Humanware–TheCriticalImportanceofPeopleinCyberinfrastructure

TheEvolvingRoleoftheCloudandtheImportance

ofHumanwaretoResearch

HumansintheLoop:EnablingandFacilitatingResearchonCloudComputingWorkshopAworkshopforPEARC19–Chicago,ILJuly29,2019

BrianD.VossResearchEngagementManagerHumanware–AdvancingResearchintheCloudPervasiveTechnologyInstituteatIndianaUniversity

WhoIam,whatI’vedone,howIseethings…andwhy

•  Iamnotaresearcher– I’masuit(perhapsa‘fallen’suit)– CentralITrolesinleadership,CIO/CampusExecutive– Board/Advisorypositionsinseveralkeycyberareas

•  Active&RecognizedvoiceintheCIOcommunity

•  Iamkindalike‘ForrestGump’

•  Iammoreofanop-edwriterthanascientificinvestigator

FundamentalPremiseofUsersofTechnology

HEY MAN … I JUST RIDE ‘EM. I DON’T KNOW WHAT MAKES ‘EM GO.

HumansintheLoop

•  Inthebeginning,computingandsupportwascentralized•  Evolutionofthetechnologyofcomputing/ITdrovechange– Distributed‘mini-computers’inthelate70sandearly1980s– Personalcomputersinthelate80sand90s– Advent/Advanceofparallel/clustercomputersinthe90s

•  RoleofcentralITalsoplayedapartinthedistributionofcomputing/IT–  (Notusuallybydesignorinthebestways…)

TheRiseofLocal/DistributedSupport

•  Distributedsystemsstillrequiredsupport•  Bestsupportisthatwhichcomeswhenyouyellforit•  Amodelemerged–orwasitaparadigm?– Theroleoftheuser(begenerallyknowledgeable)– Theroleoflocalsupport(technical,butpartofthelocalculture)– TheroleofcentralIT

•  Giveuserstrainingandtools(onlineknowledgebase,HelpDesk,etc.)•  SupportLocalSupportProviders(training,tier-2tech,buildcommunity•  Providedeepsupportinsomeareas(e.g.,cyberinfrastructure)

Humansinthe(Research/Cyberinfrastructure)Loop

•  Researchuseofcomputing/CIhashaditsownhistory– Centralized‘supercomputers’– NationalCenters–  ‘ClosetClusters’

•  PeopleinrolessupportingCIuseinresearchvary– CentralITsystemandapplication-areaexperts– Gradstudents,PostDocs,localstaff– Technicallyinterestedandastutefaculty/researchers

ThePremiseoftheimportanceofHumans

•  Themosteffectiveuseoftechnologycomeswhenthosewhouseitarecapableoffullyunderstandingitsuseandapplicationtotheirchallenges

OR…•  Thosewhouseitaresupportedbypeoplewhoarecapableoffullyunderstandingitsuseandtheapplicationtothechallengesfacedingivendisciplines

Thislattersituationiswherehumanwareisrelevant

Humanware?•  Cyberinfrastructure–definedascomprising“computingsystems,datastoragesystems,advancedinstrumentsanddatarepositories,visualizationenvironments,andpeople,alllinkedtogetherbysoftwareandhighperformancenetworkstoimproveresearchproductivityandenablebreakthroughsnototherwisepossible.”

•  In2011,theNationalScienceFoundationAdvisoryCommitteeforCyberinfrastructure(ACCI)TaskForceonCampusBridgingpublisheditsfinalreport,whereintheneedforaddressandfundingofhumanwarewasarticulated.https://www.nsf.gov/cise/oac/taskforces/TaskForceReport_CampusBridging.pdf

WhatthatreportsaidaboutHumanware

“Timeandagain,atalllevelsoftheacquisitionanddeploymentofinformationtechnologythroughthepastseveraldecades,wehaveseenthatwithoutthishumanwarecomponent–thepeoplewhomakealltheothercomponentswork–investmentsmadeinthoseothercomponents–howeversignificantinamounts!–donotrealizetheirfullpotentialwithoutattentiontoandinvestmentinthesupportoftheirusebyscholars.Scholarlyproductivityandknowledgebreakthroughsanddiscovery,howeverenhancedtheymaybebyadvancedcyberinfrastructuredonotreachtheirfullpotentialwithoutthehumanelement.

Aye,there’$therub…

•  Whilethereporthighlightstheimportanceoftheneedforhumanware,itdidleaveopenthequestionofwhereresponsibilityforsupportforitsprovisionwouldrest–withfundingagencies,orwiththeinstitutionsthatreceivedfunding?

•  Thiskeyquestionremains,andfurtherexplanationandjustificationoftherolepeopleplayisrequiredtoleadtobetteraddressofthisquestion.

