EDUCAUSE | Collaboration and Articles, Papers, and Reports

Learning Curve: Adapting Library Workspaces

ckeller — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:57:38 -0600

Student insights and suggestions help maximize collaborative and individual learning in the information commons.

Climate Change, Campus Commitments, and IT

ckeller — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:09:13 -0500

This ECAR research bulletin analyzes how several IT offices, largely at Maryland colleges and universities, are responding to the challenges issued in the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) initiative. Since it is early in developing a response to ACUPCC commitments, the bulletin also examines what these institutions intend to do in the near future. ACUPCC was organized to galvanize the U.S. higher education community to understand and act on issues surrounding climate change and sustainability. In support of this study, the authors interviewed chief information officers at 18 Maryland higher education institutions whose presidents had signed the ACUPCC at the time of the study (twelve public four-year institutions and non-degree granting research centers in the USM, four private four-year institutions, and two community colleges), as well as a representative from the University of Pennsylvania.

Citation for this work: Balakrishnan, Suresh, and Donald Z. Spicer. “IT and Campus Climate Change” (Research Bulletin, Issue 20). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Cyberinfrastructure and the Evolution of Higher Education

ckeller — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:01:00 -0500

This ECAR research bulletin discusses the role cyberinfrastructure will play as higher education evolves. Changes in the job markets, in higher education research and teaching, and in emerging academic disciplines are having a direct impact on, and will be directly impacted by, information technologies. As high-level national councils acknowledge, higher education has an enormous stake in these crucial and sweeping changes.

Citation for this work: Dede, Chris. “Cyberinfrastructure and the Evolution of Higher Education” (Research Bulletin, Issue 18). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Managing the Services Lifecycle

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:39:48 -0500

In the spring of 2008, students from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University (IU) and the Jenkins Graduate School of Management at North Carolina State University (NCSU) “virtually” came together, using a variety of Web 2.0 tools and the virtual world Second Life, to learn about managing the services lifecycle and to apply what they learned to two corporate-sponsored projects.

Happy Families, Good Fences, and Winning IT Collaborations

ckeller — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:12:46 -0500

This ECAR research bulletin introduces the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation research on successful collaborative practices in the context of higher education. It details 20 collaborative success factors and maps them to relevant examples gleaned from research on IT collaboration conducted by ECAR.

Citation for this work: Pirani, Judith A., and Toby D. Sitko. “Happy Families, Good Fences, and Winning IT Collaborations” (Research Bulletin, Issue 15). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

7 Things You Should Know About Wii

ckeller — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:53:36 -0500

The Wii is a video game system that uses a wireless controller capable of sensing position and motion, allowing users to interact with the game applications through physical movements. The controller has captured the interest of academic researchers and hackers, who have used the technology to create applications such as a collaborative choreography tool and an inexpensive, interactive whiteboard. Wii technology is used as an input device in virtual worlds and as a training tool that allows learners to perform physical tasks in a digital, risk-free environment.

In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About…" briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.

Information Sharing for IT Security Professionals

ckeller — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:32:29 -0500

Developing a network of professional contacts creates an effective support system for information sharing.

Collaborative Development: A New Culture Affects an Old Organization

ckeller — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:09:34 -0500

Using a collaborative model for developing IT projects delivered high-quality results with collateral benefits to the organization .

Intellectual Fusion

elilly — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:50:22 -0500

Things to Do While Waiting for the Future to Happen: Building Cyberinfrastructure for the Liberal Arts

elilly — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:29:26 -0500

What is the current thinking about cyberinfrastructure for the liberal arts, what models for transinstitutional collaboration and institution building are emerging, and what steps can campuses take to move this agenda forward?

Beyond Being There: A Blueprint for Advancing the Design, Development, and Evaluation of Virtual Organizations

ckeller — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:01:37 -0500

This report is based primarily on a workshop involving 42 people from academia and industry.
The goal of the workshop was to share systematic knowledge about the components, characteristics,
practices, and transformative impact of effective VOs; identify topics for future research that will
inform the ongoing design, development, and analysis of VOs for science and engineering research
and education; and create a new cross-disciplinary VO research community to conduct research across
a range of important topics. A subsequent workshop brought together more than 200 practitioners and
VO researchers to discuss how to build effective virtual organizations, and some of the material from
that workshop is represented here.

