Abstract
In this overview of three Smithsonian Institution seminars on collaboration excerpted in issues of Knowledge, the seminar organizer draws on highlights of the discussions and additional sources to describe the practice and purpose of collaboration in general, as well as in a number of specific, different fields of inquiry. Looking at conditions that affect not only the opportunities for collaboration but also its likelihood of success, the author posits possible relationships among collaboration, interdisciplinarity, and specialization. Collaborative work never seems to be valued more highly than individual effort, yet it is apparently unavoidable in the world of learning, and is growing in guantity and scope.
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