Enabling scientific teamwork

The Computer Supported Collaborative Work research community has identified that the technology used to support distributed teams of researchers, such as email, instant messaging, and conferencing environments, are not enough. Building from a list of areas where it is believed technology can help support distributed teams, we have divided our efforts into support of asynchronous and synchronous activities. This paper will describe two of our recent efforts to improve the productivity of distributed science teams. One effort focused on supporting the management and tracking of milestones and results, with the hope of helping manage information overload. The second effort focused on providing an environment that supports real-time analysis of data. Both of these efforts are seen as add-ons to the existing collaborative infrastructure, developed to enhance the experience of teams working at a distance by removing barriers to effective communication.