Virtual Center for Collaborative Research (ViCtoR)
The purpose of the Virtual Center for Collaborative Research (ViCtoR) project is to support the development of a DDI metadata driven web based platform that provides researchers with a flexible and dynamic environment for the purposes of discovering and analyzing microdata, fostering collaboration, and facilitating the preservation of research knowledge. The platform will consist in a web-based environment that will offer users tools to manage virtual research projects (derive customized data files for a particular purpose; share files and knowledge with team members; package research outputs as enhanced publications for preservation and dissemination) and to facilitate social networking. The facility will also include tools to manage research outputs and knowledge (data, document or script libraries; researcher directories; Wiki and other collaborative tools such as chat rooms, discussion forums, news, event calendar, etc.) The project is in its pilot phase and we will present the initial version of the environment focusing on metadata exploration, dataset customization and retrieval, research project management, and knowledge capture. This work is being supported by the NORC Data Enclave (http://www.norc.org/DataEnclave) and implemented by Metadata Technology North America.