[Air-L] Looking for Online Research Platforms or Virtual Research Environments

[Tanya Notley]

Hello all,

My apologies if this has been asked many times before; I could not find anything in the archives.

I am wondering if anyone knows if any free or cheap closed (secure) research platforms have yet been created for research collaborations. Specifically, I'm looking for an appropriate platform that can be used and customised by Third Sector Organisations. It should include a range of research tools that can be sent out to participants such as surveys and polls and a provide a place where research training manuals and other documents can be stored but also provide a secure place where research data can be uploaded, discussed and analysed. I have worked with teams who have custom built  platforms like this (using phpBB, Moodle & Sakai), but I'd have thought by now that ready-made off-the-shelf and open source options would exist that don't require additional programming and allow you to turn features on and off with ease. ??

I see that Microsoft,  in collaboration with the British Library, are in the process of developing the Research Information Centre, a virtual research environment (VRE) which sounds like it may suffice, though is not developed for original research data and analysis per se (http://research.microsoft.com/conferences/facsum2008/scholarly_fs.aspx? 0sr=a). They will apparently release the code for this soon, but it is not complete and not quite what we need.

Does anyone know of any other options?

Much appreciated!

Tanya Notley
Research Consultant