Large-Scale Open Source E-Learning Systems at Open University UK

gdobbin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 08:25:04 -0500

This ECAR research bulletin examines the factors leading to the selection of the open source learning management system at the Open University, details the many aspects of development work that had to be undertaken, and describes the issues involved for institutions participating in an open source community. It also looks at some of the many business and cultural challenges the institution has faced, and at how faculty are being encouraged to move toward a model of education incorporating increasing amounts of e-learning content and activity.

Ccitation for this work: Sclater, Niall. “Large-Scale Open Source E-Learning Systems at Open University UK” (Research Bulletin, Issue 12). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Higher Education IT and Cyberinfrastructure: Integrating Technologies for Scholarship Roadmap

elilly — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:36:51 -0500

This ECAR roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the 2008 study, Higher Education IT and Cyberinfrastructure: Integrating Technologies for Scholarship , by Mark C. Sheehan. The ECAR research study explores higher education’s involvement in five areas of research-related information technologies: high-performance computing resources, cyberinfrastructure applications and tools, data storage and management resources, advanced network infrastructure resources, and resources for collaboration within virtual communities. The report, which is based on results of a quantitative survey of 369 U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities and consultation with cyberinfrastructure experts and 12 university executives and technical staff members, discusses who uses, who provides, and who funds cyberinfrastructure resources as well as how important each technology is and will be to research and teaching.

Citation for this work: Pirani, Judith A. and Mark C. Sheehan, “Higher Education IT and Cyberinfrastructure: Integrating Technologies for Scholarship Roadmap” (Roadmap). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2005, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar .

Dynamics of Supporting Sakai Through Local and Global Collaboration

gdobbin — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:06:36 -0500

This ECAR research bulletin discusses the adjustments that the Indiana University information technology organization made, and continues to make, in order to support membership in Sakai. It has been said that supporting Sakai can seem like trying to change a tire on a moving car. As co-founder of and active participant in the Sakai collaboration, the effects of IU’s decision—the unexpected, the challenging, and the delightful—are discussed in terms of the intra- and interuniversity realities of highly collaborative efforts.

Citation for this work: Goodrum, David, Jan R. Holloway, Anastasia S. Morrone, Lance Speelmon, and Elizabeth A. Van Gordon. “Dynamics of Supporting Sakai Through Local and Global Collaboration” (Research Bulletin, Issue 11). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Higher Education IT and Cyberinfrastructure: Integrating Technologies for Scholarship

elilly — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:24:44 -0500

This 2008 ECAR research study explores higher education’s involvement in five areas of research-related information technologies: high-performance computing resources, cyberinfrastructure applications and tools, data storage and management resources, advanced network infrastructure resources, and resources for collaboration within virtual communities. The report, which is based on results of a quantitative survey of 369 U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities and consultation with cyberinfrastructure experts and 12 university executives and technical staff members, discusses who uses, who provides, and who funds cyberinfrastructure resources as well as how important each technology is and will be to research and teaching.

Citation for this work: Sheehan, Mark C. Higher Education IT and Cyberinfrastructure: Integrating Technologies for Scholarship (Research Study, Volume 3). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Developing and Extending a Cyberinfrastructure Model

gdobbin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:34:45 -0600

This research bulletin explores how to develop, deploy, and extend cyberinfrastructure assets within higher education—both within and across institutions. As research becomes increasingly computational, data-intensive, and interdisciplinary, innovative approaches for functional cyberinfrastructure models become ever more important. This bulletin describes a model that was developed at one institution and then deployed across institutions, with the goal of addressing issues as diverse as the need for simulation systems rather than wet labs, insufficient computational research support to help an institution compete for top-notch faculty, and astronomical spikes in power and cooling demands.

Citation for this work: Alvarez, Rosio. “Developing and Extending a Cyberinfrastructure Model” (Research Bulletin, Issue 5). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Conference Connections: Rewiring the Circuit

elilly — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:37:46 -0600

Increased openness, two-way dialogue, and blurred distinctions between experts and amateurs have combined with numerous technology tools for dialogue, personal expression, networking, and community formation to “remake” conferences, influencing not only how attendees participate in but also how organizers host conferences today.

