Information Environment technical review
Background
Prior work & the need for further development
The JISC Information Environment (IE) is one of of JISC’s well established strategic ‘themes’. At a technical level, the IE is framed by some important documents: a ‘technical architecture’ and by a set of technical standards, both previously developed at UKOLN.
Since this technical framework was created there have been significant changes in the wider technical environment such as the growth in Web 2.0 applications, cloud computing and the use of third party services. The technical foundations of the IE, now three years old, are overdue for comprehensive review. Both the content of these documents, and the approach of using such documents to frame something as broad and complex as the IE, need to be reviewed.
A great deal of technical development has taken place under the umbrella of IE Programmes in the last three years. Some of this has been pure R&D, while some has led to deployed and supported services. The extent to which the technical architecture and standards of the IE have remained relevant to these developments is an aspect which will need to be addressed. This period has also seen some important developments in Web technologies which need to be factored into the review.
Some of the high-level thinking which has directed the IE is founded on the outputs of the MODELS workshops. The MODELS workshops were highly regarded and some of their output is still regularly referenced in discussions around the IE. For this reason, the review will also take a slightly longer view, assessing the continuing relevance of the approaches which were formed in this period, and refreshing this process with a return to this format of wide consultation.
This project will form the first year of what is expected to become an ongoing process of review and renewal of the technical foundations of the JISC Information Environment.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of the JISC Information Environment is to develop and provide services which enable people to create, find and manage information efficiently and effectively for their learning, teaching or research. This Information Environment is increasingly digital, complex and delivered through a myriad of underlying systems. This complexity needs to be hidden from the user as far as possible, so that their personal ‘information environment’ is a cohesive and easy to use as possible. Achieving this requires, in part, the use of common standards and technical approaches which facilitate systems interoperability and data sharing.
In the light of the above, the purpose of this project is to:
- review the JISC IE Technical Architecture and associated documentation for its currency
- and relevance together with the suitability of this approach to describing the technical environment for JISC projects and services in the future
- consider how the technical development of the JISC IE should relate to the development of the e-Infrastructure for learning, teaching and research in the UK and internationally
- identify key technical developments and to assess their suitability for wide scale adoption by JISC projects and services and the UK education sector more generally
- identify and evaluate new technical approaches for the sharing and curation of digital resources to support teaching, learning and research
- inform future guidance to be provided to JISC projects and services on the use of technical standards and approaches which maximise systems interoperability, flexibility and data sharing
- form a framework for continuous technical review of the IE
- in the light of the above, to make recommendations on the future direction of technical development work by JISC projects and services and to consider the relevance of these recommendations to the UK education sector more generally
Reports and documentation
Project plan
Project blog