VRE Framework Document
Introduction
The Virtual Research Environment (VRE) is an online web environment that will allow for various kinds of collaborative interactions. One assumption we have made is that much of research transcends the boundaries between the private and the guarded and the collaborative and the open. This space will allow for interaction at any combination of these levels and also serve as an archival system that will allow for a more permanent home for much of the research data and results.
The term Virtual Research Environment is taken from a JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) initiative:
The purpose of a VRE is to help researchers in all disciplines manage the increasingly complex range of tasks involved in carrying out research. A VRE will provide a framework of resources to support the underlying processes of research on both small and large scales, particularly for those disciplines which are not well catered for by the current infrastructure.
VREs will add value to the research process across all disciplines by complementing and inter-working with existing resources and by being flexible and adaptable to changing requirements. The approach being taken is based on an architecture which is extensible and supports, but does not restrict, the resources needed by individual research teams.
Goals
The main goal of the VRE is to create a seamless online environment for researchers at various locations to collaborate with each other. In order for this to happen the VRE must:
- be researcher driven;
- be as simple to use as possible;
- provide a secure archive for research purposes;
- create a sustainable infrastructure;
- be scalable.
Another goal of the VRE is to work with Open Source tools and philosophies, providing a flexible and modular environment that will allow for the most effective integration possible.
One way to think of the VRE is as layers of functionality, such as in the the following:
Functionality Goals
There is an ever changing list of functionality that is being considered for this project. It may be useful to separate that functionality into core, extended and proposed. The core functionality is meant to be those things either essential to the project from a basic research perspective or necessary to the project from an architectural perspective.
Core Functionality
Core functionality is something we are hoping to achieve by the end of January 2007. This would allow research groups to adapt a VRE to their research community.
Digital Library
One of the main goals of the VRE is to provide a variety of digital repository services that can respond to a wide range of data types and sources. It should be able to accommodate data from all stages in the research process. This repository also needs to provide extensive storage, search and retrieval functions that facilitate use and integration into all stages of the research process. It also needs to have a flexible metadata framework that would adapt to a variety of work flows and approaches.
Public Web Presence
This is the 'face to the world' of the VRE. A research group may want to have a section of their ideas or research available for public viewing.
Collaborative Web Space
This is a more private space where researchers can come and work synchronously or asynchronously on different projects in and around their research.
Extended Functionality
Live Interactive Conferencing
Ideally the VRE would have the ability to facilitate a live interactive conference from a variety of locations. The products were are currently considering are either in Alpha or Beta and not yet ready for an integration into the core system. The functionality on this system will include screen sharing, interactive whiteboard, chat and duplex audio.
Proposed Functionality
Scholarly Publication
The work that is produced in a given research community will, often, be submitted to scholarly journals to be published. The VRE will be able to facilitate the production and dissemination of scholarly research using this traditional model, including the management of print and digital journals. The VRE should also be able to accommodate the conversations and documents that are also produced in the process of doing research, whether it be notes, conference presentations, posters, or other forms of communication.
Identity Management
The VRE will need to be able to work seamlessly with different systems that may not be an integrated part of the local environment, including the ability to authenticate and authorize to specific resources and services.
Web Based Video Editing
One key requirement of the UPEI research community (especially in the context of the CMTC project) is to implement a piece of software that would allow for web based, collaborative multimedia research.
Principles/Examples
- support research process and knowledge transfer
- support integration of all levels of community at levels of functionality
- use an open and extensible open source framework that builds on what is already available - no monolithic apps
- allow idividuals in all communities to use tools they are familiar with e.g. use OpenOffice to generate documents, attach metadata and deposit in the repository
- be able to do most things in the VRE and/or individual applications e.g. access mail archive in the VRE or in a local mail app
- use a VRE toolbar in Firefox
- expose all data to appropriate levels using open standards, facilitating mashups and creation of new knowledge (e.g. messages in an IMAP mail store)
- derive minimal metadata from standard applications/file formats, permitting deposit with minimal input
- use systems like WebDav for file storage/access so that key components of the system can be integrated into the desktop
- allow existing documents to be enhanced by the community
Concept and Design
The vision behind the build described in this document is that the researchers should be able to customize their VRE environment quickly and efficiently. They should be able to cross over from one style application to another without a great deal of additional training.
Use Cases
One way of thinking about the VRE concept is through potential use cases.
Franck Berthe (AquaNet)
http://synapse.upei.ca This website is the start of a case study for the research community associated with Aqua Net. Through a succession of discussions we've developed a draft of a development plan for the work that needs to be done. Key needs include the following.
