CSIRO Network Project
Finding the right skills, expertise and experience for a project, or asking for advice is challenging in large organisations. We defer to our personal contacts and ‘alternative’ channels in our search (friend-of-friends, LinkedIn network). This takes time and we might not find the right person.
Using an organisation’s existing information, systems and data for clues, allows users to join the dots and seek out the capability and expertise they need.
The CSIRO Network platform
Network is a data-driven rich online capability discovery platform. It joins up information systems and data repositories from human resources, publications, project management and staff profiles to ‘discover’ people and capability.
Network gives users the ability to explore information about people and their collaborations through several interlinked perspectives. The interwoven connections between people and their collaborations form a rich and complex network that users can search, explore and navigate.
The process
Network connects up multiple sources of information across an organisation. It uses novel integration technologies and approaches. Network has been applied to CSIRO, which has over 5000 staff members located in many sites across Australia. The innovation challenge was re-imagining how to leverage the value of data that is already available across organisational information systems and data repositories. The design process (Figure 1) follows a pathway of developing the model, harmonising the data, designing data visualisations and designing integrated and contextual views.
Figure 1. Design process for developing CSIRO Network
The result
Network gives users access to over a million interlinked connections across CSIRO’s organisational data, publications and staff profiles. Visualising data in interesting and interactive ways allows users to understand complex data from multiple sources quickly and easily. A staff member’s collaboration network can be viewed to understand linkages (Figure 2) and publications can be viewed as much more than just a list of references (Figure 3).
Data visualisation 1: Viewing a collaboration network
Figure 2. Data visualisation of a person’s collaboration network
Data visualisation 2: Research publication footprint
Figure 3. Data visualisation of a person’s research footprint. Horizontal axis: publications over time. Vertical axis: Subject areas/field of research codes. Colour intensity: activity within an area.
Applications to the environment domain
The underlying technologies developed by Network can be applied in earth science and environment domains. Using Network’s technology, data can be explored, interpreted and acted upon using sophisticated views of environmental assets, observation equipment, and community assets.
Interested?
We are looking to partner with organisations that have a similar organisational need of capability discovery.
If you interested in a demonstration or would like more information about the Network platform, contact us here.