I2S2 Business Models & Sustainability Plan

Neil Beagrie, Manjula Patel, Liz Lyon, Simon Coles, Brian Matthews

    Research output: Book/ReportCommissioned report

    Abstract

    There is currently a functional chasm between researchers working in their home institution
    and at centralised facilities such as Diamond and ISIS. Researchers need to move data
    across institutional and domain boundaries in a seamless and integrated manner. The
    Infrastructure for Integration in Structural Sciences (I2S2) project has attempted to “bridge
    the chasm” and develop a robust data infrastructure to enable these seamless
    transformations to take place routinely and to greatly increase researcher efficiency and
    productivity. There is also likely to be greater return on investment in the central facilities
    such as Diamond through more cost-effective use of resources by the client base.
    This Document sets out proposals and business models for sustaining the work of I2S2
    beyond the life of the initial project which ends in June 2011.
    The project has aspired to bring about significant benefits which are quantifiable, sustainable
    and transferable to the entire structural science domain as well as across other disciplines
    and across institutions. More specifically, the harmonisation of distributed representations of
    data models through abstraction into an Integrated Information Model which underpins
    research across multiple sites and global locations is a significant step forward within the
    structural science community. It will facilitate data validation, data sharing, data access and
    management and data preservation in the longer term. In addition, it is hoped that key
    principles and lessons learnt will be transferable into domains such as materials science and
    engineering.
    We examine the strategies and policies of RCUK, EPRSC, JISC and the Digital Curation
    Centre (DCC), STFC and its facilities, and the UK Research Integrity Office’s Code of
    Practice for Research and discuss how the work of the I2S2 project and its future
    implementations are closely aligned with them.
    We also discuss a range of substantial benefits in terms of research effectiveness and
    research efficiency that we have been able to identify from I2S2 and potential metrics to
    measure their future impact. Two detailed case studies are provided describing benefits from
    a researcher’s and a service provider’s perspective.
    The sustainability issues in I2S2 are complex since the project has a disciplinary community
    focus and also spans multiple organisations rather than being an initiative within a single
    institution. The business case for the continuation of the I2S2 work is predicated on an
    Integrated Service approach which delivers a su
    ite of joined-up services derived from the
    harmonisation of existing services at local (e
    .g. institutional laboratory), national (e.g.
    National Crystallography Service) and international (e.g. STFC) levels. An approach based
    on integration has the advantage of improving
    the probability that interventions developed in
    I2S2 become fully embraced and embedded into the pre-existing infrastructure. However, to
    fully realise the vision of the I2S2 Project, it would be necessary to undertake a second
    phase of the project with the aim of completing implementation of the pilot infrastructures;
    development of ICAT-Personal into a robust research data management tool; further
    development of the I2S2 Information Model; completion of the cost-benefits analysis and
    impact work; and extended training of the target communities identified in the project. A
    second phase of the project would allow coordinated action on all of these fronts.

    Given the uncertainty of appropriating funding for a follow-on implementation phase of I2S2,
    we have examined a series of options for sustaining key outcomes from the project; we
    therefore offer the following conclusions and recommendations:
    – I2S2 Information Model will be further developed in current projects such as PaN-
    Data and the UMF Smart Research Framework, which will sustain and promote the
    model over the next 2-3 years, and build tools which will use and develop it further. If
    the Model is widely adopted, we will seek to support it through an open source
    community effort.
    – The ICAT-Personal Tool will likely become integrated into the suite of ICAT tools
    which support the data management needs of ISIS and DLS to enable the data
    analysis phase of the lifecycle activity model as explored in I2S2.
    – The NCS intends to update its data and information management systems with a
    unified framework, underpinned by the I2S2 Information Model that supports all
    aspects of facility operation, covering the whole I2S2 research activity lifecycle
    model.
    – Our work on assessing benefits and impact has already led to innovations which are
    being further developed and sustained via a JISC 15/10 programme project (Digital
    Preservation Benefit Analysis Tools) involving a range of partners and data services.
    The tools will be user tested, documented, made freely available, promoted by a
    range of services, and have value-added support via consultancy if required. This will
    allow independent support for and evolution of this work.
    – The I2S2 community is only one small part of the much wider structural science
    community, and a co-ordinated programme of awareness-raising, training,
    professional development and networking across all the structural science domains,
    is required; these might include physics, mineralogy, earth sciences and some
    aspects of bio-engineering. Extending the I2S2 approach beyond the chemistry
    domain is a priority.
    – In the medium-term we will continue to disseminate the results of I2S2 as well as
    KRDS/I2S2 Benefit Analysis tools and advocate their use at workshops, conferences
    and disciplinary meetings.
    – Knowledge transfer to equipment and instru
    ment manufacturers; the NCS has been
    in close collaboration with the instrument
    provider, Rigaku, regarding information
    and data management and a plan has been drawn up to incorporate elements of the
    I2S2 Information Model into the Rigak
    u data management framework. This will
    involve addition of I2S2 elements into the Rigaku SIMS (Sample Information
    Management System) – an XML description of sa
    mples and their attributes which will
    enable data management from a facility perspective (which was not previously
    possible) and will be rolled out with all Rigaku software in the future.
    In section 5 we provide initial estimates of cost and timescales for continuation of the primary
    strands of work as outlined above.
    Original languageEnglish
    Place of PublicationBath
    PublisherUKOLN
    Number of pages24
    Publication statusPublished - 22 Jun 2011

    Keywords

    • Research Data Management
    • Infrastructure
    • Structural Sciences
    • Sustainability

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Computer Science

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