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TechWatch Report on eBooks in Education: Call for Comments

lisrw — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:08:10 +0000

In association with the JISC Observatory, the Innovation Support Centre at UKOLN has announced a call for comments on the latest TechWatch report to be produced. Preparing for Effective Adoption and Use of eBooks in Education is now available in its preview version together with a summary of its content and significance in a blog post on the ISC Web site. Further details are available in a news feature on the UKOLN Web site.

Launch of JISC TechWatch Report: Preparing for Data-driven Infrastructure

Brian Kelly — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 08:14:07 +0000

The JISC Observatory has published a report on “Preparing for Data-driven Infrastructure” which offers institutions advice on approaches to managing the increasing demands on their business and other data.

The report describes ways in which institutions can respond to strategic drivers in order to adopt a more data-centric approach across a range of development activities. The report includes a description of data-centric architectures, an overview of tools and technologies including APIs, Linked Data and NoSQL, together with a review of architectural approaches which institutions will need to consider when responding to requirements for greater transparency in their business processes.

Report on Data-driven Infrastructure

lisrw — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:04:14 +0000

The JISC Observatory service, provided by the Innovation Support Centre at UKOLN and JISC CETIS, has announced the publication of a preview version of the TechWatch report entitled Preparing for Data-driven Infrastructure. Details of the report and how to send feedback on it are available on the ISC Web site.

New JISC Observatory TechWatch Report

lisrw — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:22:04 +0000

The JISC Observatory team is pleased to announce the launch of a TechWatch report entitled Delivering Web to Mobile. Further details are available from a news feature on the UKOLN Web site.

CERIF Landscape Study

lisrw — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:08:35 +0000

Rosemary Russell of UKOLN ISC has written an explanatory news feature on Adoption of CERIF in Higher Education Institutions in the UK: A Landscape Study which is now available on the UKOLN Web site.

Adoption of CERIF in UK HEIs

Rosemary Russell — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:17:14 +0000

Adoption of CERIF in Higher Education Institutions in the UK: A Landscape Study by Rosemary Russell of UKOLN has just been published and is available in both PDF and Word formats. This study documents the extent of adoption and engagement with CERIF in UK Higher Education institutions (HEIs) in late 2011/early 2012. CERIF, the Common European Research Information Format provides a standardised way of managing and exchanging information about research. 51 institutions in the UK are using CERIF Current Research Information Systems (CRIS), indicating a 30.7% adoption of CERIF. However despite the widespread use of CERIF as an underlying standard, many institutions are not engaging with CERIF directly.

Draft JISC Observatory Report on “Delivering Web to Mobile”

Brian Kelly — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:10:01 +0000

The JISC Observatory is provided by UKOLN and JISC CETIS to “systematise the way in which the JISC anticipates and responds to projected future trends and scenarios in the context of the use of technology in Higher & Further Education, and Research in the UK”.

The JISC Observatory is responsible for commissioning reports which cover areas of IT which are felt to be of significance for the Higher and Further Education sector. To this end we commissioned a report Delivering Web to Mobile which is being written by Mark Power, JISC CETIS. As explained on the JISC Observatory blog, a preview version of this report has now been made available for comment (in PDF format).

This report looks at the growth of mobile technologies and the state of the Web while giving an overview of approaches to delivering content and services optimised for the mobile environment. They include approaches to Web design in respect of responsive sites, leveraging access to device functions and capabilities, and the use of Web technologies to build mobile applications.

This preview version of the report is being made available for a period of 1 month to allow for public comment and feedback. A final version will be produced shortly after 23 March 2012, the last day for submitting comments which will be addressed in the final updates.

Please send us your observations using the comments facility on the JISC Observatory Web site. Comments of any nature are welcomed but we would particularly value those pointing out:

significant omissions in your view;
technical errors; or
confusing content.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Report on Augmented Reality on Smartphones: Feedback Invited

Brian Kelly — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:48:52 +0000

Feedback is invited on a TechWatch report entitled Augmented Reality for Smartphones which has been commissioned by UKOLN. The report, which has been written by Ben Butchart, Edina, has been mentioned in the April issue of Wired by Bruce Sterling:

This is a fine piece of comprehensive research work. If you’re an AR developer or content guy, you’re gonna want a printout of this lying around, so you can brandish it at people. You’ll look like you know what you’re talking about!

Comments on the report are invited until Friday 6 May 2011. After that the final version of the report will be released.

ACCI Task Forces Report

lisrw — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 21:54:49 +0000

The six task forces established by the National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastucture (ACCI) have recently approved the final drafts of the reports on the areas in which they were asked to suggest recommendations and ideas for advancing cyberinfrastructure in support of NSF research. Those areas were:

Campus Bridging
Cyberlearning and Workforce Development
Data and Visualization
Grand Challenges
High Performance Computing
Software for Science and Engineering

These task forces were each led by ACCI members and their membership included a cross-section of members from both academic and industrial communities. Over a two-year period the task forces gathered broad community input via open workshops and meetings, solicitation of white papers, and other outreach efforts. Liz Lyon, Director of UKOLN and Associate Director, Digital Curation Centre, is a member of the ACCI Task Force on Data and Visualization. All six reports are available from the NSF Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI) Web site.