A Typology of Virtual Research Environments

Abstract

Virtual Research Environments (VREs) are online spaces that support communication and collaboration among scientists. Hundreds of VREs have been constructed using various configurations of research tools and information and communication technologies (ICTs) to serve many disciplines and interdisciplinary inquiry. This study characterizes a large sample of VREs in terms of the research and ICT resources they incorporate and derives a typology of VREs based on their particular ICT configurations. The four types are correlated with previous VRE typologies and disciplinary domains. Results indicate that there are correspondences, but that types of ICT configurations also exhibit complex relationships with function and discipline.