This is a very interesting idea and I really hope it takes off. The people involved seem to genuinely care about the mission and I think that's a very good sign.
That said, I do have a few questions that I couldn't answer from looking at your website:
- Is funding only available within the US or are other countries considered too?
- What about existing research projects that are currently closed but intend to become open and have their data shared, would your process support that?
- Do you enforce what should be shared and how, or is it up to the leaders/collaborators? (reason I ask is because, for instance, patient data may be involved but cannot be shared)
Also, under "Phase 3: Research" > "2. Collaborative Wrap-up" you mention packaging the research. I think that's one of the biggest problems in research, it's a jungle out there (e.g. randomly formatted Excel files are still the norm in a lot of places...). Providing directions, templates, access to platforms, etc. i.e. doing a lot of hand-holding might be necessary here. I also think it would drive a lot of people to using your platform and spreading the word about it.
- Funding availability by country will depend on who our funding partners are (right now we have none).
- Yes, we could support existing projects that want to become open. Right now the site assumes people start with a "proposal stage", but we could create an option for an existing project.
- ThinkLab does not enforce what should be shared. It's up to the project leaders to declare what they intend to share, and it's up to the collaborators to ultimately decide how much of a performance bonus the research team should receive. (Partly based on how open they are with their data)
That said, I do have a few questions that I couldn't answer from looking at your website:
- Is funding only available within the US or are other countries considered too?
- What about existing research projects that are currently closed but intend to become open and have their data shared, would your process support that?
- Do you enforce what should be shared and how, or is it up to the leaders/collaborators? (reason I ask is because, for instance, patient data may be involved but cannot be shared)
Also, under "Phase 3: Research" > "2. Collaborative Wrap-up" you mention packaging the research. I think that's one of the biggest problems in research, it's a jungle out there (e.g. randomly formatted Excel files are still the norm in a lot of places...). Providing directions, templates, access to platforms, etc. i.e. doing a lot of hand-holding might be necessary here. I also think it would drive a lot of people to using your platform and spreading the word about it.
In any case, best of luck!