Dialogue went one On one with Dr. Kathleen Bloom. Dr. Bloom is a member of the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network (CLLRNet) and is a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo. Her current research interests include social perceptions, acoustic analysis of voice, preverbal infant vocalizations, nasal resonance and oral language. Within CLLRNet Dr. Bloom is a research Project Leader and Chairperson of the Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) committee. Dr. Bloom is ready for your questions about networking and collaboration. You can reach her at kbloom@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca

on collaboration...

First of all I want to say that I've never had so much fun doing research. I've waited my whole career to belong to a research environment like the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network. The collaboration is exciting - it's such a new idea to social science research. For example, within psychology you could usually only study a small aspect of a problem. Now with CLLRNet - things are changing. If we want to answer important complex questions, we can work together. As an individual researcher, I couldn't provide the entire gamut of expertise to the CLLRNet research team working on Acoustic Properties of Children's Voices and Their Impact on Communication. No one person could ever tackle all the areas that this research considers. It's impossible. Our group is comprised of members who can provide us with information pertaining to each component of the project.

on networking...

Many are asking why network and how do you network? Networking is a method of addressing comprehensive research hypotheses requiring interdisciplinary solutions. Networking allows members to divide the workload of a project and in turn everyone learns more because of sharing skills and knowledge. How to network? One tip is that up front a project leader must get the group to articulate the goals of the project. The destination of the project must be anticipated from the start.

on goal setting...

In the early days of my work I found it frustrating that I could only tackle a small part of large research questions that needed to be answered. Because whatever the question was, I knew the bigger picture, but it was difficult to attract the time and attention of the experts needed to successfully collaborate and move the research forward. Within CLLRNet, the project leader facilitates the team to articulate the goals. During the research process other ideas that are exciting and wonderful may come up, but if they don't fit with the ultimate goal, they can't move the project forward. That's how Network research is done. You work together to stay on track and that's why it is so important to clearly and collaboratively set the goals at the start of the project.

on tips for collaboration...

Communicate with your team ahead of time and focus on what you need to get done in collaborative meetings. Get a whiteboard and brainstorm together. After the meeting, provide formal minutes of the meeting - this reinforces progress. As a team Project Leader it's my job to ensure that everyone knows where we are going and why. We may meet for two hours, maybe once a month, but because we know where we are going, and we stay on track, we accomplish a lot. The team is amazed at how much we have gotten done in just the first three months. For example, when we recently met at the National Centre for Audiology at The University of Western Ontario, and then at McMaster, we knew exactly what we had to achieve by speaking to two experts. We needed to vet a technical problem important for a graduate student's dissertation, and I had an Honours thesis student who needed to solve a problem in experimental design methodology. In addition, she and I needed to learn the best way to put noise into a stimulus tape that participants were going to listen to. We got the individuals together and we presented our plan. The experts voiced their opinions and we discussed the pros and cons; it was bang, bang, bang. We're done, we got it, we know what to do, and we are ready to take the next step in the project.

on generosity...

You have to be generous in a collaborative environment. Generous with ideas, time, and trust. Team members have to be interdependent and not individualistic. Remember that the project is not one person's project - it's our project. Being CLLRNet people, dedicated to a common goal, gives rise to generosity and a sense of belonging to a team.

on HQP...

As chairperson of the committee for the development of Highly Qualified Personnel or HQP, as we call them, our goals are to improve Canada's capacity to undertake leading edge language/literacy research, assist in knowledge transfer and develop the training needed to be collaborative. The next generation of research members in the language and literacy field needs to understand and learn how to network. In the future most social science research is going to be like this; it's never going back to how it was. It can't - we can't afford the luxury of not being accountable to publicly important issues like language and literacy. CLLRNet can be a tremendous model for bringing students to a point where they will demand to study and work collaboratively.

on spare time...

The centre of living for me is my cottage on the Western shore of St. Margaret's Bay (facing Peggy's Cove) on the Nova Scotia coast. Every summer I take on the rock and the climate, and challenge vegetables and herbs to grow in raised gardens. I try not to alter the natural setting too much, except for attacking the dreaded alder and blackberry bushes!

Another passion, whether in Ontario or Nova Scotia, is playing duplicate bridge. I like duplicate bridge because it's strategic, competitive, humbling and fun. The game of bridge is also about building partnerships - much like networking at CLLRNet.