
D. RIOS ET AL.
Perhaps the biggest surprise encountered while working with
the community prototype was the student’s unexpected interest
in documenting their effort. Students participating in research
experiences will commonly work long hours and, at times,
engage in activities that do not directly pertain to their research,
such as instructing other st udents on performing laboratory te ch-
niques. Normally, all this work and effort is not reflected in the
student’s research output, nor recognized by their mentor and
others. Unexpectedly, we found that students appreciated that
by conducting their research activities within the SRO commu-
nity, these efforts were both documented and made available to
their mentor. For example, a “Time Card” was added for stu-
dents to clock in and out of the laboratory. Although useful to
the mentor in managing the laboratory and monitoring student
effort, it was initially feared that students would find this tool a
burden, intrusive or even accusatory-surprisingly, the opposite
was true. Students were actually very upset when, due to a
downed server, they could not record their time spent working
in the laboratory. Students would even contact the Commu-
nity’s Administrator and demand that they be credited unre-
corded time. The student’s high level of interest in documenting
their effort has influenced greatly the design of student-oriented
tools to document student effort. Based on this finding, func-
tions that give students a community rating are also being de-
veloped. For example, a student that is in the top 5% for help-
ing other students with skill learning will be recognized on the
community (i.e., a special community title, etc.)
Creating a Data Management Model for a National
Web-Based Community
From the information technology and computer science per-
spective, SRO is a complex computer-based information sys-
tem that involves human and computational resources to gather,
process, analyze, and preserve data. The importance of a well-
defined data model for SRO ca nnot be underestimated. T hrough
the course of several years, as the prototype software was de-
veloped and tested in the production environment, an ad-hoc
approach to data modeling and database design “on-demand”
was in use. The experience and insights gained from this proc-
ess enabled us to take SRO’s data model to the next level using
a three-step methodology commonly employed for designing
relational databases.
The conceptual data model serves as the first and most com-
plex step in the database design process. Data collection and
management in SRO relies on the extensible conceptual data
model designed using the entity -relationship methodology (Che n
1976), the diagram of which is presented in Online Resource 1.
Entity types (rectangles) and relationship types (diamonds) in
the diagram are organized into 17 modules (shaded boxes) that
support different functional requirements of the SRO system,
including the recording of information about community mem-
bers, their roles, education, employment, research activities,
projects, certifications, scholarships, grants, assessments, pres-
entations, and so forth. As the system evolves, new modules
can be added or existing ones can be extended to address new
requirements.
The design of the relational model (Codd, 1970) is the next
step in the design process. Using standard procedures, the SRO
entity-relationship model is translated into a relational model
(also referred to as a logical data model) resulting in approxi-
mately 100 relations with various integrity constraints (not sh own
in this work). These integrity constraints ensure that the data
stored in the database will always be in a consistent state that
reflects the real community.
The third step in the design process is creation of a physical
data model based on the relational data model obtained in the
previous step. The physical data model is represented by a set
of statements written in Structured Query Language, which can
be executed to create a database schema in a Relational Data-
base Manageme nt Sy stem (RDBMS ), such a s MySQL ( MySQ L ).
In addition to the tables that store the data, the resulting data-
base schema includes a number of indices that can support effi-
cient querying of the database and multiple triggers, which are
automatic procedures that maintain data integrity.
We expect that as the SRO community grows, both mentors
and students will need SRO to provide the functionality neces-
sary to track collaboration data not contemplated in our current
design. Perhaps the greatest benefit achieved through our data-
base design process was the creation of an open-ended model
that supports both the growth of the community and the future
addition of new community roles and student activities.
We are currently in the process of building a web-interface to
interact with the database that replicates the main functions,
tools and architecture developed in the SRO prototype, along
with new capabilities. This web-interface will allow community
members to easily interact with SRO without requiring them to
have knowledge of the underlying data model.
New SRO Capabilities
While developing the SRO prototype, due to the high level of
effort/resources required, it was not feasible to develop the
temporary prototype software to support and test three commu-
nity needs. However, these needs are being addressed in the
national web-based community currently under development,
and are discussed below.
“Kids” Are Also Members of the Community
The SRO prototype community was primarily designed for
undergraduate and graduate students and their mentors. How-
ever, there is a very large body of younger students that par-
ticipate in research via this nation’s Science Fair program. Al-
though the student-mentor structure of the SRO research com-
munity would work well for student researchers participating in
the Science Fair, the community could be improved by adding
tools specifically for their unique needs. Unlike university stu-
dents, science fair students are much less experienced and ra rely
have a dedicated full-time mentor to assist them. We are there-
fore interested in taking advantage of the SRO community s truc -
ture by facilitating student-student mentorship, where college
students can assume the community role of a mentor for Sci-
ence Fair students, thereby promoting the participation of uni-
versities in the national Science Fair system. We would also
like to provide Science Fair students with special tools that will
help them develop their projects in compliance with the Scien-
tific Method. Unquestionably, helping to motivate and educate
these younger researchers is an exciting challenge in which the
SRO community can play a significant role.
Communities Benefit from Experienced Elders
As a student begins her/his research, perhaps through par-
ticipation in the Science Fair, followed by undergraduate and
post graduate studies, the student gains a wealth of experience,
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