EDUCAUSE | Open Systems and Articles, Papers, and Reports

IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice - Corporate Edition

ckeller — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:55:01 -0600

This ECAR research study was designed in collaboration with the Association of American Medical Colleges to analyze the practices and perspectives of IT organizations that support the academic research enterprise in medical schools and colleges. As the potential of biotechnology, proteomics, informatics, computational genomics, and other IT-intensive disciplines continue to offer breakthroughs in medicine, research in these fields requires greater and higher-level technology resources for infrastructure as well as IT support and services. The study is based on the results of a web-based survey sent to 125 medical schools and colleges in the United States, as well as qualitative interviews with leaders at 10 institutions. Respondents to the survey were predominantly chief information officers or other top administrators from 50 medical institutions, yielding a response rate of 39.7 percent. The findings contained in this report echo the results of the ECAR 2006 study, IT Engagement in Research: A Baseline Study, illustrating that the role and importance of IT in research is growing, while funding and budget decisions remain difficult. A non-profit edition is available here.

Citation for this work: Nelson, Mark R. IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice (Research Study, Vol. 1). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice Roadmap

ckeller — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:27:19 -0600

This ECAR roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the 2008 study, IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice, by Mark R. Nelson. This ECAR research study was designed in collaboration with the Association of American Medical Colleges to analyze the practices and perspectives of IT organizations that support the academic research enterprise in medical schools and colleges. As the potential of biotechnology, proteomics, informatics, computational genomics, and other IT-intensive disciplines continue to offer breakthroughs in medicine, research in these fields requires greater and higher-level technology resources for infrastructure as well as IT support and services. The study is based on the results of a January 2007 web-based survey sent to 125 medical schools and colleges in the United States, as well as qualitative interviews with leaders at 10 institutions.

Citation for this work: Albrecht, Bob, and Judith A. Pirani. "IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice Roadmap" (Roadmap). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2005, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice

ckeller — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:11:35 -0600

Citation for this work: Nelson, Mark R. IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice (Research Study, Vol. 1). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Seeking Open Infrastructure: Contrasting Open Standards, Open Source and Open Innovation

ckeller — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:05:28 -0500

While “open” normally has connotations of public goods, the idea of “open”–ness has been used for decades as a competitive strategy by firms in the computers and communications industries. Phrases like “open standard,” “open source” and more recently “open innovation” have been used to refer to these strategies.

What do they have in common? Which ones really are “open”? What does “open” mean, anyway?

The author discusses the issues faced in the creation and adoption of cyberinfrastructure, contrasting firm strategies for three types of “open”–ness in the context of their respective business models.

Having Your Cake and Eating It: The e-Framework’s Service-Oriented Approach to IT in Higher Education

ckeller — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:49:23 -0500

The international e-Framework for Education and Research is helping the research and education world take advantage of the opportunities offered by the service-oriented approach.

Open vs. Closed

drupal — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:11:27 -0500

Which source is more secure? The debate rages on, but what are the real pros and cons of open or closed operating systems?

Open for Change

drupal — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 16:19:39 -0600

The author discusses the use of open source in the context of advancing learning in both secondary and higher education.

IT Engagement in Research: A Baseline Study - Key Findings

drupal — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 09:50:47 -0500

This ECAR Key Findings explores the practices and perspectives of IT organizations that support the academic research enterprise. To collect, analyze, and distribute information across an expanding range academic disciplines and geographic locations, research efforts rely heavily on IT infrastructure, people, and a broad range of IT services. Ever-larger data sets are being collected and shared, simulations and visualization are becoming routine tools, and the co-evolution of science and computing increasingly requires scientists to have solid grounding in information management.

IT Engagement in Research: A Baseline Study Roadmap

drupal — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 09:42:15 -0500

This ECAR Roadmap explores the practices and perspectives of IT organizations that support the academic research enterprise. To collect, analyze, and distribute information across an expanding range academic disciplines and geographic locations, research efforts rely heavily on IT infrastructure, people, and a broad range of IT services. Ever-larger data sets are being collected and shared, simulations and visualization are becoming routine tools, and the co-evolution of science and computing increasingly requires scientists to have solid grounding in information management.

