JISC

The JISC committee for Awareness, Liaison and Training (JCALT) is creating a portfolio of products to help institutions manage and monitor their investment in ICT in support of teaching, research and administration. The Committee has already carried out a number of studies into cost effectiveness of ICT, provision of resources and evaluation of the risks associated with investment in the area. It is creating a number of tools to assist management, some of which are being introduced to the community through the JISC infoNet service. JISC has also recently funded a pilot advisory service to provide expert advice on open-source software, based at the University of Oxford (OSS Watch).

OSS Watch has recently commissioned a user-needs analysis in the OSS area and a summary of the recommendations is available on the OSS website. Six of the recommendations (numbers 3.5, 3.6, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.14) are pertinent to this study and the guide will provide a significant resource that will address these.