JISC Digest Issue 1

JISC Digest
digest 1Issue 1, April 2006
This is the first in a series of regular
quarterly bulletins designed to
provide an update on the latest JISC
activities, news and policy
developments.
1. General
Capital programme 2006 - 2008
Programmes to invest an additional £81m over
three years awarded from HEFCE and HEFCW
have been earmarked to support central objectives
of the DfES's e-strategy, the Science and
Innovation Investment Framework: 2004-2014, and
'Reaching Higher' the Welsh Assembly
Government's strategy for the Higher Education
Sector. Detailed plans are currently being drawn
up with these objectives in mind, and these
programmes, which begin in April 2006, will focus
on the network infrastructure, digitisation, e-
learning, repositories and preservation, e-
research and user environments.
The initial call for proposals under these
programmes will be issued on April 28th, with a
town meeting held in Birmingham on the 10th May.
Among the areas of activity covered in this call will
be: regional pilots to explore the use of ICT to
support lifelong learning; projects, tools and
services to support HE institutions develop
repositories, as well as projects to support the
national e-infrastructure. For the digitisation
strand of the programme, a call will be issued on
the 8th April with a town meeting in London on the
21st April.
Further details are available at:
www.jisc.ac.uk
JISC Strategy
JISC is looking to publish the new JISC Strategy
2007-2009 in Autumn 2006 following a consultation
exercise over the coming months.
MoU with the Ministry of Education, New Zealand
JISC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with the Ministry of Education in New Zealand.
The principal focus of the agreement is the
e-Framework initiative, but other areas in which the
two organisations might explore joint activities or
share experiences include e-learning, repositories,
e-administration and middleware development.
The e-Framework initiative is an ambitious and
far-reaching programme undertaken up to now by
JISC and Australia's Department for Education
Science and Training (DEST) with international
support, which is exploring more flexible
approaches to the technical infrastructures for
e-learning, e-research and e-administration.
A key objective of the development of such a
service-oriented technical framework, based on
open standards, is to maximise the flexibility and
cost-effectiveness of institutional IT systems.
For further information on the e-Framework
initiative, please go to: www.elframework.org/
__________
2. e-Research
Science and Innovation Investment Framework
The DTI/Treasury/DfES report ‘Science & Innovation
Investment Framework: 2004-2014’ sets out a tenyear
vision for UK science and innovation, the
contribution they make to the UK economy, and the

equired infrastructure to make this vision a reality.
In support of the ten-year framework, the Office of
Science and Technology has established six working
groups to investigate future requirements in key
areas of e-infrastructure. JISC is represented on all
of these groups and chairs the Middleware and
Virtual Research Communities groups. The working
groups will report in April 2006 and these reports will
help JISC prioritise e-Infrastructure activities using
2004 Spending Review funds while also informing
priorities for future rounds. JISC's work in this area
is also undertaken in liaison with the research
councils, the British Library, the Research
Information Network, the e-Science Core
Programme and others.
New Visualisation service
A new Visualisation Support Network (VizNet) will
pool the expertise of key visualisation centres in UK
universities. Visualisation is already providing a
rich tool for researchers in the UK and this
visualisation service will tap into existing expertise
whilst supporting other universities to exploit the
potential of visualisation in their research activities.
JISC has allocated funding for the Visualisation
Support Network over the next three years to
centres based at Loughborough University and
King's College London to provide a focal point for
sharing knowledge and best practice as well as
training in advanced visualisation techniques.
__________
3. e-Learning
HEFCE's e-learning strategy
HEFCE's e-learning strategy, published in 2005,
aims at supporting the sector as it moves towards
embedding e-learning as a 'normal' part of its
practices and processes. The strategy calls on JISC
to work closely with the Higher Education Academy
to implement key aspects of the strategy and
HEFCE has made additional funds available to both
organisations (£12m to JISC and £8m to the
Academy) to achieve shared objectives and to work
with regional and subject communities to use ICT
to support learning and teaching.
