UCSB Campus Informatics CNI Spring 2004 Task Force Meeting UCSB Campus Informatics: Collaboration...

UCSB Campus Informatics

CNI Spring 2004 Task Force Meeting

UCSB Campus Informatics:Collaboration for Knowledge Management

Sarah PritchardSmiti Anand

April 15, 2004 UCSB Campus InformaticsCNI Spring 2004 Task Force Meeting

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Informatics: A Definition

The study of the structure and behavior of natural and artificial systems designed to process data

Development of tools to ingest and interpret large stores of data in heterogeneous and distributed systems

Integration of data (numeric, textual, image, spatial) with tools for modeling, trend analysis, mapping, image processing, etc.

Business applications not studied in this context


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UCSB Informatics: Leading Factors

Emergence of informatics as a specialty in several academic departments, notably environmental sciences

Highly interdisciplinary faculty Development of unique stand-alone systems for

managing collaborative research data No ongoing mechanisms for communication and

technical coordination Campus and consortial projects emerging for

digital publications and for instructional support but not yet for research data


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UCSB Informatics: Computing Environment

One of the original nodes of the Internet

No centralized academic computing organization

Offices for networking, and for instructional support

Individual colleges and departments have developed own servers and support for research data and teaching tools

High-level campus policy board for IT issues brings some coordination


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UCSB Informatics: Library context

Alexandria Digital Library (www.alexandria.ucsb.edu) Extension into new disciplinary applications Heterogeneous metadata ingest Very extensive backup and archiving architecture Long record of faculty collaboration

California Digital Library (www.cdlib.org) Digital preservation initiatives for published documents and for

(under development) government information web sites eScholarship program to support publication of online journals,

preprint archives Online Archive of California – special collections support

Other faculty support Electronic reserves including streaming audio reserves Digital document delivery to the desktop


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UCSB Informatics: Project Goals

Create stronger linkages among relevant faculty research projects

Identify components and needs in informatics and the management of research data

Assess the degree of commonality in informatics tools and functionality, if any

Determine whether more support is needed for data archiving, metadata, interfaces, IP

Develop a planning agenda for informatics in a distributed environment

Inform the design of facilities and services


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UCSB Informatics: Grant Specifics

Background research in current informatics work in academic disciplines

Structured interviews and site visits with selected faculty

Matrix of system characteristics and issues

Informal roundtables for faculty working in these areas

Collaboration with related IT units

White paper for campus discussion of futures


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UCSB Informatics: Initial questions

Why are faculty developing these systems? Do tool sets have applicability beyond the

disciplines that created them? Must tools and metadata be discipline-specific?

Can data in these systems be openly accessed or shared?

How is information preserved beyond the length of a grant?

How are people transitioning to more advanced data systems and collections?

Are there broad-based faculty informatics needs across disciplines?


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UCSB Informatics: Participants

Faculty chosen on the basis of Innovative science Data intensive work Interdisciplinary research

Control Group: Non-science faculty Select group of technologically innovative faculty in other

disciplines were used as a control to determine whether trends were specific to sciences

Same criteria were used

Faculty members and staff researchers recommended by the Office of Research, colleagues, department heads and librarians.


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UCSB Informatics: Sample Questions

How do you store research information? Do you store research in progress differently from completed research?

Do you do any cataloging, indexing, or metadata to ensure that you get at your data easily?

How are your data maintained on an on-going basis? Is there something special about the way that you manage your data

compared to colleagues within the field? Do you write scripts/use tools? For what purpose? How often do you

borrow scripts, and from where? Are you having difficulty managing your data collection? Are there

services that you wish others would provide? Have you experienced IP issues as a result of collaborative efforts?

How is sharing of datasets/information handled in your field? When you collaborate with others through the web what kinds of tools,

if any, do you use to put stuff on the web? What are your plans for this research in the next five years? Are there

service requirements that you will need then? Are there services, needs that you wish the university would provide?


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UCSB Informatics: Sample Population

UCSB Background statistics: 960 Total Faculty population 486 Total Scientist population 474 Total Non-scientists population

UCSB Interview Statistics: 30/486 scientists (6.1%) 7/474 non scientists (1.5%) 37/960 total faculty (3.9%)

Sample size is reasonably large,statistically significant, representative of the technically innovative scientists


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UCSB Informatics: Growth of Systems

The sophistication of informatics arrangements is determined by the amount of data collected and how labor-intensive it is to collect.

