Web Seminars Contributed by EDUCAUSE, High-Performance Computing, Presentations/Speeches, and EDUCAUSE Live!

Researchers are interested in cyberinfrastructure developments because IT enables not only greater efficiency in their work but also entirely new modes of research. Theoretical insights, shifts in research practices and organization, and even a redefinition of research subjects and questions are among the fundamental and far-reaching consequences of these changes. Current trends are the latest phase of a long history of interactions among information and communication technologies, theory, and research methods for knowledge production. Today, IT units are increasingly understood to be active collaborators in the research process. In turn, engagement with research offers opportunities for IT resource development and improved relationships with other units on campus. This presentation will provide an overview of the relationships between IT and research, focusing in particular on what researchers need in the 21st-century technological environment.

In many cases, the development of IT infrastructure in support of university research enterprises has been left to find its own way. Researchers have often had develop their own computing, information, and networking resources, while central IT organizations have perhaps been most occupied with desktop and server support, Web applications, instructional systems support, and administrative systems responsibilities. Today, with mounting competitive pressures, growing regulatory responsibilities, and increasingly complex cost issues, a case can be made that campuses should also be actively engaged in planning how they want IT to support their research enterprises.