1 cris: research organisation view of the e-infrastructure keith g jeffery stfc anne asserson uib

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CRIS: Research Organisation View of the e-Infrastructure

Keith G Jeffery STFC

Anne Asserson UiB

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Authors

Anne Asserson UiB

Keith G Jeffery STFC-RAL

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Structure

• A little history• Current (advanced) ICT infrastructure• CERIF-CRIS in an organisation• CERIF-CRIS in the ICT Infrastructure• CERIF-CRIS and SOA

– Metadata– Services

• CERIF-CRIS and infrastructure: Future• Conclusions

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BACK TO THE FUTURE

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BACK TO THE FUTURE

The problem is:CRISs are not much used compared with other

information sourcesBecause:(a) they are difficult to use (different from everything else at

client workstation)(b) the data quality is insufficient - timeliness, completeness(c) they do not integrate easily with other information

sources(d) they do not integrate easily with local office environmentSo:

They are just not sexy !

From CRIS1998

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• CRIS91: advocated electronic documents Quality– use of electronic forms for input – electronic documents for output

• CRIS93: advocated use of WWW Availability– easy-to use UI– ubiquitous– UI integration with other information sources and desktop

• CRIS95: ‘CRIS emerging into the light’ Integrated– WWW for client environment compatibility with office systems– workflow and cscw for document (e-forms, reports) management– resolving heterogeneity in information access (by metadata)

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Recapitulation of proposals from earlier CRIS conferences

From CRIS1998

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BACK TO THE FUTURE

• At CRIS 1998 advocated the use of metadata as the key to ensure CRIS are integrated with their environment– With office environment– With WWW for easy access to information– With workflow for quality input– With other systems in the organisation– With other CRIS (interoperation)

• But it just did not happen!

From CRIS1998

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CRIS2008

• 10 years on are we – the euroCRIS community - in danger again of missing out by not constructing CRIS such that they are ‘sexy’?

• This presentation introduces an architectural vision and proposes an action plan to place CERIF-CRIS at the centre of modern ICT environments

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Structure




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e-infrastructure

server server server server

detectors

e-Physical

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e-,i-infrastructure

server server server server

detectors

e-

i-Information

Systems

Physical

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e-,i-,k-infrastructure

serverserver server server

detectors

e-

i-

k- Deduction & induction – human or machine

Physical

Information

Systems

server

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Why is this important?• e-science (or more generally

e-research)

• e-infrastructure concept adopted by the EC

• architecture adopted by the NESSI ETP

• ETSI (European Telecommunications Standardisation Institute)

• most advanced research now done using this environment: particle physics, molecular biology, astronomy, materials science, physics, chemistry, geoscience, meteorology, environmental science, social science, economics / econometrics, history……

• and linked (ESFRI) with research infrastructure e.g. large facilities, databases etc

• (European Technology Platform) – major European ICT players

• aiming to standardise – Special Group on GRIDs (Mike Fisher, BT)

This infrastructure was initiated in the community we serve and is evolving from R&D to business

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e-,i-middleware

e-

i-

k-

Lower middleware(hides physical heterogeneity)

Upper middleware(hides syntactic heterogeneity)

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i-, k-middleware

e-

i-

k-

K- upper middleware(resolves semantic heterogeneity)

K- lower middleware(presents declared semantics)

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Middleware and CERIF-CRIS

e-

i-

k-





CERIF-CRIS

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Structure




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PROJECT

ORGUNIT

Skills

CV

GeneralFacility

ParticularEquipment

ContactResults

PublicationResultsPatentResultsProduct

Service

FundingProgramme

Event

ClassificationPrize/Award

PERSON

CERIF DataModel

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CERIF-CRIS at One Organisation

CERIF-CRIS

Managing Research Information at a researching or research funding organisation: decision support

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Publicationrepository

CERIF-CRIS

With associated scholarly publications providing deeper information on the research; metadata in the CERIF-CRIS

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DatasetSoftwarerepository

CERIF-CRIS

And research datasets and software to allow detailed examination of the research method; metadata in the CERIF-CRIS

Note: metadata for products and patents stored in CERIF-CRIS; detail elsewhere (e.g. national or international system)

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Finance system

CERIF-CRIS

With financial information related to research activity to assess value for money

