Collaborative Mode Research Articles

Toward Collective Ambidexterity in Public Sector Digital Initiatives: A Case of the Finnish Water Sector

The digital transformation era calls for digital innovations affecting the public sector, but such organizations often focus more on the efficiency and exploitation of current resources, ascribing less attention to explorative innovation. Innovation in new capabilities and technologies often require inter-organizational collaboration. In this context, public sector organizations do not operate in isolation—often engaging in interactions within their service sectors. While the contemporary literature on organizational ambidexterity primarily focuses on the balancing opportunities of a focal organization, radical sector-level development requires collaboration among various actors to achieve collective ambidexterity. Drawing on the research question of the influence of inter-organizational collaboration on the outcomes of digital initiatives, this exploratory case study on the Finnish water sector found that simultaneously operating modes of inter-organizational collaboration can facilitate different aspects of collective ambidexterity in an inter-organizational field and, consequently, the expected benefits from initiatives. Our theoretical contribution lies in demonstrating collaboration modes that can enhance specific aspects of collective ambidexterity. Accordingly, we suggest that collective ambidexterity through deliberately adopted modes of inter-organizational collaboration requires field-level facilitation in parallel with organizational ambidexterity. Furthermore, consequent practical implications for managing such collaborations are suggested for policymakers, interest groups, and the public sector.

Physiological Indicators of Fluency and Engagement during Sequential and Simultaneous Modes of Human-Robot Collaboration

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS An understanding of fluency in human-robot teaming from a physiological standpoint is still incomplete. In our experimental study involving 24 participants, we designed a scenario for shared-space human-robot collaboration (HRC) for a material sorting task. When compared to a sequential mode of interaction, the simultaneous mode resulted in significantly higher perceptions of fluency and engagement, primarily by reducing human idle time. These observations were complemented by significant changes in physiological responses, such as ECG entropy and low frequency power. These responses could predict fluency and engagement with accuracies of 90 and 97%, respectively. Notably, the perception of fluency and preferred mode of interaction were influenced by individual preferences. Hence, it is crucial to consider both physiological responses and user preferences when designing HRC systems, to ensure a positive experience with the robot teammate and to foster engagement in long-term teamwork. Furthermore, these signals can be obtained using a single robust, low-cost, and comfortable sensor.

Exploring the impact of collaboration on eco-innovation in SMEs: a contribution to the business modes of innovation framework

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to investigate how small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can effectively collaborate for eco-innovation using the business modes of innovation framework to emphasise three types of collaboration: “science, technology, and innovation” (STI), “learning by doing, using, and interacting” (DUI)-Vertical and DUI-Horizontal.Design/methodology/approachThis analysis uses data from 838 SMEs in the Basque Country (2018–2020) to evaluate the effects of the three types of collaboration on eco-innovation. The authors employ a propensity score-based method to address potential bias associated with endogeneity in innovation studies.FindingsThe findings suggest that DUI-Vertical collaboration has a positive relationship with the development of product, process and marketing eco-innovation. Furthermore, DUI-horizontal collaboration is the most effective collaboration mode for SMEs, positively impacting their overall eco-innovation portfolio. Finally, STI collaboration is positively associated with product eco-innovation.Practical implicationsPolicymakers should support SMEs by designing programmes that facilitate collaboration between competing firms to stimulate eco-innovation, but potential challenges of coopetition must be addressed. Rather than a generic, one-size-fit-all approach, SMEs' managers should identify the most appropriate partners corresponding to their specific eco-innovation goal, ensuring a more effective and targeted. Collaboration between science partners and SMEs should be reinforced by approximating the SMEs' needs more effectively.Originality/valueThis study contributes twofold. Firstly, the authors investigate whether the STI and DUI modes of innovation are determinant factors in the introduction of various types of eco-innovation. Secondly, the authors contribute to the literature on business modes of innovation by differentiating between DUI-Vertical (i.e. suppliers, customers and consultancy) and DUI-Horizontal (i.e. competitors) collaboration, thus highlighting the complexity of DUI collaboration forms.

