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eIUS: e-Infrastructure Use Cases and Service Usage Models

Summary

Project Start:	1 April 2007
Project End:	31 March 2009
Project Partners:	University of Oxford , NCeSS
Project Programme:	JISC e-Infrastructure Programme
JISC Theme:	e-Research

Background/Context

The UK is entering a period in which online collaborative environments, distributed computing and data resources, advanced analytical tools, together with support and training, are becoming readily available for researchers in all disciplines. Within some subject areas, for example, high-energy physics and bioinformatics, e-infrastructure already underpins everyday work; whilst other subject areas are still investigating the applicability of existing resources for their research and making recommendations for future development. The deployment of e-infrastructure, whether within institutions, nationally or internationally, has the potential to increase the pace, impact, and efficiency of research both within and across disciplines.

If academic research in the UK is to build on the foundations laid by UK e-Science then it is essential first to understand the process by which different research communities can adopt e-infrastructure, and secondly to ensure that the required interfaces, support and training are put in place. The eIUS (pronounced 'ey-yus') project, led by Oxford University's Computing Services and e-Research Centre in partnership with NCeSS, is one of two complementary projects funded by JISC that aim to study current and planned usage of e-infrastructure, and also the perceived or actual barriers to uptake across research communities. Outcomes from the two projects will help identify and implement the appropriate interventions that will make e-Infrastructure available to a wider group of researchers.

Aims and Objectives

The eIUS project aims to gather and document concrete evidence of how e-infrastructure is, or is planned to be used as a facilitator of the research process across all major disciplines. This is not simply an information gathering project but rather is intended to broaden participation in the use and future development of e-infrastructure services. The project's overall objectives are to:

• develop a deep understanding of the e-Infrastructure services that are currently available in the UK, as well as how they are used by the research community in all major subject disciplines;
• establish a self-sustaining community process to contribute to this shared understanding during and beyond the lifetime of the project; and
• contribute to the International e-Framework Initiative whose primary aim is to facilitate technical interoperability within and across education and research through improved strategic planning and implementation processes.

Methodology

The project intends to accomplish its objectives through an iterative process of experience capture and analysis carried out in conjunction with the UK research community. This will be carried out through a combination of interviews, focus groups, and observational studies. Three different but related types of outputs will be produced:

• Experience Reports, capturing concrete examples of the use of existing e-Infrastructure by individuals or groups of researchers;
• Use Cases, derived and linked back to the Experience Reports, to provide non-technical idealised 'stories' of how users are currently interacting (or intend to interact) with e-Infrastructure to achieve specific research goals; and
• Domain Models and Service Usage Models (SUMs), describing patterns or combinations of e-Infrastructure services required to fulfill the specific Use Cases.

These outputs will be published early and often through a dedicated Community Portal hosted at NCeSS, to allow for frequent review and validation by the research community, as well as to enable the researchers themselves to submit new content. The project will pro-actively encourage this participation throughout its lifetime through the organisation of focus groups, workshops and other events designed specifically to engage the research community.

Implications/ Deliverables/ Stakeholders

The outputs of the project are expected to serve different but related stakeholder requirements:

• UK researchers seeking concrete examples of the use of e-Infrastructure to meet their specific needs;
• existing and future e-Infrastructure providers formulating their research and development strategies;
• JISC and other funding bodies developing strategic programmes and services; and
• institutions investigating and developing tailored virtual research environment frameworks.

Team

Project Manager

Matthew Mascord
Oxford University Computing Services
13 Banbury Road
Oxford
OX2 6NN
tel. +44 (0) 1865 610 615

Investigators

Dr Michael A. Fraser , Principal Investigator, Oxford University Computing Services

Dr Marina Jirotka , co-Investigator, Oxford e-Research Centre, University of Oxford

Professor Rob Procter , co-Investigator, National Centre for e-Social Science

Professor Peter Halfpenny , co-Investigator, National Centre for e-Social Science

Dr Alex Voss , co-Investigator, National Centre for e-Social Science

Research Staff

Matthew Mascord , Project Manager/Analyst, Oxford University Computing Services

Dr Mercedes Arg¨¹ello Casteleiro , Research Associate, National Centre for e-Social Science

8. Project Documents

eIUS Proposal, November 2006 Full Text (PDF)

eIUS Project Plan, July 2007 Full Text (PDF)

Poster, Oxford e-Research Centre Launch, 15 June 2007 Poster (PDF)

Presentation, National Grid Service 3rd User Forum and Training, Oxford e-Research Centre, 19 June 2007 Slides (PPT)

9. Related Projects and Initiatives

The following is a list of related projects and initiatives and their relations to eIUS.

Enabling Uptake of e-Infrastructure Services

Oxford University ICT Strategy

Oxford VRE Projects

10. Contact

Discussion List: eius@jiscmail.ac.uk

Email: eius@oucs.ox.ac.uk