Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
13
Free and open source software for
web-based collaboration
Ben Gardner and Simon Revell
Abstract:
The ability to collaborate and share knowledge is critical
within the life sciences industry where business pressures demand
reduced development times and virtualisation of project teams. Web-
based collaboration tools such as wikis, blogs, social bookmarking,
microblogging, etc. can provide solutions to these challenges. In
this chapter we shall examine the use of FLOSS for web-based
collaboration against the backdrop of a software assessment
framework. This framework describes the different phases associated
with an evolutionary model for the introduction of new IT capabilities
to an enterprise. We illustrate each phase of this framework by
presenting a use-case and the key learnings from the work.
Key words:
MediaWiki; collaboration; Web 2.0; social networking;
teamworking.
13.1 Introduction
Pfi zer spends in excess of $7bn annually on research and development
across multiple therapeutic areas in research centres across the globe.
Within each therapeutic area are a number of separate projects, each
working to identify new medicines to treat a specifi c condition or disease.
The people working on each project come from different disciplines (e.g.
chemistry, biology, clinical, safety), may be members of more than one
project and may move between projects depending on their skills and the
requirements of the project. This results in a complex, ever-changing
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