The Scholarly Infrastructure Technical Summit @ eResearch Australasia 2011

Scholarly Infrastructure Technical Summit (SITS) meetings are designed to share technical operational experience between CTOs, Lead Developers and Head System Administrators so as to assure that internationally we are all DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) i.e. saving technical operational money by learning from each other's previous experiences.Iteration four of the International Scholarly Infrastructure Technical Summit meeting following events in London and California and Geneva took place in Australia alongside the 2011 eResearch Conference (eXtreme eResearch).The eResearch conference brings together CTOs and CIOs from various Universities whose job it is to provide, work with and support IT services for scientific research projects. This was a first for SITS, which previously had seen a mix of researchers and those working on the fringes of institutional IT infrastructure. The Australian focus on supporting research directly thus provided the 4th new platform for the SITS meetings, one closest to the infrastructure itself

Desire Lines: Open Educational Collections, Memory and the Social Machine

This paper delineates the initial ideas around the development of the Co-Curate North East project. The idea of computerised machines which have a social use and impact was central to the development of the project. The project was designed with and for schools and communities as a digital platform which would collect and aggregate ‘memory’ resources and collections around local area studies and social identity. It was a co-curation process supported by museums and curators which was about the ‘meshwork’ between ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ archives and collections and the ways in which materials generated from within the schools and community groups could themselves be re-narrated and exhibited online as part of self-organised learning experiences. This paper looks at initial ideas of social machines and the ways in machines can be used in identity and memory studies. It examines ideas of navigation and visualisation of data and concludes with some initial findings from the early stages of the project about the potential for machines and educational work

Semantic web and semantic technologies to enhance innovation and technology watch processes

