Participation and Collaboration

Groups

HydroShare is designed with social functionality that enables you to effectively collaborate with other HydroShare users. A group is a collection of Hydroshare users with a common resource landing page, that is populated by the resources owned and shared by the users in the group. A major part of this functionality includes Groups. You can create a Group for your research team and share resources within that group. Groups can be public or private, and you have control over what is shared with the group and what access group members have to the resources you share. The following group functions are available:

  • Find groups you might be interested in joining
  • Access groups you've created
  • Access a group's landing page
  • Manage group membership
  • Manage group visibility

Communities 

Communities are designed for groups to share resources more seamlessly, fostering public data sharing and open access. A community is a set of groups, which allows several differently administered groups to collaborate toward a common goal. Communities are ideal when a project spans administrative domains, e.g., universities, research groups, and/or businesses. Current examples of Communities include collaborations between large research networks and collections of universities. As communities consist of groups, an individual user is part of a community through an associated group. Resources that are both public and shared with a member Group are visible within that Community. 

The following community functions are currently available:

  • Find Communities
  • Access Groups you are member of
  • Access a Communities landing page
  • Community Membership

Commenting on and Rating Resources

Another collaborative feature of HydroShare is the ability to comment on and/or rate resources. Commenting on and rating resources is intended to add contextual value to a resource. For example, if you use a resource for a particular analysis, you might add a comment about your success or failure in doing so.