Content Repositories and Social Networking: Can There Be Synergies?

This paper details the novel application of Web 2.0 concepts to current services offered to Social Scientists by the ReDReSS project, carried out by the Centre for e-Science at Lancaster University. We detail plans to introduce Social Bookmarking and Social Networking concepts into the repository software developed by the project. This will result in the improved discovery of e-Science concepts and training to Social Scientists and allow for much improved linking of resources in the repository. We describe plans that use Social Networking and Social Bookmarking concepts, using Open Standards, which will promote collaboration between researchers by using information gathered on user’s use of the repository and information about the user. This will spark collaborations that would not normally be possible in the academic repository context.