Change happens when the following converge: Data size increases exponentially Research questions encompass broad range of specialties Funding agencies require change for funding

Guiding principles seem to be: “What is the smallest group of people that I can have do

the work, and still do the [work]” “What is the least amount of indirect work [e.g.,

informatics] related to the research that I can do, and still do the [work]”


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UCSB Informatics: Data Preservation Some science fields have national and international data

centers where data deposit is required for grant funding. Where data centers do not exist, backup depends on:

Length of a grant Length of time primary researcher on campus “Older” data is stored on CDs, DVDs, or zip disks Perception that data has maximum value for 12-18 months after

publication, and negligible value after 5-10 years. Many departments lack the personnel or departmental support

for good long-term strategy on preservation of data. Faculty store research data on the “removable media of the

day” and forget about the data, until it becomes difficult if not impossible to access or migrate

More complex systems, same number of people to manage them, leads to less time to devote to issues of long term preservation.

Critical impact: interdisciplinary collaboration and long term historical data analysis suffer


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UCSB Informatics: Data Organization

Most common organizing mechanism – directory structure, spreadsheets, and word processing software

Databases (with or without metadata) are uncommon. Viewed as time/labor-intensive, unnecessary drain on research time.

Well designed portals, built by computational specialists within a field are well utilized.

Storage space: Storage adequate for now. Over half the people contacted were in the process of upgrading.

Most departments did not have strictly enforced limits on email, data storage, and personal storage

Though much on their servers is “garbage,” memory is thrown at the problem; little support in most departments for data management

“Not a solved problem.” While actual memory might be cheap, tape, labor, and other equipment to ensure that data are maintained is NOT.

Departmental support varied.


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UCSB Informatics: Tool Creation and Use

Do informatics tools have applicability beyond the disciplines that created them? Or must tool sets be discipline specific? Most faculty use standard tools, applications, software in

their field Where homegrown tool development occurs:

• Some borrowing of scripts and software in initial stages

• Tools are often extremely TASK specific, not discipline specific

• Not much incentive or interest for advancing possible collaboration, since the time away from research does not seem to merit the end product.

Promise for cross-disciplinary collaboration in some new tools currently in development, e.g., incorporating wireless technology and automatic metadata capture for fieldwork


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UCSB Informatics: Metadata issues

Metadata is discipline specific; commonalities exist, but key requirements of a discipline vary.

Metadata structures and subject taxonomies reflect the way faculty in a discipline think

While organizational structure is an important issue in metadata use, other considerations are: Services available in one’s discipline Acceptance and standardization in the discipline Usage in key portals, data centers, and repositories

One worldwide metadata format is not likely at this time

Interdisciplinary metadata issues and crosswalks


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UCSB Informatics: Intellectual Property

Intellectual property protocols that faculty follow after creating software, portals or databases are highly correlated to the discipline. In disciplines where things move quickly, the ideal method

is to open source one’s tool to obtain an audience, then later align oneself with a company, or start one;

In disciplines where there is a lot of money there is pressure to ensure patents are filed.

Databases, portals and data centers on campus typically all have legal waiver forms, allowing release of the data sets to other researchers as part of the process to ingest the data.

Disciplines vary in the extent to which they support an ethic of data sharing.


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UCSB Informatics: Collaboration

Collaborations in general tend to be on long-term research-based problems

Faculty are isolated on short-term infrastructure problems Terminology differences Disciplinary cultural and process differences Lack of obvious return on time investment

Technical challenges neglected in this isolation: Metadata Data archiving Tool Use


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UCSB Informatics: Faculty Needs

Some needs and services were mentioned across disciplines regardless of current arrangements: Informatics “point person” or clearinghouse for

information on tools, expertise, and research knowledge on campus and nationally

Long term archiving of research data especially during the gap in coverage between publication and obsolescence

Tiered support services for database development, cataloging, conversion, emulation, migration, web development, metadata, pre-planning for technology grants


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UCSB Informatics: Topics for Discussion

Where are the gaps in our current offerings that we need to fill to serve these needs?

How do technology services and leaders on campus fit together?

What are faculty priorities for various services?

What are some possible organizational models for meeting these needs?


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UCSB Informatics: Possible outcomes

Everything stays as is More peer-to-peer sharing of resources and

expertise Policies are established

Intellectual property rights at several levels Use of metadata and digital object standards Ensure data sustainability

Organizational approaches are considered IT offices, the library, consortial systems support, disciplinary

groups, or a combination

New services are offered Database design Metadata creation Consulting Clearinghouse functions Archiving


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UCSB Informatics: Next Steps

Dissemination White Paper for campus distribution Report to Mellon Foundation Website

Collaboration Office of Information Technology Office of Instructional Computing Administrative Computing UC Systemwide IT services

Discussion Information Technology Board and Planning Group Faculty Senate Senior administration


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UCSB Informatics: Further Information

Project web site: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/informatics/

Contact: Sarah M. Pritchard, University Librarian

[email protected] Smiti Anand, Research Analyst [email protected]

UCSB Campus Informatics CNI Spring 2004 Task Force Meeting UCSB Campus Informatics: Collaboration...

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