Towards a common reference architecture for VREs

28 Nov 2019

By Kheeran Dharmawardena

Group(s) submitting the application:

Virtual Research Environment IG (VRE-IG)

Meeting objectives:

Collaborative Notes Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1F84c5k5Iu4w8ycYv5AhCpSXrSmgm--aDkQYJor...
Remote access registration:
- 8 April 2020, 4pm UTC: https://aarnet.zoom.us/meeting/register/uJ0ocu2rrzoompLVIzwSBFtalL2jBqHcpw
- 9 April 2020, 10pm UTC: https://aarnet.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcuf-CppzkjM2yEZWBxAhPMEa3niH8m8g

If you are a member of RDA, you can join the Virtual Research Environment IG (VRE-IG) by going to the group page and clicking “Join Group” on the right hand side. If you are not an RDA member, you can join RDA here: https://rd-alliance.org/user/register (it’s free!)

The P15 session of the VRE-IG will be focused on continuing the discussion that started in P14 on developing a common vocabulary and architecture for VREs.

The focus of this session will be to discuss the plan of developing a common reference architecture for VREs based on the European VRE4EIC reference architecture (https://www.vre4eic.eu/images/Public_deliverables/D3.5_Final_Architecture_Design_PU.pdf) and the US Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI) reference architecture paper (http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2357/paper6.pdf).

Meeting agenda:

Agenda

Overview and outcome of the conference calls to transition into a WG (10 min)
VRE4EIC reference architecture in a nutshelll (10 min)
Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI) reference architecture in a nutshell (10 min)
Presentation of the proposed Terms of Reference (ToR) for establishing a Working Group to develop a combined Common reference architecture. (20 min)
Panel of 3 experts
Discussion and comments on the ToR (30 min)
Next steps and wrap up (10 min)

Target Audience:

This session is aimed at anyone who is or has been involved in developing, maintaining or using any form of online collaborative environment or their individual components.

In preparation for this meeting, attendees should refer to the notes from the previous sessions from past RDA Plenary meetings that focused more on understanding the commonalities and differences of the different VRE/SG/VL platforms from the different global regions and sustainability aspects.

Participants should come prepared to share knowledge of online collaborative environments they may be aware of, both past and present, and building blocks they know about.

Brief introduction describing the activities and scope of the group:

VREs are synonymous with Science Gateways (SGs) in the USA and Virtual Laboratories (VLs) in Australia, and are increasingly being used to support a more dynamic approach to collaborative working across the internet. The VRE-IG will explore all aspects of existing and planned future VRE/SG/VLs with the aim of moving towards common policies and best practices, such as those now being promoted by the European EOSC, the US XSEDE and the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC).

The VRE IG acts as a longer-term organization responsible for tracking and contributing to the evolution of VRE/SG/VL technologies, particularly as they relate to data access. It will also seek to engage with those seeking to make use of these online technologies in an effort to identify the necessary technical aspects, social and community building practices, required skills, as well as governance issues and best practice required to support a more coordinated approach to the development of the collaborative environments that enable data sharing and in situ online processing.

Short Group Status:

Recognized and endorsed

Type of Meeting:

Working meeting

Additional links to informative material:

Interest Group Home Page: https://rd-alliance.org/groups/vre-ig.html

Case statement:https://rd-alliance.org/group/virtual-research-environment-ig-vre-ig/case-statement/virtual-research-environments-ig

The US SG Catalog: https://sciencegateways.org/resources/catalog and https://catalog.sciencegateways.org/#/home

Past Plenaries: