[okfn-coord] Fwd: Press Release: JISC helps researchers to meet the research data challenge

Tue Dec 8 22:06:13 UTC 2009

dear Jordan, all,

On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 11:50 AM, Jordan S Hatcher
<jordan at opencontentlawyer.com> wrote:
> Is Edinburgh / EDINA a possibility?  Jo, what do you think?
>> Looks like CKAN could be relevant here. Would be good to start
>> thinking about potential academic partnerships.

EDINA is definitely a possibility, we're actively looking to re-engage
with project work.  Strangely enough, there isn't much direct contact
with the research work in the University of Edinburgh there.

Quick thoughts:
- Recent JISC CFPs have heavy emphasis on "the immediate research
needs of identified groups" - they're meant to be investing in
technology for general "research" rather than in technology research,
which is what's been happening.

- The "Institutional Repository" model in which JISC placed such value
is being de-emphasised. (e.g. this sort of thing -
http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/ ) Expect to see more talk about
"distributed data repository" and a lot of handwaving about the Cloud.
But IRs have been invested in heavily, and there are skilled people in
outreach jobs there. Research data dissemination / discovery work that
rescued some of the IR investment *should* have a lot of apparent
value.

This all says OpenGrid to me, and a chance to develop a
searching/linking application, rather than directly working on CKAN.

Caveat - JISC is under some funding pressure and there is not much of
scale or income in their funding calls roadmap for the next half-year
- http://www.jisc.ac.u/fundingopportunities/futurecalls/itt.aspx - in
the "e-Research" area a set of small Cloud evaluation projects - but
will this "Managing Research Data" fanfare actually result in public
calls?

Nonetheless I agree it makes sense to "build relationships" in this
area especially if that will support low-key but solid growth of
OpenGrid as a low-cost sustainable alternative to the bloody Cloud.
I'm happy to confer with James Reid at EDINA (who handles proposals
mostly) and take a sounding from him.

cheers,

jo