Presented by: Prof Mark Baker

1
The Influence and Impact of Web 2.0 on e-Research
Infrastructure, Applications and Users

• Presented by Prof Mark Baker
• ACET, University of Reading Tel [phone]
  8615 E-mail Mark.Baker_at_computer.org
• Web http//acet.rdg.ac.uk/mab

2
People Involved

• Professor David de Roure, School of Electronics
  and Computer Science at the University of
  Southampton.
• Professor Carole Goble, the School of Computer
  Science in the University of Manchester.
• Core Team
• Prof Paul Watson, Newcastle University,
• Prof Richard Sinnott, Glasgow University,
• Dr Rob Allan, Daresbury Laboratory,
• Dr Daniel S. Katz, University of Chicago, USA,
• Dr. Liz Lyon, UKOLN,
• Dr Marina Jirotka, Oxford University Computing
  Laboratory,
• Dr Claire Warwick, School of Library, Archive and
  Information Studies, UCL.

3
General Introduction

• Various technologies seem to appear in waves,
  some are taken up and are successful, and others
  die out quickly.
• I have been working in the parallel, distributed
  computing and HPC arena for 20 years.
• Seen lots of interesting technologies come and
  go!
• CORBA, Jini etc
• Spent a lot of time work on grid technologies and
  e-Science.
• However, the Web 2.0 area seems to have been one
  of those domains of interest that has taken off
  like a rocket!
• Hence the keen interest via eSI Edinburgh to
  explore The Influence and Impact of Web 2.0 on
  e-Research Infrastructure, Applications and
  Users

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What is Web 2.0 ?

• A concept not a product.
• A way of thinking.
• A way of working collaborative and social.
• About
• Sharing information with others,
• Information coming to you,
• Deciding how you receive and view the
  information.
• All sorts of technologies but.
• Examples
• Blogs, RSS, Wikis, social bookmarking (e.g. Furl,
  Del.icio.us, Connotea) Flickr, Facebook, MySpace,
  web based forums, email discussion lists,
  YouTube, Second Life

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Aims of Theme

• We will explore, investigate, and understand the
  influence of Web 2.0 on e-Research applications
  and infrastructure, as well as studying the
  changes it has on users and developers.
• The Web 2.0 concepts encourage building
  communities around products, providing feedback,
  and, in some cases, even affecting strategy,
  which effectively democratises the activities and
  choices made within projects.
• In Web 2.0, users and developers can collaborate
  and socialise on tasks, promoting an agile
  development approach and potentially providing a
  means of running more successful projects.

6
Aims of Theme

• There is an argument that some applications fail
  because they are driven by technology
  requirements, rather than by human needs, which
  is one hurdle that Web 2.0 is helping to
  overcome.
• There is a strong reasoning that argues that Web
  2.0 is simple, accessible, efficient,
  lightweight, friendly, action-oriented, and
  user-driven.
• This means that Web 2.0 application development
  is no longer the preserve of technical experts,
  but that now relatively novice users can
  contribute, which effectively democratises this
  area, and encourages new and novel ideas.

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Some User/Usability Aspects

• Effects of using a Wiki to share information and
  collaborate while working on a project.
• Reading/Writing a Blog and its impact on users.
• Sharing and Collaborating with FaceBook and
  MySpaces including reading news feeds, joining
  groups, and including ones own information.
• Following and using Twitter.
• Methods/ways of search and finding information on
  the Web.
• Use of skype for chatting and talking
• Potential use of eBooks found online?
• RSS and automated aggregation of user activity
• Understanding effective methodology in this area!

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Some Application Aspects

• Choice of applications
• Data intensive - data mining, visualisation,
  bioinformatics,
• Compute intensive - CFD, MD,
• Data driven - something with sensors,
• Workflow - Montage, LEAD, climate modelling,
  weather forecasting,
• Simultaneous multi-participant
  videoconferencing.
• Use of Google tools and utilities sharing docs,
  iGoogle, sharing photos, etc
• Data/web mashups.
• Online games and virtual worlds.
• Application Adaptation by End Users.
• Collaboration Tools.

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Some Service Aspects

• A state-of-the-art review of the commercial and
  open source Cloud systems.
• A match between Cloud Computing and HPC and other
  applications chosen in this theme.
• The impact of virtualisation on applications.
• An understanding and view of Web 2.0 security
  (OpenID and Digital Identities) against
  traditional security (PKI, and GSI).
• RESTful systems, AJAX and other emerging
  technologies.
• Use of mashups, pipes and other technologies
  provided by Web 2.0 systems.

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Summary

• Theme kick-off meeting starts 13/14 May here at
  eSI.
• Core team getting together to chosen the areas,
  services, and applications that we believe will
  be best to follow.
• Workshops will be organised, probably in October
  2009, February 2010, and May 2010 where users,
  developers and others will be invited to help us
  assess and review the areas the are of interest
  to us.
• A book will be produced that describe, discuss
  and details the assessments from the theme.
• Lots of work and effort, but it should be fun to
  pursue, and the staff at eSI are very helpful and
  assist in all our activities.

11
Web X Roadmap

Intelligent Web
Nova Spivack CEO Founder Radar Networks
Web 4.0
Web OS
2020 - 2030
Intelligent personal agents
Web 3.0
Semantic Web
Distributed Search
SWRL
2010 - 2020
OWL
SPARQL
Semantic Databases
AJAX
OpenID
Connections between Information
Semantic Search
Social Web
Widgets
ATOM
RSS
RDF
Mashups
P2P
Office 2.0
Web 2.0
Javascript
Flash
SOAP
Weblogs
XML
Social Media Sharing
2000 - 2010
The Web
Java
HTML
Social Networking
SaaS
HTTP
Wikis
Directory Portals
VR
Keyword Search
Lightweight Collaboration
Web 1.0
The PC
Websites
BBS
Gopher
1990 - 2000
SQL
MacOS
MMOs
Groupware
Databases
SGML
Windows
File Servers
The Internet
PC Era
Email
IRC
1980 - 1990
FTP
USENET
PCs
File Systems
Connections between people
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Gartner's 10 strategic technologies for 2009

• The "potential for significant impact on the
  enterprise in the next three years"
• Virtualization,
• Cloud computing,
• Servers (beyond blades),
• Web oriented architectures,
• Enterprise mashups,
• Specialised systems,
• Social software / networking,
• Unified communications,
• Business intelligence,
• Green IT.

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research3.org
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March 23-27 Workshop
Pre-kick off workshop for our theme140 Attendees