Contributed by EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and Middleware

Cyberinfrastructure is not a new technology, per se, or merely a better, faster Internet. While cyberinfrastructure brings together high-performance computing, remote sensors, large data sets, middleware, and sophisticated applications (modeling, simulation, visualization), it also involves people as participants in the generation of knowledge, giving them the opportunity to share expertise, tools, and facilities. Cyberinfrastructure merges technology, data, and human resources into a seamless whole.

The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.

Many factors influence the development of specifications and standards throughout their lifecycle. In particular, good communication and coordination between the tool users and the tool makers is critical, and the NLII sees its role as to facilitate that communication and coordination, working particularly with the IMS.

This article highlights several issues such as the specification and standards development life cycle, use case methodology and open source development. The role of IMS, OKI, and Shibboleth in this context is discussed; the University of Delaware's uPortal describes one model model for open source software development; and anoverview of NLII's involvement in the process of specification and standards development is given.