A[former]CIO’sview

•  Wespenda$-loadofmoneyonbuyingalltheother‘wares’incyberinfrastructure,butarechallengedtodevotefundstohumanware–  Institutionsarereluctantforawidevarietyofreasons/challenges–  Fundingagencies(NSF,NIH,etc.)aresimilarlyreluctant

•  Whyisthat?–  “Stuff”canbepurchasedwithone-timemoney(thoughthatconvenientlyignorestheneedtoeventuallyreplaceit)

–  “People”requireongoingcommitment(inmostcases)andthatkindofmoneyishardertocomebyinbudgets

What’shappeningatResearchUniversities*

•  Pressureintryingtoestablishand/orsustaininvestmentsinCI•  ManyprioritiesforcentralITmakingitveryhardtofocusonresearchenablement

•  Lackofgoodresearch-savvyITleaders(CIOpipelineissues)•  Lackofunderstanding/appreciationforIT/CIamonginstitutionalexecutiveleadership(presidents,provosts,CBOs,Boards)– NothelpedbyalackofgoodROIdataforIT/CIinvestments

*Myopinionasanobserverofhighereducation

Directionsfromfundingagencies(e.g.,NSF)*

•  OverallfundingreductionsduetopoliticsintheUSgovernment•  Asensethatinvestingincampusinfrastructureissomethinginstitutionsshouldbefundingratherthanaskingforfederalgrants

•  Asensethatthe25-yearefforttoestablish,expand,andmaintain‘NationalCenters’(NCSA,SDSC,PSC,TACC,Teragrid/XSEDE)isnotsustainable

•  Variousfundingprogramsestablishinga‘toeinthewater’forcloudcreditsasareplacementforcapitalinfrastructure– Someawarenessoftheneedforhumanware

*Myopinionasanobserverofhighereducation

CloudProvidersreachingouttoresearchers

•  Amazon,Google,Microsoft(Azure),IBM,etc.•  However,allisnotglitteringgold…– Tools,documentation,andsupportarenotgood– Lackofproduct-trainedtechnicalsupport(humanware)– Keychallengeswithovercomingthe‘ka-ching!’elementofcostperuse

Humanwareismorecriticalwiththecloud…Andjustasabsentfromstrategies

•  Cloudrequiresevenmoresupportforadoptionandongoinguse

•  Especiallytrueifresearcherseventuallyhopetoseethevariousprovidersas‘commodity’…beingabletomovefromonetoanotherbaseduponpricingandperformance

•  Peoplearestilla‘base-budget’resource…hardtofundinshrinkingbudgets

•  Skilllevelswithcloudenvironmentsarelackingandthevendorsdon’thavegoodprogramsforeducationandcertification–  Realchallengesingettingthesesamevendorsengageinpedagogyoncampus–  RevisitthestoryofMicrosoftCertificationProgramsinthe1990s

ROIremainshardtograsp*…noBuck$,noBuckRogers

•  MetricsforthebenefitsofCI-enablementofresearcharehardtoquantifyandqualify

•  Costsaremoredifficulttocontrolinthecloud– Campusallocationandconsumptionversus$/cycleor$/TBcosting

•  Scientificdataandanalysisisilluminatingthe‘woodsdarkanddeep’butwehavemilestogobeforewesleep.

•  Inmanycases,thereisanintuitivefeelingthatCIinvestmentsadvanceresearch,butitislargelyanactoffaithonthepartofadministrators*Myopinionasanobserverofhighereducation

Whatwe’redoingatIndianaUniversity

Humanware–AdvancingResearchintheCloud(H-ARC)https://humanware.iu.edu/Objectives:1.   Tostudyandimprovetheunderstandingwithinthehigher

educationcommunityofhowpeopleinsupportroles– Humanware–advancetheuseofcloud-basedcyberinfrastructure(CI)intheadvancementofresearchatuniversities.

2.   Toprovidedetailintheformof‘returnoninvestment’(ROI)oftheuseofcloud-basedCIbyofferingcasestudiesonitsuseascomparedtocampus-basedorexistingnationalCIresources

Humanware–AdvancingResearchintheCloud(H-ARC)•  FundedbyMicrosoftthroughJune2020,partofaglobalinitiative

•  Platform(vendor)agnostic–lookingathowhumanresourcesimpactadoptionofcloudCI

•  Progresstodate–Thisworkshopandthepaperstobepublished

•  Plansfornextphases(PartnersinAdvancingResearchintheCloud)

Contact/Links:IndianaUniversity–  bvoss@iu.edu–  stewart@iu.edu–  https://pti.iu.edu–  https://humanware.iu.edu/