Ways to use SciSpace

Ways to use SciSpace

SciSpace.net is a framework with a lot of flexibility. A lot of this comes from the many ways there are to use the concept of 'communities'. Here are a few different ways to use SciSpace.net:

Public communities with open membership

Some communities are best run in both an open and public way. These are typically communities interested in generic science and technique issues. The strength of these communities lies in their wide membership. An example of such a community on SciSpace.net is the Geobrowsers community, which has the aim of sharing information about tools that can be used to visualise environmental data.

Public communities with moderated membership

There are some groups of researchers who will see communities in SciSpace.net as providing an opportunity for 'publication' of their ideas and outputs. This approach replaces what would previously have been represented by a web site, but avoids the overheads of setting up the web site, uses the opportunities SciSpace.net provides for group authorship, and exploits the public exposure of SciSpace.net. One example on SciSpace.net is the Help community.

Private project communities with closed membership

Project-based communities can use SciSpace.net to exchange information, engage in discussion, and share files; the different content tools provide both the essential flexibility and structure simultaneously. SciSpace.net provides the controls over privacy and access that are required for projects that need some information to remain private to members of the project some of the time, but may also want other information to be public.

Small private collaboration communities with closed membership

These communities may be more ad hoc than project communities, and often much smaller. SciSpace.net provides the environment to enable 2-3 researchers to structure their discussions and share data. The example Åkermanite community provides an example of this way of working.

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