Blackboard communities have traditionally been used as communication and document storage tools for campus organizations and departments, as well as being a convenient venue for campus elections and surveys. Over the last year or so communities have also become an easy to manage place to post research materials and serve as communication hubs for those involved in campus research. Examples of very successful research communities include the Lameness Project managed by Uri Tasch, professor, Mechanical Engineering and the Ecological Research Lab which is managed by Chris Swan, assistant professor, GES.
If you are interested in having a space for your research, please contact Bob Armstrong (rarmstro@umbc.edu or 5-3885) or John Fritz (fritz@umbc.edu or 5-6596), or send email to blackboard@umbc.edu.
FYI: Armstrong and Fritz presented "Using Blackboard for Collaborative Research" at the 2006 Blackboard Users Conference in March, 2006.