Supporting student progression. JISC has been
continuing its work with the Academy to create
links between schools, colleges and universities
through regional pilots to encourage progression
into higher education. For further details:
www.jisc.ac.uk/delpilots.html
The Benchmarking and Pathfinder programmes.
The e-learning benchmarking exercise which is
being led by the Academy and supported by JISC is
underway. Pilot projects will report in July 2006
and, after a period of evaluation, will be followed by
20 to 30 similar projects as well as the first
Pathfinder projects, which will be based on issues
and priorities raised during the pilot benchmarking
projects.
Other strands, especially 'Learning resources and
networked learning' and 'Infrastructure and
technical standards', which are being taken
forward through JISC's core and capital
programmes, will be supported by the Academy
and will fully utilise the highly effective and wellestablished
dissemination routes provided by the
Academy's subject centres, and it is hoped, the
Academy's CETLs (Centres for Excellence in
Teaching and Learning).
A partnership board, made up of senior
representatives of JISC and the Academy, meets
regularly to ensure that the challenges of
implementing the strategy are being effectively met.
__________
4. Middleware
Shibboleth
JISC is currently preparing FE and HE institutions
for the launch of its UK Access Management
Federation in September 2006. Institutions will be
invited to join the UK Federation and to adopt the
Shibboleth technology, which will provide
institutions with a route to single sign-on to
resources through the implementation of federated
authentication.
Briefings are available at:
www.jisc.ac.uk/publications
In addition to these briefings, JISC is also
undertaking a range of other activities to support
institutions in adopting Shibboleth, including: the
creation of a support service to provide guidance,
training and advice (www.matu.ac.uk); funding for a
number of 'early adopters'; adding Shibboleth
compliance to JISC-funded services provided at the
national data centres, and the development of a
gateway so that Shibboleth institutions will be able to
access Athens-protected resources, and vice versa.
For further information, please go to:
www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=programme_
middleware

5. e-Administration
e-Assessment
JISC has developed a resource for e-assessment
with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
(QCA). Endorsed by all the UK qualifications and
curriculum authorities, the e-Assessment Glossary
is designed for professionals in all sectors and
represents the first stage of a programme which
will later see a fully functional interactive webbased
version due in May of this year. For further
information please go to:
www.jisc.ac.uk/assessment
Freedom of Information
A survey of Higher Education institutions, run
jointly by JISC, Universities UK and SCOP (the
Standing Conference of Principals), shows that the
overwhelming majority of the requests being
received by institutions are being answered fully,
on time and free of charge. The Higher Education
sector has responded both positively and
successfully to the first year of the Freedom of
Information Act, the survey reveals. Further details
are available at:
www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/foi-survey
__________
6. Information Environment
Jorum
Jorum is JISC's national repository for online
learning and teaching resources which will allow
teachers and academics both to deposit their own
online teaching resources and to access and adapt
other resources for their own use in teaching. Its
User Service was launched in January, allowing
staff from registered institutions to search, browse,
preview, download, review and reuse online
teaching resources.
JISC views Jorum as a long term venture and as
the service develops, the type, breadth and subject
coverage of resources available in JORUM will
depend on contributions made by the community.
For further information please go to:
www.jorum.ac.uk
i2010 - the EU Digital Libraries initiative
JISC has responded to the first communication of
the EU's i2010 Digital Libraries initiative,
submitting a range of detailed recommendations.
Addressing the challenges of exploiting the
cultural, educational and economic potential of
European digital resources, the initiative aims to
overcome the present fragmentation of efforts in
Europe. JISC's response can be found at:
www.jisc.ac.uk/misc_i2010.html
For further information on the EU initiative, go to:
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/dig
ital_libraries/index_en.htm
__________
7. e-Content
e-Content Policy Framework
JISC is currently investigating, along with Common
Information Environment partners (www.commoninfo.org.uk),
the possibility of funding, with agreed
contributions from other stakeholders, a project to
identify and describe a UK e-Content Policy
Framework forward. The project team would be
supported by domain-specific working groups in
areas such as lifelong learning, research and
cultural heritage, each made up of specialist
practitioners. The project would run between April
2006 and December 2007, culminating in a UK
symposium to launch the UK e-Content Policy
Framework in Spring 2008.