When Authorship Isn't Enough: Lessons from CERN on the Implications of Formal and Informal Credit Attribution Mechanisms in Collaborative Research

elilly — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:48:53 -0600

As research collaborations grow in size, scope, and time horizon, they increasingly resemble organizations in and of themselves. The traditional institutional structure of science, however, is fundamentally focused on individual scientists. Reconciling these novel research organizations with traditional structures has proven a difficult challenge for the high energy physics community, which has a longstanding tradition of large collaborations. In this paper I draw on interview data gathered in this community to explore the issues of authorship and credit attribution, with an eye toward extrapolating lessons for those in other disciplines. Results suggest that authorship practices in physics are fundamentally problematic in several respects, and that this stems in part from a need to recognize multiple types of contributions.

7 Things You Should Know About Flickr

ckeller — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:50:19 -0600

Flickr is a photo-sharing website where anyone can upload and tag photos, browse others' photos, and add comments and annotations. Users can create photo sets and collections to manage content and participate in topical groups to cultivate a sense of community. Although Flickr is ostensibly for photos, the site might more aptly be described as a venue for sharing experiences and building relationships. The site provides the tools, but the value derives from the contributions of the user community -- photos, comments, ratings, and organization -- and the connections that the site facilitates between individuals. In this way, Flickr embodies what has come to be known as Web 2.0 technology.

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.
In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About..." briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.

Supporting Knowledge Creation: Using Wikis for Group Collaboration

ckeller — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:59:51 -0600

This research bulletin examines the wiki philosophy and how it fits within the Web 2.0 context. While wikis offer a number of benefits for supporting knowledge creation in collaborative groups, the literature suggests a strong need to establish conventions to enable long-term success. Based on an extensive literature review, the results of a research project into blog and wiki use in Australian libraries, and evaluations of the wiki installation of the RUBRIC Project sponsored by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Education, Science, and Training, the bulletin also examines how wiki technology can enable the online collaborative process.

Citation for this work: Watson, Kate, and Chelsea Harper. "Supporting Knowledge Creation: Using Wikis for Group Collaboration" (Research Bulletin, Issue 3). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Enhancing Graduate Education: A Fresh Look at Library Engagement

ckeller — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:02:14 -0600

Over 100 librarians, administrators, faculty, and other members of the academic community concerned about issues relating to graduate education convened in Washington DC on October 12, 2007, to participate in the forum "Enhancing Graduate Education: A Fresh Look at Library Engagement."2 Sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), the event promoted engagement in conceptualizing the library's evolving role in graduate education, and it encouraged academic libraries to begin considering new ways to partner with the broader graduate studies community. The forum was inspired by the Council of Graduate Schools 2007 report, Graduate Education: The Backbone of American Competitiveness and Innovation,3 which examines the current state of graduate education and how it influences the positioning of the United States in the global economy. Asserting the need for cooperation across education, business, and policy sectors, the report emphasizes the need to strengthen and promote an educational model that will "enhance US innovation and national security in the 21st century."4 The report's authors emphasized essential cooperation across sectors, enhanced flexibility within institutions of higher education, and focus on interdisciplinarity and globalization, themes that were equally dominant throughout the daylong
forum.

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.

Large Scale Collection and Sanitization of Network Security Data: Risks and Challenges

ckeller — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:11:16 -0600

"Over the last several years, there has been an emerging interest in the development of wide-area data collection and analysis centers to help identify, track, and formulate responses to the ever-growing number of coordinated attacks and malware infections that plague computer networks worldwide. As large-scale network threats continue to evolve in sophistication and extend to widely deployed applications, we expect that interest in collaborative security monitoring infrastructures will continue to grow, because such attacks may not be easily diagnosed from a single point in the network. The intent of this position paper is not to argue the necessity of Internet-scale security data sharing infrastructures, as there is ample research [13, 48, 51, 54, 41, 47, 42] and operational examples [43, 17, 32, 53] that already make this case. Instead, we observe that these well-intended activities raise a unique set of risks and challenges.
We outline some of the most salient issues faced by global network security centers, survey proposed defense mechanisms, and pose several research challenges to the computer security community. We hope that this position paper will serve as a stimulus to spur groundbreaking new research in protection and analysis technologies that can facilitate the collaborative sharing of network security data while keeping data contributors safe and secure."