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Finance system

HumanResources

system

CERIF-CRIS

And human resource information related to the research activity to ensure appropriate skills and resource availability

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Finance system

HumanResources

system

Project Management

system

CERIF-CRIS

And project management information including milestones, deliverables and resources of the research to understand the research method

This list of organisational ICT systems is not exclusive…

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Finance system

HumanResources

system

Project Management

system

CERIF-CRIS

DirectoryServices

And directory services to control research workflow, messaging, authentication, authorisation, access

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Finance system

HumanResources

system

Project Management

system

CERIF-CRIS

Web pages DirectoryServices

And generation of intranet (organisation), DMZ (trusted business partners) and extranet (public ) web-pages

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Finance system

HumanResources

system

Project Management

system

CERIF-CRIS

Web pages DirectoryServices

This is fine for one organisation but research is international, so…

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CERIF Interoperation

CERIF-CRIS CERIF-CRIS

CERIF-CRIS

CERIF provides interoperation of CRIS and associated systems with formal syntax and declared semantics so that it is reliable and scalable.

Interconnect

Backplane

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Roles of CERIF-CRIS: Re-iteration• Research information system for decision-support

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Roles of CERIF-CRIS: Re-iteration• Research information system for decision-support

• Metadata (index) to scholarly publications (white and grey) in a repository

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Roles of CERIF-CRIS: Re-iteration• Research information system for decision-support• Metadata (index) to scholarly publications (white and grey) in a

repository

• Metadata (index) to research datasets and software in a repository

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repository• Metadata (index) to research datasets and software in a repository

• Access view to financial information of an organisation

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repository• Metadata (index) to research datasets and software in a repository• Access view to financial information of an organisation

• Access view to human resource information of an organisation

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repository• Metadata (index) to research datasets and software in a repository• Access view to financial information of an organisation• Access view to human resource information of an organisation

• Access view to project management information of an organisation

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repository• Metadata (index) to research datasets and software in a repository• Access view to financial information of an organisation• Access view to human resource information of an organisation• Access view to project management information of an organisation

• (and to other relevant organisation systems)

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repository• Metadata (index) to research datasets and software in a repository• Access view to financial information of an organisation• Access view to human resource information of an organisation• Access view to project management information of an organisation• (and to other relevant organisation systems)

• Provision of directory service information for authentication, authorisation, workflow, cooperative working…

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repository• Metadata (index) to research datasets and software in a repository• Access view to financial information of an organisation• Access view to human resource information of an organisation• Access view to project management information of an organisation• (and to other relevant organisation systems)• Provision of directory service information for authentication,

authorisation, workflow, cooperative working…

• Generation of web pages presenting the organisation on intranet, DMZ and extranet directly or from other organisational systems through the CERIF-CRIS

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repository• Metadata (index) to research datasets and software in a repository• Access view to financial information of an organisation• Access view to human resource information of an organisation• Access view to project management information of an organisation• (and to other relevant organisation systems)• Provision of directory service information for authentication,

authorisation, workflow, cooperative working…• Generation of web pages presenting the organisation on intranet, DMZ

and extranet directly or from other organisational systems through the CERIF-CRIS

• Interoperation with other CERIF-CRIS (and their associated systems) to give a global view of research information

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Take-Home Message #1

Make the CERIF-CRIS the centre of the research organisation to

a) Integrate all other systems

b) Interoperate with external systems

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Structure




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Bringing it Together

CERIF-CRIS

server server server

detectorse-

i-

k-

Deduction & induction – human or machine

Physical

Information

Systems

server

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CERIF-CRIS and ICT infrastructure

• A CERIF-CRIS is well-positioned in the i-infrastructure

• Implication is that it has to interact with– Upper middleware at

bottom of i-infrastructure– K-lower middleware at

top of i-infrastructure

e-

i-

k-





CERIF-CRIS

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Middleware and SOA

• Middleware is usually constructed using SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) techniques

• Each service is discrete with a clearly defined function

• It is described by metadata which covers its functional and non-functional properties

• Services can be composed (orchestrated, choreographed) into larger units– based on their metadata

SOA replaces ad hoc interfaces between systems with a consistent architectural style

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The infrastructure is being constructed now.

