The purpose of the informatics core is four-fold: (1) establish a research collaboratory, i.e. an electronic infrastructure that makes it easy for participants to work together remotely, for the NYU Oral Cancer RAAHP Center; (2) describe and analyze the collaborative processes within the Center; (3) disseminate Center results to interested audiences; and (4) investigate the feasibility of improving oral cancer diagnosis and management practices using information technology-based interventions. While the vision of research collaboratories supported by information technology has been articulated numerous times, it has been implemented and evaluated only rarely in biomedical research. The first goal of this project is to support our multiinstitutional, mu1 ti-disciplinary and collaborative Center using collaborative work and knowledge management technologies. The project will first determine detailed requirements for the collaborative infrastructure and gather baseline participant, task, and interaction data. The collaborative infrastructure will be designed and implemented using commercial off-the-shelf software for applications such as Web-based workspaces; discussion lists; newsgroups; online, real-time collaboration; automatic notifications; and possibly Internet-based videoconferencing. After implementation and training, utilization data and user feedback will be collected in order to refine and evaluate the infrastructure. Collecting and analyzing interaction and utilization data will support our second goal, and help us understand how large, distributed research collaborations work. Our third goal is to disseminate NYU Oral Cancer RAAHF' Center research results to the larger biomedical community and other stakeholders. The Web and the Internet will be the main avenues for dissemination. We will build on a differentiated understanding of what information the Center's audiences need, and how they will use it. A major goal is to create a """"""""virtual community"""""""" centered on the M U Oral Cancer RAAHP Center Project to enable a shared vision of knowledge creation, development and dissemination regarding oral cancer. Lastly, the informatics core will investigate how information technology can be used to improve the diagnosis and management of oral cancer--both for the practitioner as well as the patient. We anticipate that this project will not only lend significant support to the objectives of the NYU Oral Cancer RAAHP Center, but also help gain new insights in how large scale collaborative research projects can be supported with information technology, which opportunities or needs exist for further development of tools and applications, and which informatics-related variables can positively or negatively affect project outcomes.
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