Beyond ‘equitable partnerships’: the imperative of transformative research collaborations with Africa

Debate on the need for more fairness in academic research collaborations between actors in Africa (or the ‘Global South’, broadly) and counterparts in the Global North has intensified in recent years, while practice-oriented frameworks and efforts to foster more equitable partnerships have proliferated. Important approaches to recognise and undo asymmetries in concrete collaboration arrangements – division of labour, decision making, access to rewards, capacity building – have been identified. In this provocation we draw on African and other postcolonial, decolonial and feminist scholarship, as well as systems thinking and global science data to argue that such ‘equitable partnerships’ efforts at best sidestep the urgent need for a much more profound rebalancing of the positioning of Africa and ‘Global North’ in the worldwide science and research ecosystem as a whole. We consider why such wider rebalancing is an imperative for both Africa and the global community, propose that research collaborations must be understood as a key entry point for advancing such a systemic shift, and suggest a necessary transformative collaboration mode to this end. We conclude by positing an urgent need to think and act beyond ‘equitable’ partnerships and highlight where responsibilities for action must lie.

Learning by Doing: Educational Tourism at Mount Danxiashan

Summary Educational tourism is a fast-growing market in China. Since Mount Danxiashan was listed as a Global Geopark and World Heritage Site in 2010, educational tourism has rapidly grown in the local community, becoming a flagship tourism product. This makes Mount Danxiashan an informative case for understanding educational tourism development and community participation. The present case study has two foci. First, we articulate the stakeholder collaboration mode at Mount Danxiashan. Various stakeholders, including but not limited to the administrative authority, research and education institutes, and local communities, co-determined to develop educational tourism as the best practice for local resources. The collaboration mode and the educational focus are critical in sustaining local development. Second, we depict the learning trajectory of the local community. Led by local intellectual elites, residents acquired both tourism- and nature-related knowledge and participated in educational tourism. This enabled them to design and deliver nature and heritage education curricula for tourists. Moreover, this process encouraged and empowered villagers to co-create new knowledge. Information © The Authors 2023

The TikTok of Teaching: The Pedagogical Possibilities of Collaborative Digital Ethnography

Working collaboratively with students, lecturers, and others, to conduct digital ethnography enriches the ethnographies produced, expands pedagogical possibilities, and allows us to rethink how we teach and do research in anthropology. This Special Issue is an output of such a collaborative attempt. In this Editorial we introduce the TikTok Ethnography Collective and the collaborative mode of research and learning we established in September 2020. The articles we have collated demonstrate that collaborative ethnographic methods are the ideal tool for researching algorithmically shaped digital spaces. But more than this, by sharing our collective experience, we make the case for incorporating collaborative methods into anthropological teaching and learning in order to disrupt traditional, hierarchical models of education and research. We propose that inclusion of students in the research process is imperative for facilitating a safe, creative sandbox environment that allows staff and students to explore and formulate theories and reflections somewhat liberated from the expectations around who should and should not be the expert. We invite readers to join us in considering the broader implications of embracing collaborative research and teaching methods.

A half-century of global collaboration in science and the “Shrinking World”

Abstract Recent decades have witnessed a dramatic shift in the cross-border collaboration mode of researchers, with countries increasingly cooperating and competing with one another. It is crucial for leaders in academia and policy to understand the full extent of international research collaboration, their country’s position within it, and its evolution over time. However, evidence for such world-scale dynamism is still scarce. This paper provides unique evidence of how international collaboration clusters have formed and evolved over the past 50 years across various scientific publications, using data from OpenAlex, a large-scale open bibliometrics platform launched in 2022. I first examine how the global presence of top-tier countries has changed in 15 natural science disciplines over time, as measured by publication volumes and international collaboration rates. Notably, I observe that the United States and China have been rapidly moving closer together for decades but began moving apart after 2019. I then perform a hierarchical clustering to analyze and visualize the international collaboration clusters for each discipline and period. Finally, I provide quantitative evidence of a “Shrinking World” of research collaboration at a global scale over the past half-century. My results provide valuable insights into the big picture of past, present, and future international collaboration.