- An online web space for visitors to come and interact with his community.
- A secure online web space for members of the research team to collaborate.
- A method for doing collaborative editing of documents.
- A live interactive synchronous space for bringing the community together.
- A system for producing and collecting data and integrating elements of the data into any aspect of the research cycle.
Wladyslaw Cichocky
Wlad has hundreds of hours of audio of Acadian French recorded on audio tape and he wants to be able to transfer that audio to a digital repository where it can be accessed for research.
Scenario One – [Based on notes notes from conversations with Wlad.]
- This scenario involves taking the audio tapes that Wlad has recorded of conversations with Acadians and preparing it for use. A researcher will be asked to take digitized versions of the audio tapes and enter them into the cultural archive, enter the appropriate metadata terms for the audio as well as well as the specific metadata required by the archive and the project.
- A researcher from UdeM wishes to access this information after doing a search through the cultural archive for Acadian Language Interview. They notice that the metadata relating to privacy says that she needs special permission to access this information. They complete the necessary request forms, including the purpose of the research and privacy disclaimers and uses the data in an experiment. The researcher then sends the results of their experiment back to the PI for review and eventual entry into the 'experiment' section of the library. All appropriate connections between the experiment and the original data are then included with the entry of the experiment data with authorization/validation being performed by the appropriate person at each stage.
- A third group searches the archive for research done on Acadian Language and finds the research done previously and decides to use it as the basis for an e-learning module designed for teaching Middle French. They fill out the required forms, send them in, get permission to use the data, and make the necessary rights and privacy arrangements and use the research to support their new module.
Annabel Cohen (CMTC)
One of the projects that is part of the CFI grant application is a distributed classroom model where students at, say, three locations are all being taught by a teacher at a single location. The intention is to record these classrooms to research what educational systems best support this kind of set up. The video would be captured and fed directly into the server where it could then be processed for later viewing and discussion. Some of the unique elements of this environment include:
- collaborative online video research space;
- collaborative writing space;
- digital archive for video.
Other Use Cases
Some other suggested possible scenarios
- Create a learning module that is based on or includes results of an experiment of the cultural archive and the learning module would include sections of the cultural archive.
User Stories
These are suggestions for possible uses of the system. There are several possible audiences for this kind of system.
Generic usage example
A group of professors need to create an online community. In the course of their practice they need to share documents, meet together synchronously as well as communicate ideas asynchronously.
First-time user
With the development of any collaborative space it is necessary to encourage first time users to engage with the space as quickly and as easily as possible.
First Time Researcher
A first time researcher will need to have an immediate sense of what they are needing to learn. There needs to be immediate success. Something that is very easy to do and easy to get involved in.
First time casual visitor
The casual visitor needs to be able to easily understand the uses of the VRE and how they can use it or get involved with the work being done there. Sign up forms?
Small Research Group
A small research group is our initial target market. A group of researchers, say 2-25 who are interested in working together in a collaborative space. These researchers could be at different institutions or at the same institutions. They could choose part or all of the functionality of the VRE, picking out the parts of the VRE that suit their research needs. As long as they are not doing any excessive computational work (not likely in this VRE) or using a great deal of bandwidth/storage space, they will not be a drain on the VRE resources
Large Research Group
When a larger group is considered, issues of scalability arise. At the current time it is believed that the databases we will be using are going to be able to deal with all but the most excessive uses of the system. (A slashdot posting of a link to a video file comes to mind.) As long as these excessive uses are perceived from the outset, we should be able to adapt our design accordingly.
Architecture
Implementation Overview
Virtual Research Environment Core
The VRE, as first envisioned, will incorporate a/several content management system(s) and a single sign on solution in addition to a digital archiving system. These are considered to be essential to the project.
Content Management Systems
The central system in the VRE is an open source content management system. This system will allow the content to be managed.
- Drupal
- Drupal is an open source content management system. We have several installations of drupal running in different environments. LAMP.
- http://drupal.org
- Open Journal Systems
- Mediawiki
Online Collaborative Tools
- Dimdim
- Dimdim in a live interactive webcasting space. It is currently in the alpha stage of development. We have an installation running at http://cmtctest.roblib.upei.ca:8000 There are several useful tools that accompany a tool like dimdim. There is screen sharing, that can be used to support training and presentations.
- Jabber
- Jabber is an instant messaging solution that can provide human-human or machine-machine communication and would provide a link between various elements of the VRE.