Innovation is a key process for Small and Medium Enterprises in order to survive and evolve in a competitive environment. Ideas and idea management are considered the basis for Innovation. Gathering data on how current technologies and competitors evolve is another key factor for companies' innovation. Therefore, this thesis focuses the application of Information and Communication Technologies and more specifically Semantic Web and Semantic Technologies on Idea Management Systems and Technology Watch Systems. Innovation and Technology Watch platform managers usually face many problems related with the data they collect and manage. Those managers have to deal with a large amount of information distributed in different platforms, not always interoperable among them. It is vital to share data between platforms so it can be converted into knowledge. Many of the tasks they perform are non productive and too much time and effort is expended on them. Moreover, Innovation process managers have difficulties in identifying why an idea contest has been successful. Our proposal is to analyze different Information and Communication Technologies that can assist companies with their Innovation and Technology Watch processes. Thus, we studied several Semantic and Web technologies, we build some conceptual models and tested them in different case studies to see the results achieved in real scenarios. The outcome of this thesis has been the creation of a solution architecture to enable interoperability among platforms and to ease the work of the process' managers. In this framework and to complement the architecture, two ontologies have been developed: (1) Gi2Mo Wave and (2) Mentions Ontology. On one hand, Gi2Mo Wave focused on annotating the background of idea contests, assisting on the analysis of the contests and easing its replication. On the other hand, Mentions Ontology focused on annotating the elements mentioned in plain text content, such as ideas or news items. That way, Mentions Ontology creates a way to link the related content, enabling the interoperability among content from different platforms. In order to test the architecture, a new web Idea Management System and a Technology Watch system have been also developed. The platforms incorporate semantic ontologies and tools to enable interoperability. We also demonstrate how Semantic Technologies reduce human workload by contributing on the automatic classification of content in the Technology Watch process. Finally, conclusions have been gathered according to the results achieved testing the used technologies, identifying the ones with best results.Berrikuntza prozesu oso garrantzitsu bat da Enpresa Txiki eta Ertainen lehiakor eta bizirik irauteko ingurumen lehiakor batean. Berrikuntza prozesuek ideiak eta ideien kudeaketa dituzte oinarri gisa. Teknologiek eta lehiakideek nola eboluzionatzen duten jakitzea ere garrantzitsua da enpresen berrikuntzarako, eta baita ere informazio hori kudeatzea. Beraz, Informazio eta Komunikazio sistemen aplikazioan oinarritzen da tesi hau, zehazkiago Web Semantika eta Teknologia Semantikoetan eta hauen aplikazioa Ideia Kudeaketa eta Zaintza Teknologikoko sistemetan. Berrikuntza eta Zaintza Teknologikoko plataformen kudeatzaileek arazo larriak izaten dituzte jasotako datuekin eta haien kudeaketarekin. Kudeatzaile horiek plataforma ezberdinetan banatutako informazio kantitate handi batekin topo egiten dute eta plataforma horiek ez dira beti elkar eraginkorrak. Beraz, beharrezkoa da plataforma ezberdinetako datuak elkarren artean partekatzea gero datu horiek “ezagutza” bihurtzeko. Gainera, kudeatzaileek egiten dituzten zeregin kopuru handi bat zeregin ez emankorrak dira, denbora eta esfortzu handia suposatzen dute baliozko ezer gehitu gabe. Eta ez hori bakarrik, berrikuntza prozesuko kudeatzaileek zail izaten dute ideia lehiaketen arrakastaren arrazoiak identifikatzen. Gure proposamena Informazio eta Komunikazio Teknologia ezberdinak frogatzea da enpresen berrikuntzako eta zaintza teknologikoko prozesuetan laguntzeko. Honela, hainbat teknologia semantiko eta web teknologia aztertu dira, modelo kontzeptual batzuk eraikitzen eta probatzen benetako erabilpen kasutan lortutako emaitzak konprobatzeko. Tesi honen lorpena plataformen arteko elkar eraginkortasuna ahalbidetzen duen eta prozesuen kudeatzaileen lana errazten duen modelo baten sorpena izan da. Horrela eta sortutako modeloa konplimentatzeko, bi ontologia sortu dira: (1) Gi2Mo- Wave eta (2) Mentions Ontology. Alde batetik, Gi2Mo-Wave ontologia ideien eta ideia lehiaketen testuinguruaren errepresentazio semantikoan oinarritu da. Horrela testuinguruaren analisia errazten da, ideia lehiaketa arrakastatsuak errepikatzea ere errazagoa eginez. Bestalde, Mentions-Ontology ontologia eduki ezberdinen (ideiak edo berriak adibidez) testuetan aipatutako elementuen errepresentazio semantikoan oinarritu da. Horrela, Mentions Ontology ontologiak edukia elkar konektatzeko era bat sortzen du, plataforma ezberdinen edukiaren arteko elkar eraginkortasuna ahalbidetzen. Modelo edo arkitektura hau frogatzeko, Ideia Kudeaketa Sistema eta Zaintza teknologikoko web plataforma berri batzuk garatu dira ere. Plataforma hauek tresna eta ontologia semantikoak dituzte txertatuta, beraien arteko elkar eraginkortasuna ahalbidetzeko. Gainera, teknologia semantikoen aplikazioarekin giza lan kargaren murrizketa nola gauzatu ere frogatzen dugu, Zaintza Teknologikoko edukiaren klasifikazio automatikoan ekarpenak eginez. Bukatzeko, konklusioak bildu dira erabili diren teknologien frogetatik jasotako emaitzetan oinarrituta eta emaitza onenak lortu dituztenak identifikatu dira.El proceso de Innovación es un proceso clave para la supervivencia y evolución de las Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas en un entorno competitivo. Las ideas y la gestión de ideas se consideran la base de la innovación. Recopilar datos sobre cómo evolucionan las actuales tecnologías y los competidores es otro factor clave para la innovación de las empresas. Por lo tanto, esta tesis se centra en la aplicación de Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación, más concretamente la aplicación de Web Semántica y Tecnologías Semánticas en los Sistemas de Gestión de ideas y de Vigilancia Tecnológica. Los gestores de las plataformas de innovación y de vigilancia tecnológica se enfrentan a muchos problemas relacionados con los datos que recogen y gestionan. Esos gestores se enfrentan a una gran cantidad de información distribuida en diferentes plataformas, no siempre interoperables entre ellas. Es de vital importancia que las diferentes plataformas sean capaces de compartir datos entre ellas, de modo que esos datos puedan convertirse en el conocimiento. Muchas de las tareas realizadas por estos gestores son tareas no productivas y se invierte demasiado tiempo y esfuerzo en realizarlas. Además, los responsables de los procesos de innovación tienen dificultades para identificar por qué un concurso de ideas ha sido un éxito. Nuestra propuesta es analizar diferentes Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación que puedan ayudar a las empresas con sus procesos de Innovación y Vigilancia Tecnológica. Por ello, hemos estudiado varias tecnologías semánticas y Web, hemos desarrollado algunos modelos conceptuales y los hemos probado en diferentes casos de estudio para ver los resultados obtenidos en escenarios reales. El resultado de este trabajo ha sido la creación de una arquitectura que permite la interoperabilidad entre plataformas y que facilita el trabajo de los responsables de los procesos. En este marco, y para complementar la arquitectura, se han desarrollado dos ontologías: (1) Gi2Mo Wave y (2) Mentions Ontology. Gi2Mo Wave se centra en la anotación del contexto de los de ideas, ayudando en el análisis de los concursos y facilitando su replicación. Por otro lado, Mentions Ontology se centra en la anotación de los elementos mencionados en el texto plano de contenidos de diferente índole, como por ejemplo ideas o noticias. Así, Mentions Ontology crea una forma de encontrar relaciones entre contenidos, lo que permite la interoperabilidad entre los contenidos de diferentes plataformas. Con el fin de probar la arquitectura, también se han desarrollado dos plataformas: un Sistema de Gestión de Ideas y un Sistema de Vigilancia Tecnológica. Las plataformas incorporan ontologías semánticas y herramientas para permitir su interoperabilidad. Además, demostramos cómo reducir la carga de trabajo humana, mediante el uso de tecnologías semánticas para la clasificación automática del contenido del proceso de la Vigilancia Tecnológica. Por último, probando las tecnologías y herramientas se han recogido las conclusiones de acuerdo con los resultados obtenidos, identificando las que obtienen los mejores resultados

