The availability of the ORION and CANARIE national research networks are leading to increased collaboration between people and institutions, and now drives many of the advances occurring in research and education, suggests ORION's latest network user survey.

Representatives from over 40 Ontario institutions and organizations participated in the survey, which shows a clear trend towards greater collaborative activities in science, research and education.

The survey, which involved an online questionnaire and a series of follow-up interviews with a sample of Ontario researchers, scientists, educators, faculty, IT personnel and CIOs, reveals that collaborative activities - particularly videoconferencing - are increasing at a quick pace and that collaborative activities are likely to increase within the next two to five years.

The third such questionnaire since 2003, the survey also shows a growing awareness of ORION and CANARIE as critical infrastructure enabling advanced research and education, says ORION's Director of Public Affairs, Andre Quenneville.

"Users are increasingly aware that if they are engaged in a collaborative research or education project or activity with colleagues in other Ontario, Canadian or global R&E institutions, or when they access external databases, computational capacity, video streams, IP-based videoconferences, that their work is enabled by the ORION and CANARIE networks," he says.

Shrinking silos
One overriding finding from the survey is that collaborating with others within Ontario, Canada or internationally is becoming standard practice for universities, colleges, hospitals, research institutes and schools throughout the province. It suggests that silos are in retreat and that research and education, in practice, is increasingly multidisciplinary and involves multiple partners over several institutions.

The majority of respondents report they currently collaborate at a distance, and up to 60% expect their collaboration activities to increase. Collaborative activities - particularly videoconferencing and data sharing - have increased significantly since ORION's last user survey in 2005. Two-thirds of respondents also cited the need for tools that enable collaboration, such as resource directories or an online researcher's portal.

While videoconferencing and real-time data sharing have become cornerstone applications for collaboration, the use of other advanced technologies is also on the rise. These include collaborative work environments, collaborative visualization and joint monitoring and operation of remote devices.

The survey also echoed a call to action to accelerate the deployment of high-speed connectivity and advanced collaborative technologies, including middleware tools and access to videoconferencing facilities over the network.

Sharing large databases and collaborative datasets emerged as a common theme among survey respondents. Rather than each institution developing, storing and distributing their own materials, respondents stressed the need for common databases of information that can be shared via advanced networks, including content or access to content for schools.

While respondents are optimistic about the growing use of the networks to support their work and research, they point to barriers in achieving greater collaboration and making full use of the critical infrastructure enabled by advanced networks.

They cited staffing issues and lack of time and funding to initiate and maintain collaborations. On the technology side, several respondents mentioned the need for broadband connectivity beyond ORION's existing network to minimize latency and to better facilitate collaborations and knowledge transfer with educational and other end-user partners.

"These findings are very important to ORION because it shows that we're on the right track in providing the critical infrastructure for today's research and education community needs," says Quenneville.

Highlights of the survey will be published on the ORION web site shortly.


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