7 Things You Should Know About Skype

ckeller — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:45:39 -0600

Skype is a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) application that lets users make free phone calls between Skype-equipped computers and inexpensive calls between Skype computers and landline or cell phones. Skype functions on a P2P model rather than as a centralized application, and it offers features such as voicemail, call forwarding, conference calling, and video chat. In most circumstances, Skype provides access to voice and video communication for a fraction of what other options cost. It allows more frequent contact between colleagues, collaborators, and friends and permits connections with those not likely to be in touch through conventional phone systems.

In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About..." briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.

FBI-.edu security partnership trying to overcome decades of mistrust

ckeller — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:41:35 -0600

"Two weeks ago, we described a report from the National Research Council on the challenges of balancing an open academic research environment with the risks that the fruits of the research could be adopted by terrorists. One of the report's recommendations was the formation of a standing committee comprised of academics and members of the national security agencies. It turns out that the FBI had already heeded similar advice—back in 2005."

7 Things You Should Know About Citizen Journalism

ckeller — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:00:23 -0600

Citizen journalism refers to a wide range of activities in which everyday people contribute information or commentary about news events. With the birth of digital technologies, people now have unprecedented access to the tools of production and dissemination. Citizen journalism epitomizes the belief that the experiences of people personally involved with an issue present a different -- and often more complete -- picture of events than can be derived from the perspective of an outsider. Citizen journalism encompasses content ranging from user-submitted reviews on a Web site about movies to wiki-based news. It forces contributors to think objectively, asking probing questions and working to understand the context -- the kinds of activities that lead to deeper learning.

Design and Development of a Faculty Technology Practices Directory

ckeller — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 13:24:49 -0600

A dynamic information base aids research into existing technology practices among faculty and fosters partnerships.

When Wikipedia Is the Assignment

ckeller — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:39:58 -0500

A professor and a technology specialist discuss their attempt to bring term papers out into the open with the resource many faculty members abhor.

Multimedia Services: Strategic Assets for Institutional Success

ckeller — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:02:09 -0500

This research bulletin surveys the chief components of contemporary multimedia services in colleges and universities and describes some emerging practices for deploying and sustaining them in an increasingly digital and user-centered world. It includes a review of recent experiences in three smaller and two larger institutions. As audio, video, and instructional technologies converge, and as faculty and student expectations for these resources escalate, multimedia services are emerging as the next major arena in which technology and other campus leaders will find their way to standard practices that leverage these strategic assets for institutional success.

Institutional Research and IT: Bringing Data, Information, and Insights to the Accreditation Process

ckeller — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 10:24:52 -0500

This ECAR research bulletin describes the results of recent organizational changes and work at Colorado College that are aimed at improving collaboration between IT, institutional research, and other campus offices with the goal of enhancing the data, information, and insights that influence policy and planning activities in general and the upcoming reaccreditation visit.

The nanoHUB: Community and Collaboration

ckeller — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:22:54 -0500

nanoHUB is an online portal for nanotechnology researchers, instructors, and students created by Purdue University and the National Science Foundation. It uses cyberinfrastructure to provide access to scientific tools for research, demonstration, and collaboration, as well as instructional materials. Users can run experiments, review research, or download lectures. nanoHUB is a virtual toolkit as well as a community where students and faculty contribute to the science of nanotechnology.

Winds of Change: Charting the Course for IT in the Twenty-First Century

ckeller — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:58:26 -0500

Campus IT leaders are responsible for providing a view of the technology changes that are coming over the horizon and a vision of where the “ship” of IT should be headed. The retiring EDUCAUSE president offers ten nautical maxims for charting this course for higher education IT.

Working and Learning Better: Virtually Together

ckeller — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:04:36 -0500

Collaborative software creates new options for students and educators.

