Remote Collaboration on protocols.io
As the scientific community continues to adapt to the shift of working remotely, we aim to provide researchers with the necessary tools in order to improve the replicability of their work.
protocols.io can be used to manage all of your research data and protocols in one secure location, allowing you to save time and keep your work organized.
You can collaborate from anywhere, anytime, by utilizing the protocols.io platform as a digital tool. Explore some of the functionalities below to learn more about how to enhance remote collaboration.
File Manager, Workspaces, Editor
The protocols.io features aim to bring structure to your research, while improving collaboration.
The File Manager is the central place on protocols.io for all your protocols, documents, collections, experiment records, and any other files you may need. You can seamlessly import or export files to and from your computer using Dropbox, Google Drive, and more.
Workspaces on protocols.io provides a place to collaborate with other researchers by creating or joining a workspace for your lab, organization, or field of research. Workspaces offers secure file sharing, commenting features, and a fully integrated task manager. This allows you to collaborate remotely with colleagues and team members.
Next, we have the protocols.io Editor, which allows you to create an easy to follow and well documented interactive and dynamic protocol. In the editor you can create protocols, documents or collections with advanced components.
The protocols.io editor provides — concurrent editing for teams, workspace commenting functionality, and a detailed editing history is provided with the ability to roll back changes.
Versions, Forks, Discussions
protocols.io also offers other functionalities to help improve digital collaboration.
Forks — If you are using a protocol in a slightly modified version, you can clone any public protocol. A fork is your personal version of the protocol, which you are able to edit privately and make any modification to.
Versions — As an author of a protocol, you can create a new version of a protocol at any time. The older versions will still be available but clearly marked as outdated. Multiple versions of a protocol can also be compared with each other using the Compare button which highlights the differences between the two versions (or original and fork).
Discussions — You can also add comments on any protocol through the comment function on the right-hand side of each protocol. Comments can be made on a step-level on an individual step of the protocol, or on a protocol-level for comments regarding the entire protocol. When a comment is added, the authors of the protocol and everyone who is following the protocol will receive a notification about the comment.
To learn more about how to utilize protocols.io as a digital collaboration tool, watch our webinar here.