IT Engagement in Research: A Baseline Study

drupal — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 16:58:17 -0500

This ECAR study explores the practices and perspectives of IT organizations that support the academic research enterprise. To collect, analyze, and distribute information across an expanding range academic disciplines and geographic locations, research efforts rely heavily on IT infrastructure, people, and a broad range of IT services. Ever-larger data sets are being collected and shared, simulations and visualization are becoming routine tools, and the co-evolution of science and computing increasingly requires scientists to have solid grounding in information management. This study reports the results of a variety of research initiatives: a literature review, quantitative and qualitative data from 328 higher education institutions (315 U.S. and 13 Canadian institutions), and five in-depth cases studies. In addition, ECAR published What Do Researchers Need? Higher Education IT from the Researcher's Perspective, to supplement this study.

Open Content and the Emerging Global Meta-University

drupal — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 10:29:52 -0500

Open-access projects are stimulating a broader open-content movement, which in turn is leading to the emergence of a meta-university—an accessible, dynamic, and communally constructed framework of open materials and platforms on which much of higher education worldwide can be constructed or enhanced.

Calit2: A Case Study in a Next-Generation Research Environment

drupal — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 09:55:08 -0600

In higher education, team-based, collaborative research activities, call for new modalities and methods of investigation. Calit2 is responding to this challenge by creating a next-generation research environment that includes a range of technical and nontechnical systems to foster large-scale, multidisciplinary collaborations in innovative ways. This case study explores the breadth and depth of this extensive initiative, including how Calit2 is experimenting with multiple technological methodologies to support locally based, distributed, and virtual research collaborations.

Open Educational Resources Serve the World

drupal — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 11:17:51 -0500

Sharing educational resources over the Internet provides multiple benefits, from academic collaboration to economic development.

The Importance of Open Access, Open Source, and Open Standards for Libraries

drupal — Wed, 25 May 2005 11:18:44 -0500

The open access, open source software, and open standards concepts have been garnering increased attention in the field of librarianship and elsewhere. These concepts and their benefits and importance to libraries are examined. Benefits include lower costs, greater accessibility, and better prospects for long-term preservation of scholarly works.

Free Software and Open Source: The Freedom Debate and its Consequences

drupal — Wed, 18 May 2005 15:26:49 -0500

Recently the University of Göteborg held an online course in the theory and philosophy of free software and open source. During this course a lively discussion on terminology took place, in particular the concept of freedom was discussed. Without arriving at particular conclusions the posts included views in part on the lack of user awareness on what was property within the computer, on the difference between free, gratis, and libre in different languages and cultures and the need for both a common terminology and infrastructure. This paper is not an attempt to resolve these issues but to bring these questions to the attention of a wider audience in the hope that the discussion will continue.

To most outsiders the ethics of software is not something usually considered. To most proficient computer users with a passing interest in this question the ethics of software is recognised as one of the fundamental questions in the digital rights area. To most of the latter, terms such as free software, open source, and their derivatives (FLOSS, FOSS, Software Freedom) are interchangeable. Choosing one over the other is a matter of taste rather than politics. However, to most insiders the question is not one of taste. There is a fundamental difference between the two areas even if they share a similar root. Free software is not the same as open source. The two groups differ in their fundamental philosophical approach to software and its importance to society as a whole. This paper examines the two groups' differing philosophies and explores how their actions have affected software development, access to fundamental software infrastructure, and the development of the concept of freedom.

On Open Standards

drupal — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 16:28:51 -0600

"Is interoperability and vendor independence a mirage?"

Patents, Open Standards and Open Source

drupal — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 10:52:51 -0600

The author discusses Open Standards and Open Source in the context of the European Union.

Risk Perception and Trusted Computer Systems: Is Open Source Software Really More Secure than Proprietary Software?

drupal — Tue, 21 Sep 2004 10:57:00 -0500

While Open Source software is routinely described as "more secure" than commercial off the shelf software, all available evidence suggests that there is little difference in the level of trust that should be accorded either type of system. The paper also relies on an analysis using risk perception theory to explain why Open Source is widely believed to be "more secure" than other types of software.

Open Source and Standards

drupal — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 15:04:41 -0500

This paper is from the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE). This paper discusses possible future outcomes of open standards.

