTSI
at the University of California, San Francisco
Profile Locally, Network Globally
Eric Meeks and Brian Turner, CTSI at UCSF
University of California Computing Services Conference, Aug 4, 2014
Research Networking
• VIVO, Profiles, SciVal Experts, many others
• Most universities have one (to several) in
place
• LinkedIn for Researchers
Users are happy with UCSF Profiles
• Helped me prepare lectures and work with students
• I found a potential book contributor
• It helps me find info about faculty
• Identify potential mentors
• Looking for research opportunities
• Great resource for finding potential research
collaborators and for PhD dissertation committees
• Helped prepare research critique
• Helped find new nursing research problems
• Found info about doctors
Networks however, are not local
• Researchers work with people across the
country and world.
• Networks thrive when free and unfettered
The research environment has changed
• Funding agencies ask/require that
researchers collaborate
• Harder problems require bigger and/or more
selective teams
• Larger networks will have more specialized
expertise
– Get the best person, not the best one close by
Challenges for Cross-Institutional
Research Networking
• Users can’t be expected to manually connect
to collaborators at other institutions.
• Data sources
• Disparate systems don’t share information
The Technologies to Connect Local
Profiles in a Global Network
• Linked Open Data and a Common
Ontology (VIVO) for data recognition
• Shibboleth/Incommon/OAuth for
Authentication
• OpenSocial to connect different
systems to common services
Linked Open Data and
OpenSocial in Action
Live Demo:
http://stage-r2r.ucsf.edu/crosslinks/index
click very slowly please….
http://stage-profiles.ucsf.edu/eric.meeks
Roadmap
(in grid format)
Links
Real/Artifact
Activities
Online
Activities
Real
Connections X Coming soon! Coming soon!
Virtual
Connections
Coming soon! Coming soon! Next Demo
Network
Content
Linked Open Data, OpenSocial, OAuth
and ActivityStreams in Action
http://activitystrea.ms/
• Webfinger
• Pump.io
• Indie Web Camp
Live Demo:
http://stage-profiles.ucsf.edu
http://stage-profiles.ucsd.edu
Roadmap
(in grid format)
Links
Real/Artifact
Activities
Online
Activities
Real
X Coming soon!
Connections (best value)
Coming soon!
Virtual
Connections
Coming soon! Coming soon! X
Network
Content
Next Steps
• Install our own ActivityStreams
server
• Consume activities from
UCSF/UCSD/USC/LBNL
• Consume activities from
R2R/Crosslinks
• Build more gadgets for displaying
and generating activities
• Share everything!
Roadmap
(in grid format)
Links
Real/Artifact
Activities
Online
Activities
Public n/a
Chatter->
Activity
Streams
Chatter->
Activity
Streams
Real
X Coming soon!
Connections (best value)
Coming soon!
Virtual
Connections
Coming soon! Coming soon! X
Network
Content
Notas do Editor
We have added as much info about them automatically as possible
Many small networks, instead of one big one like LinkedIn or FaceBook.
The mainstream and research worlds see institutional pages as much more credible than GoogleScholar, Knode, etc.
some of our biggest national news outlets are linking to our little res networking tool
NYT
WSJ
Every news story on ucsf.edu that mentions a researcher links back to their profile
Local sites can be customized for local needs
No just branding, but functionality.
This gives researchers and institutions exactly what they need/want in a RNS.
83,000 visits = average 2,769 visits/day
We let people how much and who is viewing their page. This leverages their vanity to encourage them to keep updating/enhancing their page. Google notices that pages are user-updated, often with rich content and links to other sites.
Virtuous cycle
We have a small survey that pops … surprisingly many folks do leave us substantive comments
We actually are proud of our local instance of Profiles.
Metcalfe’s Law states that the value of a communication network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users in the system: double the amount of users in your system and you will quadruple your value.
If our experience with Profiles is any indication, users are in ‘network fatigue’ and automation is a necessity.
Data sources like PubMed or Elsevier ARE ‘global’ but they’re not linked or indexed to researchers
Go to my page to show r2r data
Explain row and column header
real connections: co-authors, on a clinical trial together, met at a conference (Nik Benniik)
Virtual: follow online
Show (link)
Real Activities (publish a paper, awarded a grant, uploaded a photo
Virtual Activities (tweet or microblog, send an email, like)
http://profiles.ucsd.edu/profile/1312184 http://profiles.ucsd.edu/edmund.capparelli ecpparelli@pumpit.info
login as carol 17154@ucsd.edu
Firefox
http://stage-profiles.ucsf.edu/profiles200/francesca.aweeka faweeka@pumpit.info
Chrome
I will log in as myself in Chrome. Via pumpit and profiles
Show the demo gadget on my edit page
Find aweeka
Follow Capparelli
Do his stuff below
Go back to my edit page
Refresh
Show on phone
Log in as edmund on profiles, Edmund in pumpit.info
Go to Capparelli’s edit page
Look for json-ld and oauth folks
Mention best value
Seeing what your peeps are up to helps to engender the sense of community, and that’s important
We only flow public activities out of the system
R2R sees new pubs, narrative, photo, etc.
Targeted content page showing google analytics, messages from co-authors, etc
Share everything (network effects). Use incommon to allow folks to log into the activity stream serve
Social networking should not be a company or a platform, it should be a standard. An open standard.
Facebook will become tomorrows hotmail.
Mention best value
Seeing what your peeps are up to helps to engender the sense of community, and that’s important