Joint Information Systems Committee
JISC Information Environment and
Architecture, part 1
Alicia Wise and Andy Powell
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Outline
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Intro to the JISC
Collections
Services
Development Activities
– Authentication and Security
– Digital Preservation
– Networking
– Information Environment
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
The JISC is...
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The Joint Information Systems Committee
Funded by the further and higher education funding bodies
for FE and HE in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and
Wales through top-sliced money
Not a single committee, but a nested committee structure
responsible for stimulating the innovative use of IT in
learning, teaching, and research
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
The JISC….
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Provides the network to all
colleges and universities in
the UK
Provides electronic materials
and services essential for
learning, teaching, and
research
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Funds research and
development programmes
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Raises awareness, and
provides support and training
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SuperJANET
Up until now known as the
“Distributed National Electronic
Resource (DNER)”. Includes
collections and services under a
variety of names and guises.
Information Environment
development, eLib, DNER
development
To senior managers and staff and,
through some services, to
students
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
JISC Collections
Research Data
Learning Materials
Indexed
websites
Abstracts
Bibliographic
databases
Maps
Multimedia
Images
Catalogues
Sounds
Journals
Moving Images
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
14
Regional
Support
Centres
JISC Services
Mirror
Servic
e
Disabilit
y
Support
Service
Data
Centre
Digitisation
Service
JISCmail
Training
Data Centre
Cache Service
TechLearn
Data Archive
IMS
Centre
ATHENS
Data
centre
Software
Neg.
Team
UKOLN
Network
Mgmt
Service
Mirror
Servic
e
Arts and
Humanities
Data
Service
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
JISC Development Activities
1. Authentication and Security
– Deploying the ATHENS system
– Rolling out single sign-on functionality
– Piloting the use of digital certificates in institutions during the
next academic year
2. Digital Preservation
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Why do we need digital preservation?
If purchasing digital content:
•electronic publications are transient - to maintain access to
holdings/subscriptions requires action
•doing nothing means maintaining both electronic and paper with static
or declining funding
If digitising:
•maximise the useful life of the content and the investment made by
funding bodies and institutions
•not preserving costs staff resources and money to re-create content
(and may damage originals)
•may be a requirement of funding bodies and increase likelihood of
proposals being funded
•Build cultural heritage and the knowledge base
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Digital Preservation Coalition
•Aim of Coalition is to develop the UK digital preservation
agenda within an international context
•Core of 19 member organisations
•Plus associate members and allies
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
JISC Development Activities, cont.
3. Networking
– GRID – a researcher-driven international programme to
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create a specially designed software environment for
facilitating collaboration, controlling remote experiments, and
managing vast quantities of data.
Internet 2
SuperJANET 4 developments
4. Information Environment
– Informed by digital library developments
– Informed by enterprise portal developments for educational
institutions
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Challenge 1 – changing ways in which
researchers work and collaborate
Analysis
Discover
Registration
Writing
Awareness
Authoring
Visualisation
Certification
Preservation
Readin
g
Access
Processing
L
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c
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t
e
Secure, High-Quality Network
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Challenge 2 - Standalone Content
Content
(local and
remote)
Web
Web
Web
Web
End-user
Web
• Many different
services
• Each has own user
interface
• Each has a learning
curve
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Information Environment:
Functional View
Content
(local and
remote)
Web
Web
Web
Web
Web
Use
Access
Discovery
End-user
Supporting UK Further and Higher Education