Designing Institutional Infrastructure for E-Science

A new generation of information and communication infrastructures, including advanced Internet computing and Grid technologies, promises more direct and shared access to more widely distributed computing resources than was previously possible. Scientific and technological collaboration, consequently, is more and more dependent upon access to, and sharing of digital research data. Thus, the U.S. NSF Directorate committed in 2005 to a major research funding initiative, “Cyberinfrastructure Vision for 21st Century Discovery”. These investments are aimed at enhancement of computer and network technologies, and the training of researchers. Animated by much the same view, the UK e-Science Core Programme has preceded the NSF effort in funding development of an array of open standard middleware platforms, intended to support Grid enabled science and engineering research. This proceeds from the sceptical view that engineering breakthroughs alone will not be enough to achieve the outcomes envisaged. Success in realizing the potential of e-Science—through the collaborative activities supported by the "cyberinfrastructure," if it is to be achieved, will be the result of a nexus of interrelated social, legal, and technical transformations.e-science, cyberinfrastructure, information sharing, research

TOWARDS INSTITUTIONAL INFRASTRUCTURES FOR E-SCIENCE: The Scope of the Challenge

The three-fold purpose of this Report to the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Research Councils (UK) is to: • articulate the nature and significance of the non-technological issues that will bear on the practical effectiveness of the hardware and software infrastructures that are being created to enable collaborations in e- Science; • characterise succinctly the fundamental sources of the organisational and institutional challenges that need to be addressed in regard to defining terms, rights and responsibilities of the collaborating parties, and to illustrate these by reference to the limited experience gained to date in regard to intellectual property, liability, privacy, and security and competition policy issues affecting scientific research organisations; and • propose approaches for arriving at institutional mechanisms whose establishment would generate workable, specific arrangements facilitating collaboration in e-Science; and, that also might serve to meet similar needs in other spheres such as e- Learning, e-Government, e-Commerce, e-Healthcare. In carrying out these tasks, the report examines developments in enhanced computer-mediated telecommunication networks and digital information technologies, and recent advances in technologies of collaboration. It considers the economic and legal aspects of scientific collaboration, with attention to interactions between formal contracting and 'private ordering' arrangements that rest upon research community norms. It offers definitions of e-Science, virtual laboratories, collaboratories, and develops a taxonomy of collaborative e-Science activities which is implemented to classify British e-Science pilot projects and contrast these with US collaboratory projects funded during the 1990s. The approach to facilitating inter-organizational participation in collaborative projects rests upon the development of a modular structure of contractual clauses that permit flexibility and experience-based learning.

Cybersecurity Law: Legal Jurisdiction and Authority

Cybersecurity threats affect all aspects of society; critical infrastructures (such as networks, corporate systems, water supply systems, and intelligent transportation systems) are especially prone to attacks and can have tangible negative consequences on society. However, these critical cyber systems are generally governed by multiple jurisdictions, for instance the Metro in the Washington, D.C. area is managed by the states of Virginia and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia (DC) through Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Additionally, the water treatment infrastructure managed by DC Water consists of waste water input from Fairfax and Arlington counties, and the district (i.e. DC). Additionally, cyber attacks usually launch from unknown sources, through unknown switches and servers, and end up at the destination without much knowledge on their source or path. Certain infrastructures are shared amongst multiple countries, another idiosyncrasy that exacerbates the issue of governance. This law paper however, is not concerned with the general governance of these infrastructures, rather with the ambiguity in the relevant laws or doctrines about which authority would prevail in the context of a cyber threat or a cyber-attack, with a focus on federal vs. state issues, international law involvement, federal preemption, technical aspects that could affect lawmaking, and conflicting responsibilities in cases of cyber crime. A legal analysis of previous cases is presented, as well as an extended discussion addressing different sides of the argument.Comment: This report is developed for partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Juris Masters of Law at GMU's Antonin Scalia Law Schoo

Exploring leaders\u27 sensemaking of emergent global norms for open science: a mixed methods discourse analysis of UNESCO’s multistakeholder initiative

In November 2021, all 193 United Nations Member States adopted the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Recommendation on Open Science (UNESCO, 2021a), which signaled a shared commitment to globally recognized standards for open science. However, as with other normative instruments established by intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) such as UNESCO, the ways in which local, national, and regional leaders will implement the recommendation can and will vary (Finnemore, 1993). Top-down and bottom-up coordination across international stakeholders in the research system is critical for the framework to be effective in driving global policy implementation and enabling sustained research culture change. Such international coordination necessitates an understanding of the complex economic, socio-political, and cultural dimensions that exist among these stakeholders and may influence local implementation efforts and norm-setting (Martinsson, 2011; Nilsson, 2017). This mixed methods study explores leaders’ sensemaking of emergent global norms for open science through public discourse during the development of UNESCO’s recommendation. The central research question is: How did institutional leaders make sense of emergent global norms for open science during UNESCO’s multistakeholder initiative? The study is situated at the intersection of systems thinking, global norms, and sensemaking, using a social constructionist lens. A synthesis of study findings draws two conclusions: That there is evidence in the discourse of accelerating self-organization toward open science among Member States who responded to UNESCO’s call for commentary on the draft recommendation; and that there is also evidence in the discourse of a degree of instability around prospective norm diffusion and internalization of the Recommendation on Open Science (2021a) related directly to matters of implementation. The tension between emergence and instability is well documented throughout the literature across complex systems, global norms, and sensemaking. Therefore, the study supports the ongoing exploration of global norms development and, specifically, the critical progression from norm emergence to norm diffusion. Given the theoretical coherence of complex systems, global norms, and sensemaking as evidenced throughout the findings, the novel integrative analytic frame that was developed during the design of this study may support other global norms development studies