Building "Open" Frameworks for Education

drupal — Tue, 16 Oct 2001 15:47:13 -0500

The authors advocate an open-source framework for learning management systems and other educational technologies.

Internet Tools Access Administrative Data at the University of Delaware

drupal — Thu, 14 Sep 1995 01:00:00 -0500

At the University of Delaware, World Wide Web tools are effectively being employed to produce multi-platform administrative applications. The Internet's free, public, outreach tools (World Wide Web, Gopher, and e-mail) have been merged with the institution's closed, proprietary administrative systems (student records, human resources, and financial management). The article describes the issues and considerations (such as access vs. security, and training and support) faced in implementing this new project. This article is a revised and updated version of CNC9435. This article was presented at CAUSE95 -- CNC9519

Designing and Implementing the CUNY Open Systems Center

drupal — Fri, 18 Nov 1994 01:00:00 -0600

The creation and operation of a high-end, technology-rich Open Systems Center at CUNY's Central Office will be presented in detail. The CUNY Open Systems Center is a development and training facility that provides formal workshop sessions in the use of new tools, and sponsors projects that prototype solutions to challenging technical problems encountered in academic and administrative computing environments at the University's 20 colleges. Like its parent institution, the Open Systems Center has been constructed as a heterogeneous computing environment. Conceived as an R&D facility for solving a variety of technical problems (such as choosing the correct platform for a particular mission critical application or experimenting with new means to publish/broadcast scholarly content), the Open Systems Center also provides opportunities for the University to share its research with the corporate world. As a controlled test environment for new products, it offers joint study opportunities for corporations to experiment safely with new technical solutions before implementing costly production systems. Paper presented at CAUSE94, the full proceedings of which are available through this Library as PUB1094.

A Distributed Computing Architecture and Transition Strategy

drupal — Wed, 16 Nov 1994 01:00:00 -0600

The strategic value of open systems to universities has been clearly demonstrated in the use of open internetworking protocols and extends to all aspects of computing. The U.C. Davis Information Technology Division demonstrated its commitment to open distributed systems by creating a new department to serve as a campus resource and to provide the staff to develop new infrastructure services. As its first order of business, the Distributed Computing Analysis & Support Department spearheaded efforts to transition existing IT systems to open systems in the Summer of 1993. An invitation was sent to the campus to attend a two day seminar on Project Athena given by Jeff Schiller from MIT. This conference provided a practical overview of the issues of distributed computing in an academic setting and provide a forum for discussing the key issues associated implementation, operations and maintenance of systems in this environment. It also served as a way to coalesce a broad based group of technical staff from many departments to work on a campuswide statement of the distributed computing architecture. This paper provides an account of the U.C.Davis experiences over the last year in defining the distributed computing architecture at U.C. Davis, developing a transition plan for existing systems and the results of the first year of implementing new infrastructure systems as part of the transition plan. Paper presented at CAUSE94, the full proceedings of which are available through this Library as PUB1094.

Data Architecture in an Open Systems Environment

drupal — Tue, 01 Mar 1994 01:00:00 -0600

This article describes the conceptual basis for a structured data architecture, and its integration with the deployment of open systems technology at Indiana University. The key strategic initiatives which brought these efforts together are discussed: commitment to improved data access, migration to relational database technology, deployment of a high-speed, multi-protocol network, and orientation to workstation-centered computing.

Establishing an Information Architecture: Integration with an Open Systems Environment

drupal — Thu, 17 Dec 1992 01:00:00 -0600

This paper describes the development of a structured Information Architecture, working hand-in-hand with the deployment of open systems technology. The key strategic initiatives which brought these efforts together are discussed: commitment to improved data access, migration to relational database technology, deployment of a high-speed, multi-protocol network, and re-orientation to workstation-centered computing.Details of Indiana University's Information Architecture are presented, focusing on the relationship of operational to informational databases, the creation of synthetic data structures and higher order "Information products," and the integration of the Architecture with local and departmental data systems. Discussion of the underlying technology paradigm addresses the integration of proprietary components with open systems solutions: mainframe/server, workstation/client, networks, gateways, and database management systems. Finally, examples from IU's Information Architecture agenda describe current and future steps in this joint effort.