Collaborative modes of audiovisual media: literature review and conceptual proposal

ABSTRACT There is no consensus on the definition of participatory or collaborative practices in relation to audiovisual media. The same term has been used to name a range of similar practices although they have important differences that should be described. Moreover, different terms have been used to refer to the same practice. The present article provides a conceptual proposal for this mode of creation, which originated and has been essentially developed in the field of non-fiction. We first conducted a systematic review of the literature, which corroborated the starting premise and allowed us to propose the concept ‘collaborative modes of audiovisual media’ compared with other terms that are currently employed. We then explored the characterisation of the object of study and the historical uses of the different concepts that are applied to this type of audiovisual creation. The definition obtained recognises the plurality of the concept and reveals its basic characteristics. Then, we have compared this notion with recent contributions on collaborative creation in the context of digital communication. In conclusion, this article offers a theoretical model to further research this object of study, acknowledging the differences among practices and facilitating a deeper insight into the productive connections that they share.

The Place-based Work of Global Circulation: Maritime Workers, Collaboration, and Labor Agency at the Seaport

How does place influence the work of global circulation, and how might that work enroll hitherto overlooked modes of collaboration, power, and agency? Geographers recentering labor in analyses of global production and circulation emphasize the labor–capital relation and employer control versus employee resistance. This can limit empirical and political prospects. Instead, we foreground two additional relationships: collaborative relationships of trust between workers across roles and organizations who coordinate circulation together; and relations between workers and place that unfold as tasks are completed amid challenging oceanic and climatic forces. Such relationships are forged by the need to collaborate and provide the foundation for transverse exercises of labor agency. To illustrate, we take to the water with maritime workers (marine pilots, tugboat operators, and liners), observing how shipping circulation is maintained. Seaports are idiosyncratic places—gateways and chokepoints for global circulation experiencing oceanic and atmospheric extremes. Coordination problems are pervasive. Disruption risks require maritime workers to collaborate in place to ensure circulation occurs through place. Demonstrating how the ocean's lateral forces mediate circulation, we emphasize three features of an on-water, place-based labor process: (1) choreographed coordination, (2) situational awareness, and (3) combined multidimensional skills. Navigating a labor process conditioned by the sea, port workers collaborate to manage risks and maintain circulation. In so doing, they also preside over risk and circulation. We argue for collaborative relationships and transverse expressions of agency to feature more prominently in analyses of the diverse, place-based, and interconnected labor upon which capitalist circulation depends.

The ‘Other Talk’: a co-design study of board games for cross-generational communication of life-and-death issues

ABSTRACT This study presents the collaborative design experience of developing a cross-generational communication game about life-and-death issues. The research activities involved two groups of end-users from different generations, who were tasked with working together to build tools that would encourage a deeper communication between them. To overcome limited knowledge on serious game design and encourage participation, this study utilises an experimental approach that involves a series of workshop activities following a design circle. The results indicate that engagement among cross-generational participants can be enhanced by involving a small, mixed group and utilising structural design materials in the co-design process. The groups developed a collaborative mode of task-oriented and ability-based division of labour to develop the game. This approach also stimulated individuals to take on multiple roles, that is, users, testers, informants, and design partners, and shift between roles as the group dynamic, supporting materials, and design stages evolve. Additionally, this collaborative process encourages participants to reflect on their role as future end-users when communicating sensitive issues to others.

(Re)collecting Craft: Reviving Materials, Techniques, and Pedagogies of Craft for Computational Makers

This paper examines craft's foundational relations to materials, techniques, and collaborative modes of teaching and learning, and these can be called upon to strengthen and extend computational craft as practiced in fields like CSCW and HCI. Drawing from literature in HCI, craft studies and Science and Technology Studies (STS), we explore craft's modern formation at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution across three formative sites: Scandinavian Slöyd, British Arts and Crafts, and Japanese Mingei. From this review we identify three key (and still evolving) features: craft's accountabilities to natural materials and local ecologies; craft's holistic ways of making with 'head, heart, and hand'; and craft's distinctly collaborative and embodied styles of teaching and learning. We then show how these lessons can be applied to contemporary practices and pedagogies of computational making. We argue that doing so can help to rebalance computation's ecological ties and relations, recenter its practice on a sensorially rich and 'whole-self' concept of making, and support more collaborative modes of teaching and learning that are inclusive, relational, and heterogeneous.

The Social Route to Abstraction: Interaction and Diversity Enhance Performance and Transfer in a Rule-Based Categorization Task.

