The goal of this project, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, was to build a global community of scientists who were engaged in the study of plant roots. The hard work of excavating blocks of earth and painstakingly analyzing the soil and plant material had served to isolate these researchers and harden them to the prospect of academic or even professional community. Without a common network or the tools to make sense of each other's work, they were understandably reluctant to share either their resources or their research.

One barrier to scientific sharing had been the lack of standards. To promote their development, we created an online tool with a series of adaptors so that data submitted in a wide variety of application formats, an even wider variety of measurement units, and several languages could be distilled into usable and sharable data files and distributed back over the web, understood by all.

Despite the tool being warmly received at an annual conference, participation was dismal. Following another phase of research on the situation and the audience, our team proposed a social networking website and content management system that would facilitate communication among the scientists. With the addition of research conferences, longer-term goals of building community and sharing research were also established.

Even with tools for fostering community in place, lingering distrust still prevailed. Despite the advanced scientific software we had created, it wasn't until we added user photos to profiles and discussions that participation turned friendly and skyrocketed. Such a simple feature would be unremarkable today, but this was nine years before the world heard of Facebook. Amazingly, barriers of all types began to fall and the collegiality the project sought to establish began to flourish. Soon thereafter we added all the features of a modern social networking website and the scientists began using the tools.

Creating community in any context can be fitful, with both frustrating missteps and unexpected breakthroughs. Success only came when the participants had the tools, the intention, and the experience to deepen their connections.

This project remains notable for the various aspects of the work -- website creation, content management, event management, database development, and of course sociology as well.