1.  Planned, regular collaboratory sessions stimulate a kind of frequent communication that colleagues "down the hall" might have.

2.  Establish at the onset who will do which part of the experiment and followup analysis.

3.  The difference between large and small collaboratories is not size but the informality of cross-organizational interactions.

4.  Be flexible as experiments proceed, to change who does what, depending on how it goes.

5.  When researchers visit a collaboratory facility it is probably to complete an experiment resulting in publications; if a researcher pops into a virtual room/session and discusses ideas with colleagues, there may be no direct publishable artifacts.

6.  Decide how often to have a collaboratory session -- i.e. plan to have a daily, or a weekly or a bi-weekly session...to stimulate the kind of frequent communication colleagues down the hall might have.

7.  In the long run there are proven projects which can be enhanced by using a collaboratory.

8.  "Rules of the Road" are an attempt to find a balance between differing cultures.

9.  Collaborators must commit to making frequent deposits of data, notes, etc. to a shared electronic notebook or database or other appropriate repository so all collaborators can stay up to date and so progress of the research can be as efficient as stopping by a colleague's office down the hall to take a look at data.

10.  Be direct. If you have an idea, complaint, or any comment, say it.  If you need something you must ask. Don't expect anyone to read your mind.

11.  In the Collaboratory the balance of trade in informal interaction may favor one person/culture/organization over another.

12.  Electronic interaction shifts work between collaborators.  If a researcher goes to a facility to do an experiment, they are available to help with instrument maintenance and configuration, to get supplies from the storeroom, etc.  A remote researcher is not.

13.  Trust takes time to build and the time constant is much longer when contact is less frequent due to time and/or distance.

14.  It is difficult to know what remote colleagues are doing daily since you don't pass by their office.

15.  Our inability to measure the value of informal interactions is one reason we organize--we get a common culture, i.e. people learn to provide similar amounts of informal help to each other; all the benefits of these interactions accrue to the organization; both these lessen the need to measure them.

16.  Like small-scale collaboratories, large scale collaboratories operate on trust, it just takes longer to get there.

17.  Because collaboratories are still new enough to be subsidized (we fund development of tools and creation of virtual facilities, accept papers on these topics, etc.) buys time to get the rules right.  As collaboratories become standard practice, the subsidies decrease, and the need to equalize the benefits will increase.

18.  You must get involved and get someone in the collaboratory interested in working with you on a problem.

19.  Unless collaborators embrace that collaboratory work will take extra time to get up to speed and is subject to glitches in technology and the Internet, the collaboration will be slowed down such that it will not compete as an effective alternative to traditional methods.

20.  We are at a stage where we realize that we will need 'rules of the road' but they are still ad hoc.

1. Know why the problem is important to study...enough so to get people interested in helping as well as justifying the time spent on the study.

2.  Anyone who has a real project in mind (something they want to get done that is cumbersome using travel, email, fax) probably has the right mindset to go forward (trading difficulties of real-world interactions for the (hopefully) reduced difficulties of working via collaboratory.

3.  Have some basic knowledge of the science. You don't have to be an expert, but you must be able to discuss it and provide appropriate support at your end to do what is necessary on your part.

4.  Anyone looking for the perfect solution will probably be disappointed.

5.  Be willing to participate/help with other problems of appropriate nature.  Don't expect to be helped without returning the favor at some time in the future, for some arbitrary participant.

6.  No one is an expert at everything, but everyone has some expertise in something.  We expect you to offer to share it when the right time comes.

7.    Good to expert scientific knowledge 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8.    Good communication skills 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

9.    Experience in the (scientific) techniques used 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

10.    Good computer skills /computer literacy 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11.  Familiarity with Internet technology and software (not at a programmer level, but          someone who uses a desktop PC on a daily basis and is familiar with
        spreadsheets, data processing software, etc.) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

12. Tolerance for evolving technology and practices. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

13. General team skills 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10