CERIF-CRIS must be at the heart of the use of the infrastructure for research

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Structure




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CERIF-CRIS and SOA

• So we need to construct CERIF-CRIS so they can fit into this architecture

• There are two tasks:– Define the metadata to describe the services– Define the services (functions and their non-

functional properties) required in a CRIS environment

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Structure




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Metadata for SOA-CRIS

• Fortunately classification and definition– Presented at CRIS1998 Luxembourg– Refined in a full GRIDs environment at a

seminar in 2000 (published in Springer-Verlag LNCS)

• Related to work on publication metadata– Presented at Grey Literature Conference

1999– And refined at CRIS2004 Antwerpen

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Classification of Metadata

data (document, software, service)

SCHEMA NAVIGATIONAL ASSOCIATIVE

how to

get it

constrain it

view to users

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Classification of Metadata

data (document, software, service)

SCHEMA NAVIGATIONAL ASSOCIATIVE

how to

get it

constrain it

view to users

e.g. URI

Descriptive e.g. formalised DC

Restrictive e.g. rights, charges

Supportive e.g. thesauri, ontologies

To assure integrity

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Example: Associative Metadata Scholarly Publication

UniqueIdPerson OrgUnit

Security

Privacy

AccessLevel

Charge

Restrictive

Annotation

Classification

Quality Assessment

OrgUnit

Publication

Domain of CERIF

PersonProject

ResourceIdentifier

Subject

Keywords

Description

Resource Type

Coverage Temporal

Coverage Spatial

TitleDescriptive

Navigational

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Structure




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Services• A Service • Composed Services

Functional Program

Code(to deliver the service)

Service description(descriptive metadata)

InputParameterdefinitions

OutputParameterdefinitions

Restrictions on use of service(restrictive metadata)

Multiple

Instances

Parallel

execution

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Metadata for Services

• Just as data, information, documents can be characterised by metadata

• So can software (as services)

• And hardware• And combinations can be

wrapped together to form composed services (e.g server plus software plus information)– E.g. institutional repository– E.g. finance system

User Interface

A composed service

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Structure




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Advanced middleware concepts

• Intelligent Hyperactive Objects– To facilitate intelligent workflow– From Grey Literature Conference 2006

• SOKU– To facilitate intelligent software construction– From EU Next Generation GRIDs Expert

Group 2005A glimpse of the future: the current advanced ICT R&D that will become mainstream

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Intelligent Hyperactive Objects

• Hyperactive combines both – hyperlinking – active properties of a (grey) object.

• Hyperlinking implies multimedia components linked to form the object and also external links to other resources.

• The term active implies that objects do not (only) lie passively in a repository to be retrieved by end–users. They ‘get a life’ and the object moves through the network knowing where it is going.

Grey Object (eg hyperlinked

Document)

metadata

Encapsulated object

agentActiverules

relationships

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CERIF-CRIS System Workflow authorise

authorauthoriseauthor

action

relationlink

metadata

authorauthorisedeposit

authorauthorisedepositreview

authorauthorisedepositreview

publicationPush system

Relation Systemauthor

authorisedepositreview

publicationpush

active rules

ScholarlyPublications

Research Data

and Software

At author institution

ScholarlyPublicationsScholarly

PublicationsScholarlyPublications

Research Data

and Software Research Data

and Software Research Data

and Software At other institutions

PROJECT

ORGUNIT

Skills

CV

GeneralFacility

ParticularEquipment

ContactResults

PublicationResultsPatentResultsProduct

Service

FundingProgramme

Event

ClassificationPrize/Award

PERSON

CERIF DataModel

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A utility is a directly and immediately useable service with established functionality, performance and dependability, illustrating the emphasis on user needs and issues such as trust

Services are knowledge-assisted (‘semantic’) to facilitate automation and advanced functionality, the knowledge aspect reinforced by the emphasis on delivering high level services to the user

Service-Oriented Knowledge UtilityNGG3

The architecture comprises services which may be instantiated and assembled dynamically, hence the structure, behaviour and location of software is changing at run-time;

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Next Generation Grids Report 2005Next Generation Grids Report 2005NGG3

NGG1&NGG2 vision and research challengesNext

GenerationGrids

Architectural Vision

OpenReliable Scalable

Persistent Transparent

Person-centricPervasive

Secure / trusted Standards-based

User Interface

Grid Economies Business models

Virtual Organisation

Systems Management Co-ord. and orchestration

Information representation

Research Themes

NextGeneration

Grid(s)

