Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!
August 22, 2019
By Julianna Mullen
Since the OA Information Exchange’s launch in February 2018, our community has grown to more than 800 members! We’re an increasingly international cohort, and as of July 2019, more than 20% of our users come from outside North America. (Click the map for an interactive version, or visit this Data Studio table of user countries.)
One of the great things about the site is that any member can request to form a new team, which is how the Canada and OA Med Hub teams came to be. The Global Ocean Acidification Observation Network (GOA-ON) team was originally created to facilitate the development of low-cost kits to measure ocean acidification, but we broadened the purview to encompass the collaborative needs of the entire GOA-ON network. Want to learn more about the OA Information Exchange’s teams? Check them out here.
A bigger community means more communication, which means the leaders of the OA Information Exchange have been working to keep the forum in line with member needs. We clarified our official mission statement and goals, and the Community Manager, with feedback from the Steering Committee and members, created a set of Participation Guidelines that outline the community’s shared values.
Yes, the OA Information Exchange is a forum for professionals, but professionals are humans, too! That’s why we made sure to explicitly state that diversity of contribution, experience, expertise, people, and thought are foundational principles. (If you’re interested in reading the Participation Guidelines and learning more about our shared values, you can access the full document here.)
Of course, we’re also continually refining the site’s tools and features to improve our user’s experience. In the past few months we’ve added a “Like” button and changed how updates are displayed: posts with new comments now automatically go to the top of the Member Homepage feed. We have some more site feature updates planned for the coming months, so stay tuned!
Do you have questions or comments about anything you’ve read here? Have an idea for a new feature? Want to start a new team or learn more about the community? Email the Community Manager or use the Contact form to get in touch!