Disaster Recovery: A Multi-Institutional Collaboration at the University of California System

ckeller — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:59:01 -0500

This case study complements the 2007 ECAR study by Philip J. Goldstein, IT Collaboration: Multi-Institutional Partnerships to Develop, Manage, and Operate IT Resources. Researchers undertook this case study to understand the benefits of multi-institutional development of a ubiquitously needed IT service. By leveraging emerging technology, procurement opportunities, and internal resources, the University of California Office of the President and University of California, San Diego were able to develop a complex disaster recovery solution involving the joint hosting and comprehensive mirroring of each location’s mainframe and non-mainframe computing environments.

The Kuali Group: Effective Practices and Structures Foster a Successful Collaboration

ckeller — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:53:04 -0500

This case study complements the 2007 ECAR study by Philip J. Goldstein, IT Collaboration: Multi-Institutional Partnerships to Develop, Manage, and Operate IT Resources. Researchers undertook this case study to understand the methods and practices used to manage ongoing collaborative activity and how the Kuali group partners plan for the sustainability of their collaboration. The case study highlights the collaborative nature of the Kuali Project to meet its goal of building a suite of administrative software, rather than the project’s history, structure, or operations.

Next Generation Administrative Systems: Philosophy, Principles, and Technology

ckeller — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:58:20 -0500

It is time to think differently about administrative systems in colleges and universities. Using the Kuali Student Service System as an illustration, this ECAR research bulletin discusses a vision, and a set of functional and technical principles, for the next generation of administrative systems. Although the vision and principles are being developed for a new student system, they can serve as a framework for the development of an administrative system in any area of higher education. They are also a guide to what to look for in planning to select and implement a next generation vendor-supplied administrative system.

A Report on the EDUCAUSE Cyberinfrastructure Summit

ckeller — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 11:24:43 -0500

EDUCAUSE, as part of its Grand Challenges Program, is hosting several summits on topics of particular importance to higher education. These summits are designed to bring together a small number of thought leaders and experts to capture the best ideas and strategies for advancing the community. The 2007 EDUCAUSE Cyberinfrastructure (CI) Summit, held July 10–11 in Denver, was attended by about 50 higher education leaders with particular expertise and responsibility in the support of IT for research. A professional facilitator guided the group through a rich discussion of the highest-priority topics they identified.

7 Things You Should Know About Cyberinfrastructure

ckeller — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 11:09:16 -0500

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.

Culture Morph

ckeller — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:58:09 -0500

Technologists and librarians are discovering that intelligent organizational overlap is the route to the digital library of the future.

Open Science Grid: Building and Sustaining General Cyberinfrastructure Using a Collaborative Approach

ckeller — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:09:19 -0500

The author describes in this paper the creation and operation of the Open Science Grid (OSG [1]), a distributed shared cyberinfrastructure driven by the milestones of a diverse group of research communities. The effort is fundamentally collaborative, with domain scientists, computer scientists and technology specialists and providers from more than 70 U.S. universities, national laboratories and organizations providing resources, tools and expertise. The evolving OSG facility provides computing and storage resources for particle and nuclear physics, gravitational wave experiments, digital astronomy, molecular genomics, nanoscience and applied mathematics. The OSG consortium also partners with campus and regional grids, large projects such as TeraGrid [2], Earth System Grid [3], Enabling Grids for E–sciencE (EGEE [4]) in Europe and related efforts in South America and Asia to facilitate interoperability across national and international boundaries.

OSG’s experience broadly illustrates the breadth and scale of effort that a diverse, evolving collaboration must undertake in building and sustaining large–scale cyberinfrastructure serving multiple communities. Scalability — in resource size, number of member organizations and application diversity — remains a central concern. As a result, many interesting [5] challenges continue to emerge and their resolution requires engaged partners and creative adjustments.

Using Social Software to Enhance IT Operations

ckeller — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 09:31:19 -0500

This research bulletin offers representative examples of social software in action within IT organizations at three institutions -- Duke University; the University of California, San Diego; and the University of Washington. It illustrates ways in which social software tools enhance staff communication and collaboration, and how the tools can support more robust applications such as content management systems.

