EDUCAUSE | Grid Computing

An Interview with David Walker

mpasiewicz — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 10:12:11 -0600

In this 14 minute recording, George Brett hosts David Walker for an interview on, among other things, a range of issues related to identity management.

An Interview with Greg Jackson

mpasiewicz — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 16:03:08 -0500

This 27 minute recording provides coverage of an interview with the University of Chicago's CIO, Greg Jackson. Listen in as Marilu Goodyear hosts a discussion about patents, cyberinfrastructure and the propsects for a merger between Internet2 and NLR.

An Interview with OCLC's Thomas Hickey

mpasiewicz — Fri, 19 May 2006 17:02:00 -0500

In this 23 minute recording, OCLC's Thomas Hickey was kind enough to join me via Skype to talk about open source software, grid computing, AJAX and a range other topics related to the work of OCLC Research.

7 Things You Should Know about Grid Computing

ecoghlan — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 18:24:22 -0600

A snapshot of what grid computing is and its value to teaching and learning is offered in a new ELI brief, 7 Things You Should Know About Grid Computing.

An Interview with Rice's Charles Henry

mpasiewicz — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:12:00 -0600

In this 17 minute recording, I sit down with, Charles Henry, Vice Provost & University Librarian at Rice University. Among other things, we'll talk about SHOAH and the ACLS Commission on Cyberinfrastructure for Humanities and Social Sciences.

This interview is provided courtesy of CNI and was recorded at their 2005 Fall Task Force Meeting. The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) is an organization dedicated to supporting the transformative promise of networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity. You can learn more about CNI at their web site, http://www.cni.org

An Interview with MIT's MacKenzie Smith

mpasiewicz — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 14:05:00 -0600

In this podcast, I speak with MIT's McKenzie Smith about the Science Commons, governance of DSpace, The MIT Libraries' investigation of Semantic Web technology via their SIMILE project, grid computing vis-a-vis the SDSC Storage Resource Broker, and digital preservation.

To learn more about the activities of the MIT Libraries,
you can view their annual report at the url below:
http://libraries.mit.edu/about/annual/ar05/technology.html

This interview is provided courtesy of CNI and was recorded at their 2005 Fall Task Force Meeting. The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) is an organization dedicated to supporting the transformative promise of networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity. You can learn more about CNI at their web site, http://www.cni.org

An Interview with Tara McPherson about the Vectors journal

mpasiewicz — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 13:30:00 -0600

In this 22 minute recording, I sit down with the Tara McPherson, Chair and Associate Professor of Critical Studies in the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California and editor of Vectors. We'll talk about her involement in HASTAC, what she's learned from Vectors and emerging forms of scholarship more generally.

You can review the abstract for her session at CNI at the link below:
http://www.cni.org/tfms/2005b.fall/abstracts/PB-reimagining-mcpherson.html

Other podcasts of interest might include Open Talk About Dinosaurs and John Seely Brown's presentation at the University of Colorado System's Teaching with Technology Conference.

This interview is provided courtesy of CNI and was recorded at their 2005 Fall Task Force Meeting. The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) is an organization dedicated to supporting the transformative promise of networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity. You can learn more about CNI at their web site, http://www.cni.org

An Interview with Microsoft's Tony Hey

mpasiewicz — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 11:44:00 -0600

In this 21 minute recording, I sit down with Tony Hey, Microsoft's VP for Technical Computing.

Let's listen in as he compares e-science research in the US and UK, talks about the prospects of multicore computing, shares his thoughts on the NSF's cyberinfrastructure report, and sheds some light on the challenges of working with very large, high throughput datasets ... the raw materials of research.

He also briefly touches on the UK's Open Middleware Infrastructure Institute (OMII) and as well as their Digital Curation Centre ... an attempt to bring scientists, computer scientists and librarians together to to tackle issues involvingcuration and preservation of massive amounts of data.

More on Tony Hey
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/tonyhey/default.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/may05/05-17HeyPR.mspx
http://www.cni.org/tfms/2005b.fall/plenary.html

Sorry, I couldn't help but think of REM when Tony began to talk about multicore chips
It's the end of Moore's Law as we know it -- and I feel fine ... ;)

This interview is provided courtesy of CNI and was recorded at their 2005 Fall Task Force Meeting. The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) is an organization dedicated to supporting the transformative promise of networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity. You can learn more about CNI at their web site, http://www.cni.org

A few articles on grid computing ...

mpasiewicz — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 11:18:00 -0500

Wikis, identities and grids
http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3706

Enterprise Grid Computing - Hype, Hope and Reality
http://www.acmqueue.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=324

JISC launches Data Visualisation Support Network; a brief mention of grids for data visualization ...
http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3708

The Australian e-Research agenda

catherine — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 09:38:00 -0500

The Australian Government has signalled its interest in e-Research, and has mandated a committee to conduct a major consultation exercise. The inquiry will be assisted by a broad e-Research Reference Group drawn from stakeholders and industry.

It seems superfluous to list all of the potential benefits of e-Research for Australian industry and society. Suffice to say, this initiative is timely, and it's a shame the consultation period couldn't be extended past July 8.

Skating over some of the fluffier bits of the consultation document (e.g. ICT characterised as "[it] develops very quickly"-no, really?), we find its argument targets collaborative working and capacity building. In theory, the document places an equal emphasis on the trinity of infrastructure (starting with AARNET / AREN), coordination, and governance. But the main emphasis is on cultural change.

This may surprise some readers, particularly those in the UK, who have watched as newly-created organisations like NCeSS trumpet the benefits of the Grid and high performance computing. But there are important reasons why the focus is not on the technology.

To hint at why this is so, I will simply remind readers of the phrase "the tyranny of distance", coined by the Australian historian Geoffrey Blainey in the mid-1960s. Blainey's phrase describes the impact of geographical isolation on the modern Australian economy, society, and collective psyche. (Geoffrey Blainey, The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australia's History (Melbourne: Sun Books, 1966).

Thank goodness, things have improved since the heady days of the 19th century, and the beginnings of the national communications infrastructure. (For fascinating snippets of info, see this highly relevant article by Ann Caplan.)

But the fact of distance remains, and it affects every aspect of Australia's research capacity building, and by implication, the ability to build an Australian "knowledge society."

The tyranny of distance has real economic effects. Last month, the Australian Computing Society released its annual report on ICT import and export trends, showing that Australia's import deficit on ICT goods and services has reached a worrying AUD 19 billion (yes, billion).

But human capital is implicated, too. An issue not even mentioned in the consultation paper, and one close to my own heart, is e-Research's potential to bring expatriate Australians closer to home.

More than a million Australians currently live and work overseas - representing a considerable proportion of a nation with a population of 20 million. (Here's some up-to-date research on the distinctive profile of this group).

Australians leave the country of their birth for many reasons, but many of us (myself included) would favour the establishment of closer ties - economic, social, cultural - with the place we still call home. E-Research has the potential to help close the gap. Australian expats would welcome leadership from industry and government on this issue.