[CAnet - news] Cyber-infrastructure for humanities, arts and social sciences

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http://www.uchri.org/main.php?page_id=154

>From a posting in Science Grid this week
Science Grid This Week is available at:
http://www.interactions.org/sgtw/


UCHRI Launches Cyberinfrastructure for Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

Irvine, October 12, 2005: The University of California Research Institute
(UCHRI) today announced the launch of the HASS Grid, a major
cyberinfrastructure initiative to strengthen research support for the
humanities, arts and social sciences.

The HASS Grid will provide a home for digitized artifacts including 3-D,
audio, video and text collections vital to research in the HASS communities.
Dr. David Theo Goldberg, director of UCHRI, explains: "The HASS Grid
provides a base platform for integrating the full range of multimedia
cyber-tools in support of accessing and analyzing large databases across the
humanities, arts and social sciences. It will prove crucial for future work
in cultural representation, the understanding of material culture, their
historical conditions and social implications. But it will also offer
opportunities to a broader range of intellectual communities to revisit
older interests such as the analysis of medieval manuscripts."

In July 2005 UCHRI began the construction and deployment of cyberbricks.
These bricks or storage computers enable access to aggregated, integrated,
data-storage systems. Through this system, UCHRI will provide a low-cost,
scalable, long-term archive for HASS data collections. UCHRI intends to
bring 25 terabytes of storage space online by January 2006.

Initially the HASS Grid will be a test-bed for HASS researchers throughout
the University of California. Starting in spring 2006, the system will be
released to a wider audience.

UCHRI is working with the Center for Information Technology Research in the
Interest of Society (CITRIS) at UC Berkeley and the San Diego Supercomputer
Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego to create the systems for storing, accessing,
analyzing, and manipulating the data collections crucial to HASS research.
Together UCHRI, CITRIS and SDSC are building an interface between the CITRIS
Digital Gallery Builder, a 3-D virtual world space for presenting and
collaborating on digital collections, and SDSC's Storage Resource Broker, a
client-server middleware designed to manage file collections in
heterogeneous, distributed environments.

The term "cyberinfrastructure," coined by a National Science Foundation
blue-ribbon committee, describes new research environments in which advanced
computational, collaborative, data acquisition and management services are
available to researchers through high-performance networks. To date, the
great majority of these new integrated computing environments have been
targeted at the sciences.

Grid technology is coordinated resource sharing and problem solving in
multi-institutional virtual organizations. Data and computational grids
consist of advanced computer technology for sharing resources more
effectively. They are part of cutting-edge cyberinfrastructure development
that is paving the way for the next generation of information and
communications technology and management tools by combining individual
desk-top computers into a seamless networks.

The University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) is a
multicampus research unit of the UC Office of the President. UCHRI is based
on the UC Irvine campus and serves all ten campuses in the UC system.
Recognized nationally and internationally, the Institute promotes
collaborative work by teams of researchers representing different fields and
institutions both within and beyond the University of California.
http://www.uchri.org

The University of California Center for Information Technology Research in
the Interest of Society (CITRIS) was established to sponsor collaborative
information technology research that will ultimately provide solutions to
challenge social and commercial problems affecting the quality of life of
all Californians. The set of applications includes energy efficiency,
transportation, environmental monitoring, seismic safety, education,
cultural research and health care.
http://www.citris.berkeley.edu;
http://www.citris-uc.org/hosted/projects/ith/gallery

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) is a world leader in using,
innovating and providing information technology to enable innovation in
science, engineering, technology development and their applications. SDSC
has assumed a leadership role as a national cyberinfrastructure center,
funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
http://www.sdsc.edu

Contact:
Kevin D. Franklin, Deputy Director
UC Humanities Research Institute
(949) 824-4858


307 Administration . Irvine, California 92697-3350
(949) 824 8180 . Fax: (949) 824-2115 . [email protected]

C2004 UC Regents



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