Capacities for abstract thinking and problem-solving are central to human cognition. Processes of abstraction allow the transfer of experiences and knowledge between contexts helping us make informed decisions in new or changing contexts. While we are often inclined to relate such reasoning capacities to individual minds and brains, they may in fact be contingent on human-specific modes of collaboration, dialogue, and shared attention. In an experimental study, we test the hypothesis that social interaction enhances cognitive processes of rule-induction, which in turn improves problem-solving performance. Through three sessions of increasing complexity, individuals and groups were presented with a problem-solving task requiring them to categorize a set of visual stimuli. To assess the character of participants' problem representations, after each training session, they were presented with a transfer task involving stimuli that differed in appearance, but shared relations among features with the training set. Besides, we compared participants' categorization behaviors to simulated agents relying on exemplar learning. We found that groups performed superior to individuals and agents in the training sessions and were more likely to correctly generalize their observations in the transfer phase, especially in the high complexity session, suggesting that groups more effectively induced underlying categorization rules from the stimuli than individuals and agents. Crucially, variation in performance among groups was predicted by semantic diversity in members' dialogical contributions, suggesting a link between social interaction, cognitive diversity, and abstraction.

Research on Knowledge Creation and Innovation Method based on Deep Learning and Human-machine Collaboration Model

Knowledge creation and innovation have reached a stage of high-quality development since the widespread application of deep learning and human-machine collaboration models. Proposing better theoretical propositions to meet knowledge creation and innovation needs in the knowledge economy is necessary by adhering to knowledge-driven innovation ideas. Based on the dynamic evolution of deep learning and human-machine collaboration model development, a theoretical analysis framework for the sustainable development of the knowledge industry is constructed according to the inherent logic of knowledge creation and innovation, which can explain the knowledge creation and innovation development mechanism jointly generated by the knowledge generation mechanism and knowledge circulation mechanism involving deep learning and human-machine collaboration mode. And continue to explore the possibility of moving towards the goal of high-quality knowledge development from the perspective of challenges, changes, and practical deductions in the development of the knowledge industry. Knowledge creation and innovative development aim to provide content that meets expected standards for the knowledge economy and is committed to continuously improving knowledge quality and enhancing knowledge satisfaction. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen knowledge control based on the deep learning quality internal cycle, build an interaction and feedback mechanism between human-machine collaboration mode and knowledge quality perception, and establish a knowledge and economic evaluation system to achieve knowledge creation and innovate high-quality development, promote knowledge economy, and truly meet social needs.

Extra cues extra views: A multimodal detection of Arabic clickbait thumbnail verbo-visual cues

In this article, we investigate how the visual, interactional, and interactive verbo-visual selections are utilized to qualify Arabic clickbait thumbnails to get extra views. To this end, we drew upon Kress and Van Leeuwen’s multimodal analysis and Hyland’s meta-discourse framework. The data comprised 100 Arabic YouTube clickbait thumbnails selected from five Arabic channels. Our analysis revealed that a fake clickbait is an ensemble of collaborative modes, each of which reflects an interplay of interactional, compositional, and representational strategic selections. Thumbnail creators tend to structure their thumbnails visually by frequently selecting negative representational actional and reactional processes to induce viewers to click the videos for further information. To accentuate the representational metafunction, the content creators opted for enticing engagement markers and interactive linguistic cataphoric cues that lead the viewers to search for the referents disguised in the videos associated with thumbnails. Emojis, sequences of exclamation marks, and consecutive dots were also used as pressure tactics to click the videos. Such results will hopefully contribute to recognizing fake visual media and raise vulnerable viewers’ awareness against such fake videos.

Bridging the Gap Between Distant Disciplines

At Taxfix, we specialise in providing consumer-facing tax services at scale, for the German market. Achieving this requires close collaboration between tax advisors and service designers. Tax advisors are traditionally trained to be precise, avoid mistakes and vigilantly guard against errors. This contrasts sharply with service designers, who are inclined to take risks, embrace uncertainty, and value creative experimentation. In this article, we share insights on our recipe for how to find a productive mode of collaboration between two disiplines which on the face of it seem to be worlds apart.

Predicting Scientist Collaboration by Multiple Motif Features

Scientist collaboration is of great significance for knowledge production and scientific development, and the prediction of connection and the intensity in collaboration networks are essential to understand collaboration relationships between scientists. In previous studies, most scholars only use local structure similarity to infer scientist collaboration modes, which leads to failure to accurately predict collaboration relationships between scientists. In this study, we propose a prediction method to identify missing links and link weight by using multiple motif features. The experimental results show that the highest improvement of performance in link prediction is 13.5%, and 86.8% in weight prediction. In addition, the correlation analysis on multiple motif features reveals topology correlation between different scientist collaboration modes. Our finding is helpful to predict link possibility and tie strength in scientist collaboration networks more accurately and understand deeply the evolution pattern of collaboration networks among scientists.