Digitisation
A report, commissioned by JISC and CURL
(Consortium of Research Libraries in the British
Isles) and based on research undertaken at
Loughborough University, recommends the
creation of a UK-wide strategy to avoid the
duplication, gaps in provision and lack of
coordination that have hampered public sector
efforts in the field of digitisation. This will be fully
considered by the UK e-Content Policy Framework.
The report goes on to call for "a dynamic response"
from public sector organisations to meet these
challenges. Further details available at:
www.jisc.ac.uk/parkinson.html.
EU Dynamic Action Plan
One of the DCMS priorities for the recent UK
Presidency of the EU was the development of a new
action plan for the digitisation of cultural and
heritage resources.
The EU Dynamic Action Plan is a major initiative to
avoid the fragmentation and duplication which have
beset the digitisation of national cultural and
heritage resources. JISC's own £16m digitisation
programme will not only provide a critical mass of

high-quality content for UK education and research
and exemplars for institutional initiatives, but will
also dovetail with wider national efforts through the
framework activities mentioned above and with the
user needs, sustainability and other requirements
called for by the EU initiative.
__________
JISC Collections
JISC is setting up a new content procurement
company, to be known as JISC Collections, to
continue its work in licensing online resources on
behalf of the FE and HE communities. The new
company will be incorporated in August 2006 and
will be encouraged to work with other education,
research and cultural organisations.
Further information about JISC Collections will be
posted to Vice-chancellors and librarians in May.
__________
8. Other
IPR consultants
JISC has appointed Professor Charles Oppenheim,
Professor Sol Picciotto and Naomi Korn as IPR
consultants to its Development Group for two
years. They will be working to alert JISC to issues
that arise relating to IPR, areas which may require
policy decisions or statements and to inform policy
development.
development as well as providing guidelines on
copyright, licensing, trademarks, patents and
development practice.
The briefing is available at:
www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=pub_ossbp
For the background on open source software,
please go to:
www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/opensourcepolicy.xml
Forthcoming events
JISC is a sponsor of this year's World Wide Web
Conference, the global event to bring together the
key influencers, decision makers, technologists,
businesses and standards bodies shaping the future
of the web, to be held in Edinburgh from May 22nd.
www.iw3c2.org/
This year's joint conference between JISC and CNI
(Coalition for Networked Information) will be held
in York on the 6th and 7th July. Topics to be
discussed at this year's event include digital
curation and preservation, e-theses, ICT in the
Humanities and Social Sciences, institutional
repositories, resource discovery and open access.
Open source software
JISC is currently briefing colleges and universities
to raise awareness of the issue of open source
software. 'Open source' refers to software whose
source code is openly available to be modified by
end-users, in contrast to proprietary software.
While such software is already in use in colleges
and universities, it is rarely yet part of institutional
policies and strategies.
The new briefing paper comes after guidelines
(www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=about_opensourc
epolicy) issued last year by JISC for its projects and
follow from the Government's published policy
(www.govtalk.gov.uk/policydocs/policydocs_
document.asp?docnum=905) which, in 2004, set out
guidance for the exploitation of publicly funded
software development as the default for JISC
funded software development. In its latest
guidelines, JISC - supported by its advisory service
OSS Watch (www.oss-watch.ac.uk) - advocates the
use of open source as the default for software
The items included in this digest are selective.
A more comprehensive view of JISC's activities
is available from other regular JISC
publications, including the monthly JISC
Headlines. For further information, and to give
feedback on this publication, please contact:
p.pothen@jisc.ac.uk.