**Another approach to research area reviews:**

The review process outlined above built upon previous thinking on research area reviews ([here](https://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/05-23-2019/thinking-through-research-area-reviews) and [here](https://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/05-24-2019/idea-to-distribute-tasks-for-a-reserach-area-review?)), which can also be broken down into more distinct phases and distributed tasks in the following way:

_Phase 1: Information Gathering_

In Phase 1, the goal is to sift through and update all the existing resources on PublicLab.org related to a topic. This could include checking in on other projects' updates as well, and if there's been a previous review, that's also a great place to start. 

_Phase 2: Convening_

Phase 2 involves hosting an [Open Call](/opencall) to bring folks together, to go through the collected materials from Phase 1, identify gaps and plan next steps.

_Phase 3: Synthesizing_

In Phase 3, the notes from the call and the newly collected materials, shared goals, and tasks are organized and shared on PublicLab.org, tying the review together in a single post. 

This table gives more details on the tasks and can serve as a template to organize the phases of a more distributed research area review: 

Phase|Task Type|Who can do this|Difficulty|Task|I'll do this! 
-------------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|-------------------------
1|Garden|Anyone|Easy|Go through posts in the area and make sure they are properly tagged|LINK
1|Share|Anyone|Easy|Post questions on the topic area you have, or that you’re not able to find answers to on Public Lab.| LINK
1|Garden|One person|Medium|Make sure the wiki page has clear format|LINK
1|Research|Anyone|Hard|Help find answers to unanswered questions |LINK
1|Facilitate|Anyone|Hard|Invite, listen to, and record new stories related to the topic |LINK
2|Share|Anyone|Easy|Attend the open topic call and collaborate |LINK
2|Facilitate|One person|Medium|Host the public online meeting for group to collaborate to: Highlighting findings, ID gaps in available resources, highlight challenges in this research area |LINK
3|Synthesize|Anyone|Hard|Review existing material and call summary and write an update post on it with materials gathered |LINK
3|Research|One person|Hard|Follow up on gaps identified from the group and post materials to help support information around those gaps.  |LINK

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        Applying any missing “tags” to research notes, question posts, and wiki pages on the current topic so they’re connected and easy to find (<a href="https://publiclab.org/wiki/website-basics#Topic+pages">find more on tags here</a>)
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