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.

IT Collaboration: Multi-Institutional Partnerships to Develop, Manage, and Operate IT Resources Roadmap

ckeller — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:27:13 -0500

This ECAR roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the 2007 study, IT Collaboration: Multi-Institutional Partnerships to Develop, Manage, and Operate IT Resources. The study explores multi-institutional collaboration in terms of the types of information technology (IT) collaborations in higher education and the practices associated with positive outcomes. It is based on a literature review to identify issues and develop research questions; a screening survey of 586 colleges and universities to distinguish collaborators from non-collaborators; a follow-up survey tailored for 157 institutions presently engaged in at least one form of collaboration and a separate follow-up survey tailored for 113 institutions that have elected not to participate in IT collaborations; qualitative interviews with IT leaders from 30 institutions including both collaborators and non-collaborators; consultation with a select group of chief information officers who are extensively engaged in collaboration; and two in-depth case studies that look at how collaborators form, manage, and sustain their ventures.

IT Collaboration: Multi-Institutional Partnerships to Develop, Manage, and Operate IT Resources - Key Findings

ckeller — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:09:11 -0500

This document presents the key findings from the 2007 ECAR study, IT Collaboration: Multi-Institutional Partnerships to Develop, Manage, and Operate IT Resources. The study explores multi-institutional collaboration in terms of the types of information technology (IT) collaborations in higher education and the practices associated with positive outcomes. It is based on a literature review to identify issues and develop research questions; a screening survey of 586 colleges and universities to distinguish collaborators from non-collaborators; a follow-up survey tailored for 157 institutions presently engaged in at least one form of collaboration and a separate follow-up survey tailored for 113 institutions that have elected not to participate in IT collaborations; qualitative interviews with IT leaders from 30 institutions including both collaborators and non-collaborators; consultation with a select group of chief information officers who are extensively engaged in collaboration; and two in-depth case studies that look at how collaborators form, manage, and sustain their ventures.

IT Collaboration: Multi-Institutional Partnerships to Develop, Manage, and Operate IT Resources

ckeller — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:08:10 -0500

This 2007 ECAR research study explores multi-institutional collaboration in terms of the types of information technology (IT) collaborations in higher education and the practices associated with positive outcomes. The study is based on a literature review to identify issues and develop research questions; a screening survey of 586 colleges and universities to distinguish collaborators from non-collaborators; a follow-up survey tailored for 157 institutions presently engaged in at least one form of collaboration and a separate follow-up survey tailored for 113 institutions that have elected not to participate in IT collaborations; qualitative interviews with IT leaders from 30 institutions including both collaborators and non-collaborators; consultation with a select group of chief information officers who are extensively engaged in collaboration; and two in-depth case studies that look at how collaborators form, manage, and sustain their ventures. A corporate edition is available here.

IT Collaboration: Multi-Institutional Partnerships to Develop, Manage, and Operate IT Resources - Corporate Edition

ckeller — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:02:20 -0500

IT Collaboration: A Preview of Findings from the 2007 ECAR Study

ckeller — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:56:04 -0500

This ECAR research bulletin addresses a unique strength of higher education: its commitment to sharing ideas and promoting open access to knowledge. These values shape IT in higher education as well, as evidenced by many high-profile collaborations such as the Internet, Internet2, and open or community source applications such as Sakai and Kuali. Institutions work with one another on a broad range of projects and services including wide area networking, shared data centers, or disaster recovery. Some institutions share staff, while others outsource their IT operation to a fellow institution. Using findings from the 2007 ECAR study on IT collaboration, this bulletin explores the challenges that suggest that collaboration may become an even more prevalent strategy in the future.

The Content of Collaboration

drupal — Tue, 08 May 2007 11:20:32 -0500

The author discusses the delicate balance of creating collaborative relationships between faculty, librarians and IT staff. One such Fellowship effort is sponsored by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). In attracting recent Ph.D.s who believe that there are opportunities to develop meaningful linkages between disciplinary scholarship, libraries, archives, and evolving digital tools, the program brings scholars with both teaching and digital experience into the academic library so that they may serve as a bridge between librarians, faculty, and IT professionals.