1. Michael Fraser Research Technologies Service
ICT Strategy: a view from behind and implications for e-research support
Michael Fraser Research Technologies Service

2. A view from behind

3. Oxford's ICT Strategy Programme
8+ months of 4+ Steering group meetings chaired by PVC, directed by PWJ.
So far 54 individuals scattered across 11 Work Tasks meeting c.30 times generating 2,553 files
And a 'strawman' Strategic Plan
formulate an ICT strategic plan for the collegiate University in accordance with its corporate plan... ensure a co-ordinated and coherent approach to the development, deployment and support of ICT services to underpin ... teaching, learning, research and administration systems.

4. For the mystical body of the University
Individual ICT Requirements
University ICT Requirements
Collegiate ICT Structure
Integration of Enterprise Stuff
Five year ICT Plan
ICT Structure for CDM
Phase 2

5. User requirements
"Major requirements include secure space to store data and shared and authenticated access to that data from users including collaborators from other Universities and industry. Secure access to that data from anywhere, perhaps from abroad whilst visiting collaborators, would be very useful."
"Project-based collaborations are being promoted strongly by research councils and the government. Services and tools to enhance collaborative work will become increasingly important.”
"A major driver in the real world is the availability of funding to implement a given project or ICT development. A perfect example of this can be seen in the exponential growth of grid-based computing which within academia has been driven almost entirely by government decisions to fund this particular area.”
"...Deposition of research datasets (note Wellcome research requirements). The relationship to the RAE: in the current round, the RAE might populate the institutional repository, in the next round, the repository should populate the RAE submission.”

6. Institutional standards framework
Personalised access from anywhere, anytime
Interoperability between systems
Identity and Access Management
Wireless & remote access
Digital repository infra-structure
Common diary, , etc
Document manage-ment & filestore
Standard-ised desktop platform
Some level of 24/7 support
Data admin policies
Investment in robust infrastructure for critical services
Institutional standards framework
Information Strategy

8. Institutional standards framework
Virtual Research Environment
Interoperability between systems
Identity and Access Management
Wireless & remote access
Data and outputs repository
Research Discovery Service
Collab-oration resources
Campus
Grid
Some level of 24/7 support
Data admin policies
Investment in robust infrastructure for critical services
Institutional standards framework
Information Strategy

9. Where on the hype cycle?
This slide had a pointer to the Gartner hype cycle 2005
e.g. place of grid computing, SOA etc
See

10. National e-Infrastructure
DTI formulating e-infrastructure strategy for research
e-infrastructure steering group
six work-streams
middleware & access management (JISC)
Networks, compute and storage (e-science)
Preservation and curation (BL)
Search and navigation (RIN)
Information/data creation (CCLRC)
Virtual research communities (JISC)
current provision globally, inc. tools and support
future ideal scenarios
gap analysis and recommended proposals
Final report in summer 2006

11. National e-Infrastructure: VRCs
Discussions
working definitions of VRO, VRE, VRC (in that order)
Industry, military ahead of HE in solving collaboration securely within and across boundaries
emerging technologies
intelligent working environments
mobile technologies and ‘presence management’
access grid for remote equipment use
other considerations
challenge to blend (workflows, new and legacy etc)
not always new – reusing old technologies differently
incentives to collaborate required
changing roles – emergence of collaboration managers

12. JISC VRE Programme II Planning for next phase of VRE Programme
Reminder: Oxford involved in three projects – BVREH, IB VRE, Sakai VRE
Further £2M for high priority areas
consultation to establish priority areas
Emerging themes
What do users want from personalisation
e-administration for research
holy grail (identity management across sectors, roles, boundaries, borders, and leylandii)
Modelling workflow
tool choreography
Priorities so far
user requirements (users and developers talking)
identify integration points for tools
sustaining and adopting current outcomes

13. Common 'Sense' Requirements analysis Framework development
Identify infrastructure needs
identity & access management
filestorage
computational resources
Identify services
data repository network
collaboration tools (e.g. collaborative content management)
research discovery
presentation interfaces
research administration
Effect change
awareness-raising at all levels (“imaginative leaps”)
training and skills formation

14. Finally...
“While it is possible for individual disciplines within an organisation to adopt an ad-hoc approach to interdisciplinary collaboration, it is likely to prove more fruitful for universities and research bodies to give serious consideration, through an institutional e-research strategic plan, for example, to the identification and deconstruction of disciplinary ‘silos’ that impede research and communication, and to the creation of organisational structures more aligned with the new ways in which research is conducted. In particular, IT departments that service the needs of universities could be steered to provide and integrate new research-enabling activities by working closely with the various research disciplines they serve.”
- An e-research strategic framework (Australia, Sept 2005)