Dynamics of Collaboration Modes and Mindsets: Health Researchers’ Interaction with Stakeholders

Dynamics of Collaboration Modes and Mindsets: Health Researchers’ Interaction with Stakeholders

Online collaborative note-taking and discussion forums in flipped learning environments

As the number of students learning in online and flipped contexts grows, an important question arises: to what extent is it necessary to have places or activities where students interact regarding course content? The present paper looked at three flipped learning environments: one with no online collaboration, one featuring an online discussion forum and one involving online collaborative note-taking. The subjects (N = 178) were all graduate students taking a flipped version of an English scientific writing class at a university in South Korea. The results show that students in the experimental conditions with online collaboration (collaborative note-taking and discussion forums) outperformed peers in the control condition (no online collaboration) on individual writing assignments. Furthermore, there was a benefit in the experimental condition with discussion forums regarding students’ group writing scores compared to the control group. These results show the value of implementing online student-to-student collaboration in flipped learning contexts and that both modes of collaboration tested herein add value to students’ learning. Implications for practice or policy: Incorporating online collaborative learning activities improves performance in flipped courses. Using collaborative forums and collaborative note-taking provide similar benefits. and their implementation will improve the online portion of a flipped class. Flipped classes generally include an online lecture component but should also feature online collaboration as well.

Collaboration between Oil Development and Water/Power Consumption in High-Water-Cut Oilfields

Waterflooding is the main development technique used in the vast majority of oilfields in the world. However, as the waterflood oilfields enter the stages with (ultra-)high water cut, the water/power consumption per ton of oil remains unabatedly high. This paper presents a systematic analysis of the development stages and strategies of some typical waterflood oilfields in the world and proposes the necessity to establish a mode and technical system of collaboration between oil development and water/power consumption in mature oilfields with (ultra-)high water cut. Then, taking a pilot test area of an ultra-high-water-cut oilfield in northeastern China as an example, this paper investigates its development mode and water/power consumption; optimizes the technical strategies from the aspects of fine reservoir analysis, artificial lift system and surface gathering system; and predicts the application results. It is found that the optimizations of fine reservoir analysis and development plans effectively reduce the water consumption per ton of oil and have a certain but not remarkable contribution to the power consumption per ton of oil. Moreover, the optimizations of the artificial lift system and surface gathering system significantly reduce the power consumption per ton of oil. Under conditions of low production and low efficiency, the optimization of the artificial lift system greatly improves the energy-saving effect, which will be a focus of future research. Finally, this paper recommends measures for collaboration between oil development and water/power consumption in high-water-cut oilfields.

A Comparative and Collaborative Study of the Hydrodynamics of Two Swimming Modes Applicable to Dolphins.

This paper presents a hydrodynamics study that examines the comparison and collaboration of two swimming modes relevant to the universality of dolphins. This study utilizes a three-dimensional virtual swimmer model resembling a dolphin, which comprises a body and/or caudal fin (BCF) module, as well as a medium and/or paired fin (MPF) module, each equipped with predetermined kinematics. The manipulation of the dolphin to simulate various swimming modes is achieved through the application of overlapping grids in conjunction with the parallel hole cutting technique. The findings demonstrate that the swimming velocity and thrust attained through the single BCF mode consistently surpass those achieved through the single MPF mode and collaborative mode. Interestingly, the involvement of the MPF mode does not necessarily contribute to performance enhancement. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to note that adjusting the phase difference between the two modes can partially mitigate the limitations associated with the MPF mode. To further investigate the potential advantages of dual-mode collaboration, we conducted experiments by increasing the MPF frequency while keeping the BCF frequency constant, thus introducing the concept of frequency ratio (β). In comparison to the single BCF mode, the collaborative mode with a high β exhibits superior swimming velocity and thrust. Although its efficiency experiences a slight decrease, it tends to stabilize. The corresponding flow structure indirectly verifies the favorable impact of collaboration.