Pushing frontiers in the use of collaborative technologies for science, a second NAI Workshop Without Walls on “Molecular Paleontology and Resurrection: Rewinding the Tape of Life” was held on November 8-10, 2010.

Organized by scientists from the NAI teams at Georgia Institute of Technology and Montana State University, the workshop was highly interactive with 29 talks presented from 19 video conferencing rooms at universities and research centers in the US, plus one in Japan and one in Canada. Several talks were given using only Adobe Connect and phone, one of these from Denmark. Talks were recorded and posted online in near real time during the workshop.

Cutting-edge origin of life research presentations were organized into sessions on: Minerals to Enzymes, Early Prebiotic Chemistry, Linking the Evolutionary Record to the Geological Record, Reconstruction & Resurrection, Molecules and Microbes, and The Evolutionary History of Protein Synthesis.

There were 567 registrants from 31 US states and 30 other countries, more than triple the number from the first Workshop Without Walls held in March 2010. Social media played a large part in publicizing the workshop when news of it “went viral” on popular science blogs such as Pharygula (PZ Meyer’s blog), Panda’s Thumb, and the Richard Dawkins Foundation website. As a result, the workshop drew participation from the public, educators and science writers, as well as researchers actively engaged in the science of astrobiology.

Participants were able to attend at videoconference rooms from their offices or homes, making travel unnecessary and encouraging broad attendance. One post-workshop survey respondent said, “It was great to see so many people participating from around the globe. It was also really wonderful to have access to so many great talks without having to leave my home institution.”

The workshop was held over three days with four hours of talks per day to make it more accessible to people in various time zones. Despite scheduling challenges, presenters and participants tuned in from around the world. Notably, Kosuke Fujishima delivered his talk at 4:35am local time from Keio University in Japan, on “Unique Split tRNA Genes Found in Archaea Suggest Gene Evolution May Have Occurred at the RNA Level.”

Participants commented on the value of learning about current work outside of their usual disciplines, as well as the breadth and depth of the workshop, which helped put topics into a wider context. A PhD student from Johns Hopkins wrote, “I enjoyed the variety of topics covered and the broader perspective of each of the presentations. I normally only hear more specialized versions of the talks and it was nice to hear the enzymology put into an evolutionary context.”

The organizing committee for the workshop was led by NAI team PIs Loren Williams of the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) and John Peters of Montana State University (MSU), and included Betul Kacar Arslan (GIT) and Eric Boyd (MSU). Their thoughtful organization of the content and their (and all of the speakers) willingness to pioneer new modes of communication and accessibility for science were key to the workshop’s success.

Making science accessible to a wide audience to better address complex scientific questions is a central goal of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. Future workshops are planned, using lessons learned from the first two. Taking a cue from the survey results and blog comments after the workshop, exploring ways to enable virtual “hallway” conversations is high on the list for future. Stay tuned….

Addendum: Below is a summary of participants’ responses to an online survey that was conducted following the Workshop Without Walls on “Molecular Paleontology and Resurrection: Rewinding the Tape of Life.”

Participants’ occupation (135 responses)
Scientist: 77% (104)
Non-scientist: 23% (31)

Participants’ physical location(s) during the workshop (138 responses)
(Note: respondents could choose more than one location)
Video Conference Room: 26.1% (36)
Office 36.2% (50)
Home: 50% (69)
Other: 3.6% (5)
Number of participants attending from multiple locations: 22

How many hours did you spend in a videoconferencing facility? (103 responses)
Less than 1 hour: 50.5% (52)
1-4 hours: 19.4% (20)
5-8 hours: 6.8% (7)
More than 8 hours: 23.3% (24)

How much time did you attend using Adobe Connect? (121 responses)
Less than one hour: 6.6% (8)
1-4 hours: 36.4% (44)
5-8 Hours: 24.0% (29)
More than 8 hours: 33.1% (40)

Did you find opportunities for collaboration? (68 responses)
Yes: 33.8% (23)
No: 32.4% (22)
Maybe: 22% (15)
N/A: 11.8% (8)

Was this workshop useful to you? (106 responses)
Very useful: 67.0% (71)
Somewhat useful: 29.2% (31)
Less useful: 3.8% (4)

Top responses to the question “What did you like most about the workshop”
Convenient
No travel required
Easy to use
Flexible
Many talks from many disciplines
Accessible
Seeing colleagues from around the country
No cost
Good user interface
Felt connected to research community

Top responses to the question “What did you like least about the workshop”
Problems with the audio
Small video window
No face time with colleagues
Didn’t know who else was attending
Wanted private chat with other attendees
Schedule was too packed, not enough discussion
Distracted by multitasking at office
Font too small in chat and scrolled too quickly
Speakers were rushed

Would you have traveled to attend in person? (120 responses)
Yes: 28.3% (34)
No: 71.7 (86)

Would you attend another Workshop Without Walls? (119 responses)
Yes: 97.5% (116)
No: 2.5% (3)