1 st Annual UCosmic® Conference – October 31, 2013 UCosmic® Consortium Mitch Leventhal, PhD Executive Director

1 st Annual UCosmic® Conference October 31, 2013 The UCosmic® Consortium International Standards & Open Source Tools For Higher education Originally focused on tracking and management of international activities, but extensible to all institutional activities, from local community engagement to global collaborations.

The Challenge: Global Strategy requires Global Data The Problem: Data is widely disbursed across multiple systems, controlled by different units, which do not inter-operate. Other vital data is not being collected at all. And… the No money for complex software development 1 st Annual UCosmic® Conference October 31, 2013

UCosmic® approaches the problem by creating a mashup Characteristics of the UCosmic® mashup: Combination Visualization Aggregation A mashup is a web application that that uses content from more than one source to create a single new service displayed in a single graphical interface. 1 st Annual UCosmic® Conference October 31, 2013

UCosmic® seeks to associate as much data as possible related to the human relationships, collaborations, research and mobility linkages in order to paint a detailed picture for any geographic area, partner or faculty member. Where data is not being collected, UCosmic® creates web-based frames for its collection. 1 st Annual UCosmic® Conference October 31, 2013

UCosmic® Data Sources (representative list) Student Information Systems Alumni & Foundation Databases International Student & Scholar Systems Faculty Activity Reports Human Resource Systems Student Clubs & Activity Databases Corporate Engagement Databases Sponsored Research Databases Co-op & Internship Databases International Programs Database Communications & PR Systems And even public domain sources, such as LinkedIn 1 st Annual UCosmic® Conference October 31, 2013

Data quality and integrity And always… some data is imperfect, inaccurately reported or poorly proofed. Some data are accurate and maintained in real time. Some data may be maintained by individual faculty, students or volunteers. Other data are updated once annually. But this does not bother us… even imperfect data has value and can contribute significantly to the strategic gestalt. 1 st Annual UCosmic® Conference October 31, 2013

Our Philosophical Approach – Think like an economist (be comfortable with estimation), and not like an accountant (looking for precision)! When combined, these varied data provide a more complete picture of global activity than could every be accomplished without the UCosmic® mashup. Using an artistic metaphor, UCosmic® provides a highly refined pointillist painting, not a photograph. 1 st Annual UCosmic® Conference October 31, 2013

UCosmic® operates as a consortium, to collaboratively build flexible, low cost, modular, cloud-based, open-source solutions. UCosmic® received its initial funding from the University of Cincinnati and the State University of New York. Funding now derives primarily from the many consortium members, who pay a modest annual fee (usually $5,000), and a generous grant from Santander Bank. 1 st Annual UCosmic® Conference October 31, 2013

1 st Annual UCosmic® Conference October 31, 2013

For more information visit To obtain a demo account, contact Dan Ludwig, UCosmic® CTO at The UCosmic® Consortium International Standards & Open Source Tools For Higher education 1 st Annual UCosmic® Conference October 31, 2013