Since this reporting system should be integrated with the information infrastructure (central nervous system) of the building, we decided to integrate it in a webapp that is to edit and access from everywhere, so that the information can be directly presented on screens or information boards in the faculty building. As such the editing and posting of information would be live, without the intervention of a webmaster or other personnel. Since maintaining and updating the reporting system requires a little effort of the participants, we thought that it would be necessary to incorporate an incentive/reward system. The first incentive would be that of prestige, when one’s article is featured on central information board or website or when a page receives a lot of visitors. Another way of rewarding people could be to offer them the opportunity to give presentations to larger audiences or lectures to students if their was sufficient interest in their research. However, this should not be done exclusively based on pageviews: interesting projects could also be selected by a jury and offered the opportunity to present.
The website makes it possible for research groups to present their research. They can write an article explaining their importance, goal, methods and solutions which they want to share. All the articles will be collected and put into one pool. The website will be representative for the innovations of the faculty, and can be presented on central information screens in the faculty building. On the main page, users will see flashes of the most important results and creative projects. The user will be able to filter the articles on different criteria as research group, author, subject, importance of the research, creativity, popularity,.... . This way, students can make contact with researchers or professors and start cooperation for thesisses, PhD’s and so on. This way, interesting research can be rewarded by extra attention which can lead to new opportunities such as presentations for a bigger audience, student lectures or international conferences. As in nature, a rewarding system will be the drive to success.
