The reality of collaboratories Original Research Article

Advances in data acquisition and dissemination technologies, together with several other computer science technologies, provide an opportunity to define new environments for remote access to scientific instruments and collaboration between researchers at remote sites. These environments, called “collaboratories” (V.G. Cerf, National Collaboratories: Applying Information Technologies for Scientific Research (National Academy Press, D.C. Washington, 1993)), are intended to provide complete location-independent collaborative access to instruments, data acquisition and analysis resources, as well as to collaborating researchers. Over the past two years we have built a prototype collaboratory at the Spectro-Microscopy Facility of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) Beamline 7.0 at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The scientists who use the Beamline are based at different cities around the world. Before the introduction of the collaboratory, experiments at the Beamline required that multiple researchers travel to Berkeley, CA. With the collaboratory, scientists can now discuss experiments with other scientists around the world and at the Beamline, “walk” around the Beamline using remotely controlled cameras, access data as it is taken, monitor instrument parameters, and do limited control of the experiment from their offices. This paper presents the design of the prototype Spectro-Microscopy Collaboratory, and the lessons learned in providing remote access to the facility. It also presents the software architecture and components that are being developed to provide a toolkit for bringing future experimental equipment on-line.