Collaborative Research: IDENTIFYING FAULT LINES, CIRCUMVENTING FAULT LINE ERUPTIONS, AND MITIGATING THE EFFECTS OF FAULT LINES

对包括多个利益相关者群体的大型信息技术(IT)开发项目的研究发现，如果不注意在群体间冲突爆发时加以修复，甚至完全避免冲突，这些项目容易出现冲突升级和最终项目失败。这个项目旨在了解是什么触发了群体间的冲突，或者更准确地说，是什么引发了研究人员所说的？断层线？在参与网络基础设施开发项目的利益攸关方中，更具体地说，在GENI中，目前正在建立一个虚拟实验室的原型，以探索未来的大规模因特网。及早识别潜在的断层线及其缓解或修复对于实现积极的利益相关者互动和项目成功至关重要。这项研究将包括对Geni开发和原型社区未来三年出现的社交网络进行深入的纵向研究，采用定量和定性相结合的方法。将使用社交网络分析(SNA)来了解利益攸关方之间的通信模式，主要基于电子通信，例如电子邮件和维基帖子。定性比较分析(QCA)将用于识别定性数据中的模式，例如，从访谈、会议记录或项目文件中识别模式。Geni社交网络将在两个层面上进行研究，在开发团队内部和他们之间？在更大的精灵社区层面上。大型IT开发项目的管理具有挑战性，这在很大程度上是因为它们的规模、范围和复杂性。因此，本研究具有广泛的适用性。了解如何预见、避免或减轻冲突，有可能对项目利益攸关方以及广大社会产生积极影响，而广大社会是GENI可能刺激的创新的最终受益者。

Studies of large-scale information technology (IT) development projects that include multiple groups of stakeholders have found that such projects are prone to conflict escalation and eventual project failure if care is not taken to repair intergroup conflict as it erupts or even to avoid it entirely. This project aims to understand what triggers intergroup conflict, or, more precisely, what the researchers call ?faultlines,? among stakeholders engaged in cyberinfrastructure development projects and, more specifically, in GENI, a virtual laboratory currently being prototyped to explore future internets at scale. Early identification of potential faultlines and their mitigation or repair are central to achieving positive stakeholder interactions and project success. The research will consist of an in-depth longitudinal study of the social networks emerging in the GENI development and prototyping community over the next three years, using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Social Network Analysis (SNA) will be used to understand the communication patterns among stakeholders, primarily based on electronic communications, e.g., email and wiki postings. Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) will be used to discern patterns in qualitative data, for example, from interviews, meeting minutes or project documents. The GENI social network will be studied at two levels, within development teams and across them ? at the larger GENI community level. The management of large-scale IT development projects is challenging, in large part due to their sheer scale, scope and complexity. As a result, this research could have broad applicability. Understanding how conflict can be anticipated, avoided or mitigated has the potential to positively impact project stakeholders as well as the broader society, which is the ultimate beneficiary of the innovations that GENI may stimulate.