Research to help multi-site organisations collaborate better using technology

The excellent IT Section of the Australian newspaper reported an interesting initiative out of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). In a year long project, UTS researcher Melanie Kan will be investigating how workers in large multi-site organisations use technology to communicate with each other.

As I mentioned in another post, I'm very interested in how we design collaborative workplaces. However it was disappointing to hear that one output of the research would be "a piece of software or a technology". IMHO I would be very surprised if they can come up with once bit of new technology that will magically improve multi-site collaboration. But let's wait and see what they come up with I guess.

BTW If you're interested in this area, have a look at Steelcase's research on workplace design, information technology and teams.