Adaptability, Scalability,

Dependability

Raising theLevel of

Abstraction

Trust and Security in

VirtualOrganizations

Semantic Technologies

Lifecycle Management

Pervasiveness and

Context Awareness of Services

Future for European Grids: GRIDs and Service Oriented Knowledge Utilities –Future for European Grids: GRIDs and Service Oriented Knowledge Utilities – Vision and Research Directions 2010 and Beyond, December 2006Vision and Research Directions 2010 and Beyond, December 2006

Human Factors and

Societal Issues

End-User – Business/Enterprise –Manufacturing/Industrial

Research Topics

Driving Scenarios

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From Web towards SOKUNGG3

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e-

i-

k-





SOKUs in middleware and application services

K-component I-component E-component Middleware component

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SOA, Intelligent Hyperactive Documents and SOKU

Functional Program

Code(to deliver the service)

Service description(descriptive metadata)

InputParameterdefinitions

OutputParameterdefinitions

Restrictions on use of service(restrictive metadata)

Grey Object (eg hyperlinked

Document)

metadata

Encapsulated object

agentActiverules

relationships

SOKUSoftware view Data view

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There are exciting developments in R&D that can make it easier to use the infrastructure for purposes concerning research.

CERIF-CRIS is exactly in line with these developments: get on the ‘train’ now because it is soon leaving.

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Structure




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Wake-up Call (again)

• The glimpse of the future is being developed now in the EC Framework 7 Programme– Challengers, 3S

• 2008: 10 years on from 1998 are we – the euroCRIS community - in danger again of missing out by not constructing CRIS such that they are ‘sexy’?

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What Should We Do?

• We need to get ‘to the starting line’ so that CERIF-CRIS can be in the mainstream

• Step 1 is to use CERIF as information (for CRIS) and as metadata (for integrating other information)– Because it has formal syntax and defined semantics

• Step 2 is to define and create a set of services (SOA) to allow composition of higher-level services dynamically to satisfy the user requirements of CRIS and associated systems– So that the architecture is compatible with the developing

infrastructure

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Work to be done: Metadata

• Provide a strawman proposal for metadata for services, objects– Based on schema / navigational / associative

(descriptive, restrictive, supportive)

• Gain general agreement• Test in use-cases• Revise as necessary• Standardise (ETSI, W3C) euroCRIS should be active in this to ensure

CERIF-CRIS well-represented in the ICT infrastructure

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CRIS Services

• The requirement is to define a set of services related to a CERIF-CRIS for its maintenance and use

• The obvious start-point is the relational algebra– Select, project, difference, union, join, update– Because it is formally defined and based on theory– And because it expects information to be in FoL

• Supplemented by functions for– Reporting, statistical analysis, prediction/simulation

• And for – interoperation

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Work to be done: Services

• Provide a strawman proposal for CRIS services– Based on relational algebra and additional functions

• Gain general agreement• Test in use-cases• Revise as necessary• Standardise (ETSI, W3C) euroCRIS should be active in this to ensure

CERIF-CRIS well-represented in the ICT infrastructure

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Take-Home Messages

#1 Make the CERIF-CRIS the centre of the research organisation to



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Take-Home Messages

#1 Make the CERIF-CRIS the centre of the research organisation to



#2 The infrastructure is being constructed now.

CERIF-CRIS must be at the heart of the use of the infrastructure for research

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Take-Home Messages#1 Make the CERIF-CRIS the centre of the research organisation toa) Integrate all other systemsb) Interoperate with external systems

#2 The infrastructure is being constructed now. CERIF-CRIS must be at the heart of use of the infrastructure for research

#3 There are exciting developments in R&D that can make it easier to use the infrastructure for purposes concerning research.

CERIF-CRIS is exactly in line with these developments: get on the ‘train’ now because it is soon leaving.

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Forward to the Future

• euroCRIS must seize this opportunity– Propose a metadata definition for services

and objects– Propose the set of services required for a

CRIS environment

• And so define CERIF-CRIS at the centre of the research environment across the e-, i-, k- infrastructure

[email protected] [email protected]

1 cris: research organisation view of the e-infrastructure keith g jeffery stfc anne asserson uib

Documents

organisation cerifcris

future slide

cris interoperation

research infrastructure

cris1998 slide

earlier cris conferences

document eforms

information access