Strategy and Spell: Art as Infrastructural Change

The essay “Strategy and Spell: Art as Infrastructural Change” is an investigation of the performative force art spaces have on the field of art and on various infrastructures at large. It is also a strategic proposition on how to envision a position for action and from which to gain leverage within the current neoliberal global context. Drawing from contemporary art, design and media theory on systemic thinking, and the post-contemporary time complex, the essay reflects on two personal projects: the exhibition space casamata (2014–2017), and the project TRAMA, developed for the 33rd São Paulo Biennial – Affective Affinities (2018). Favoring a speculative approach that tackles large-scale problematics and collective organization, it demonstrates how there are many potentialities contained in exhibition spaces and how such potentialities could, through an understanding of a contemporary art megastructure and art practice as infrastructural change, operate new experiments for the art system

Designing Institutional Infrastructures for e-Science

The opportunity exists today for unprecedented connections between scientists, information, data, computational services, and instruments through the Internet. A new generation of information and communication infrastructures, including advanced Internet computing and Grid technologies, is beginning to enable much greater direct and shared access to more widely distributed computing resources than previously has been possible.3 The term ‘e-Science’ usually is applied in reference to large scale science that, increasingly, is being carried out through distributed global collaborations enabled by the Internet.4 Such collaborative scientific enterprises typically require access to very extensive data collections, very large scale computing resources, and high performance visualisation of research data and analysis of results by the individual users. The potential for these advances in technology to support new levels of collaborative activity in scientific and engineering, and ultimately in other domains, is a major driving force behind the UK’s Core e-Science Programme.

Collaboration between Developed and Developing Countries Offers Opportunities to Amplify Global Health Research

Slides for Ms. Omollo's portion of the panel are available at http://openmi.ch/sts13ahon.The complexity, scope and intensity of global health challenges demand international collaboration. Collaboration between developing and developed countries can be an effective strategy for tackling shared health issues. In recent years, government agencies and foundations have increased financial and human resources for international collaborative projects for health research and education. However, these international partnerships often encounter barriers such as resource, capacity, political and cultural differences which affect the motivations, balance of benefits, regulation of research, and ultimately outcomes of these programs. The current literature is resplendent with anecdotal reports, editorials and thematic introductions about attitudes and structural factors impacting partnerships between developing and developed countries. There is little research or documentation regarding systematic analysis of the social and technical factors that foster efficient, effective and sustainable international collaboration. The panelists will present three unique models of collaboration between developing and developed countries. They will examine the social, scientific, technological and organizational dynamics of these collaborations that must be aligned to effectively address challenges resulting from resource, capacity and power differences in the interaction of multiple organizational and national cultures. The lessons learned from these collaborations are intended to inform institutions and researchers who are engaged in multicultural and multinational health networks. The findings may also be a useful reference for policy makers and funding agencies for predicting and evaluating success of collaborative projects. The first panelist will present on the National Heart Lung and Blood – United Health Global Health Centers of Excellence (COE) Program (http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/globalhealth/centers/index.htm). Each COE collaborates with a research organization in a developed country to develop research and training infrastructure and to build capacity to conduct population based or clinical research to monitor, control or prevent cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases (CVPD). The program includes an Administrative Coordinating Center that coordinates and manages network communication, tracks COE research, training and capacity building activities, and offers consultations related to methodology, outcome measures and data management for collaborative studies. The panelist will discuss mid-point process evaluation and how findings from the evaluation are guiding the direction of the program through the end of the funding period. The second panelist will present on University of Michigan Health Systems-Peking University Health Science Center Joint Institute for Translational and Clinical Research (JI) (http://www.puuma.org/). The JI is a virtual cross-institutional research platform destined to facilitate high-impact, collaborative research to advance global health. The panelist will focus on how to develop shared and individual institutional management structures, processes and technical infrastructure that supports and sustains successful cross-institutional collaboration. The third panelist will discuss the African Health OER Network (“the Network”) (http://www.oerafrica.org/healthoer), a collaborative project between University of Michigan, an NGO in Africa, two universities in Ghana, and two universities in South Africa. The objective of this project is to advance health education in Africa by creating and promoting free, openly licensed teaching materials by African academics to share knowledge, address curriculum gaps, and support health education communities. The panelist will present a collaboration model that involves an iterative process of action, assessment, and reflection. She will summarize the communication and management practices developed through the interactive process that enabled the Network to implement the shared values of transparency, collaboration, and active participation, to foster South-South as well as North-South exchanges, and to ultimately achieve project goals and sustainability.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102597/1/2013_Luo-et-al-SciTS_Cross-Cultural and International Team Science.docxhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102597/2/2013_Luo-et-al-SciTS_Cross-Cultural and International Team Science.pd

Framework for a business interoperability quotient measurement model

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova da Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial (MEGI)Over the last decade the context of Interoperability has been changing rapidly. It has been expanding from the largely technically focused area of Information Systems towards Business Processes and Business Semantics. However, there exists a need for more comprehensive ways to define business interoperability and enable its performance measurement as a first step towards improvement of interoperability conditions between collaborating entities. Through extensive literature reviews and analysis of European Research initiatives in this area, this dissertation presents the State of the Art in Business Interoperability. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a model that closely captures the factors that are responsible for Business Interoperability in the context of Collaborative Business Processes. This Business Interoperability Quotient Measurement Model (BIQMM), developed in this dissertation uses an interdisciplinary approach to capture the key elements responsible for collaboration performance. Through the quantification of the relevance of each element to the particular collaboration scenario in question, this model enables a quantitative analysis of Business Interoperability, so that an overall interoperability score can be arrived at for enhanced performance measurements.Finally, the BIQMM is applied to a business case involving Innovayt and LM Glassfiber to demonstrate its applicability to different collaboration scenarios