- Skype
- Skype is a very dependable free VOIP solution
Identity Management Solutions
- OpenID
- The single sign on that I have been considering up to now has been Open ID. It offers several advantages, not the least of which is that a company is currently trying to integrate Drupal, Moodle, Mediawiki with Open ID right now.
- http://openid.net/
- Shibboleth
- Shibboleth is standards-based, open source middleware software which provides Web Single SignOn (SSO) across or within organizational boundaries. It allows sites to make informed authorization decisions for individual access of protected online resources in a privacy-preserving manner
- http://shibboleth.internet2.edu/
Learning Management Solution
- Moodle
- It is possible that a researcher would with to integrate their students with their work, or some of the specific functionality of a course management system into a project. There is considerable work being done now to integrate Moodle and Drupal. As much of the research conceived for the CMTC is educational in nature, this may turn out to be a very worthwhile marriage.
Other products
- Del.icio.us
- Easily integrated into drupal. Very useful for keeping track of group links.
- Mobiled
- A very interesting cell phone to mediawiki solution that allows for contributions to a website by SMS from any cell phone.
- Webdiver
- The software that we have set up currently (webdiver at stanford) seems to provide much of the functionality that is necessary for this kind of work. The only thing that wasn't included 'out of the box' was sync-ing the transcription with the video.
Design Principles
It's possible that this kind of document does not require a design principle section. I find, however, that there are often many misconceptions about what is 'good design' and that many conflicts arise from the lack of a shared semantic. This section is an attempt to bridge that gap.
Open Source Development
It is my hope that all of the software used in this project will be open source and that a bias toward open source and open standards will prevail.
Tensions
One of the things to be avoided in a project like this is to buy into a single development model. A purely iterative development model, for instance, can leave a large project without direction and a 'front loaded' model can run the risk of being obsolete before it actually goes into production.
Iterative vs. Front Loaded
Iterative design is a design methodology based on a cyclic process of prototyping, testing, analyzing, and refining a work in progress. In iterative design, interaction with the designed system is used as a form of research for informing and evolving a project, as successive versions, or iterations of a design are implemented.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iterative_design
Other models?
- Small Pieces Loosely Joined vs. Consolidation
- One of the critical tensions in this kind of design is between 'small pieces loosely joined' and the simplicity that comes from consolidating functionality inside one system. This is an important issue and one that needs to be address in as creative a manner as possible. In certain situations, the needed functionality can be developed in the content management solution, in others, it may be smarter to add a new tool.
- Dspace vs. Drupallib Solution
- There are several possible way to deal with the issue of file storage. File storage is not a strength in Drupal and this is a situation where the conversation teeters between using a single solution, Drupal, and developing the needed functionality in this in order to achieve the needed file storage solution or using an existing product, Dspace, which has the DL functionality but may not integrate as politely.
- OJS vs. Drupal document handling vs. Mediawiki
- This is an important need, and one that has already arisen. How will the VRE deal with the collaborative editing of documents. The knee jerk response is likely to be mediawiki, but there are several sustainability issues with the use of wikis.
Technical Considerations
There are obviously a host of technical considerations on a project this size. It is not the purpose of this document (at its current iteration 0.1) to be exhaustive about these, but more to cover them as they affect development of the VRE.
Servers
We are currently hosting everything on an IBM X225. It has 750 GB of raid storage and seems to be a useful place to do testing. We will eventually be moving to the larger racks that were provided with the CMTC CFI grant, but there is not real functionality that it offers at this phase of development.
- Distributed Services
- The servers are going to reside at three locations. One at UNB, UdeM and UPEI. It is unclear, at this time, how the three servers will be used to interact.
VRE Instance Deployment
At the present time, the VRE will be deployed piece by piece into the /var/www/domain.ca/htdocs directory of the debian installation. Some of the services (dimdim) are server wide and others will be installed at a local level. Some system for making this simpler might be devised.
Project Timeline
First Steps
The initial development is scheduled for End of January 2006. The initial development could include work done on the content management system as well as the installation of an initial digital library solution.
Middle Steps
The middle steps would involve both responding to the issues that come up when researchers are using the system as well as developing a more fully featured environment.
Long Term Plans
The long term plans are not as clear.
Other Considerations
This is the cheaters category.
Common Look and Feel
There will be some need for a common look and feel for a project like this.
Domain Names
A domain will need to be chosen to represent this project. Virtualresearch.ca is currently the only one that we have. Others have been suggested. Another option is researchspaces.ca/com
Collaboration with University CMS Project
This is probably a good idea.
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