Updated version of final design and of the architecture of SEAMLESS-IF

Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries,

Linked Open Data for Environmental Protection in Smart Regions – the New Challenge for the Use of Environmental Data and Information.

This paper will introduce the specific objectives of the recently initiated project SmartOpenData - “Linked Open Data for Environmental Protection in Smart Regions” (SOD project) that is supported by Seventh Framework ENV.2013.6.5-3: Exploiting the European Open Data Strategy to Mobilize the Use of Environmental Data and Information. The main concept of the project is to create a Linked Open Data (SOD) infrastructure (including software tools and data sets) fed by public and freely available data resources, existing sources for biodiversity and environment protection and research in rural and European protected areas and its national parks. The aim of the SOD project to develop real proposals for building a SOD infrastructure for biodiversity and environment protection in European protected areas that satisfy the requirements of four kinds of target users: public bodies, researchers, companies (also small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and citizens. The SOD project will focus also on how the SOD Initiative can be linked with the INSPIRE directive, GEOSS Data-CORE, GMES, completed European scale Geographic Information System (GIS) projects (like a Habitats project, which defines models and tools for managing spatial data in environmental protection areas), and external third parties, as well as how it can impact economic and sustainability progress in European environmental research and protection. The key elements of the project will be five target pilot projects in related areas (agro forestry management, environmental research and biodiversity, water monitoring, forest sustainability and environmental data re-use), where harmonization of metadata, improvement of spatial data fusion, as well as visualization and publication of the resulting information according to user requirements will take place. Key words: Linked Open Data, Geographic Information Systems, GIS, INSPIRE directive, environmental data, natural resources, sustainable development and research

FESTivE: an information system method to improve product designers and environmental experts information exchanges

Effective collaboration between product designers and environmental experts is an important driver for the ecodesign practice in industry. This paper investigates the principal functions required for such an e ective collaboration and aims at facilitating them. Product designers should be able to integrate the environmental parameters into their activities, and to exchange information dynamically with the environmental expert whenever needed during the design process. Therefore, the IT system should be in itself dynamic and exible to the integration of new concepts (knowledge, software). Recent developments in Model Driven Engineering (MDE) are showing some interesting results to gain exibility and dynamism in the IT system. Combining software interoperability using model federation based on MDE with the speci city of ecodesign practice in industry this paper proposes the FESTivE method for Federate EcodeSign Tool modEls. Experimented in two different industrial contexts the practical feasibility of FESTivE has been validated with practitioners. Results on the e ects of using FESTivE in industry shows that product designers and environmental experts are more equipped to anticipate and to respond to each other's needs at each stage of the design process of product or service