View the presentation slides  (6.5 Mb)

Abstract

e-Uptake, eUIS and Engage are three projects in the community engagement strand of the JISC e-Infrastructure programme which are currently working to establish a body of evidence about the level of uptake of e-Infrastructure services in the UK, the barriers that researchers encounter, the enablers that might widen and deepen uptake as well as examples of usage that can demonstrate good practice or illustrate inspiring examples. In addition, the projects have intervention elements such as training provision or consultancy and development. Together with the initiatives by service providers and some other funded activities, the projects represent a major part of the UK’s response to the problem of widening and deepening uptake of e-Infrastructure.

To date, the three projects have identified 400 researchers who are using e-Infrastructure services in the UK. Using a combination of surveys and interviews, the projects have been collecting evidence of these researchers of their experiences of using e-Infrastructure services. In the e-Uptake project, for example, we are currently analysing 50 interviews using qualitative data analysis approaches common in the social sciences.

In this paper, we will present results from the surveys and interviews. We will then show how, through thorough and systematic analysis of the survey and interview data, the projects are paving the way for practical steps to facilitate and improve the adoption of e-Infrastructure, ranging from targeted interventions such as training and awareness raising events, to providing an evidence base for guiding future strategic planning in this important area.

About the speaker

Dr. Ann Borda has held strategic and operational roles in academic and research organizations for over 10 years. Ann is currently Executive Director of the Victorian eResearch Strategic Initiative (VeRSI) which is a five-year, Australian State Government funded Program to provide a coordinated approach to accelerating the uptake of eResearch by researchers in the state of Victoria and nationally. Previously, Ann held the position of eResearch Programme Manager with the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC – www.jisc.ac.uk) based at King’s College, London, at which time she was responsible for the quality delivery of multi-million government-funded projects in developing a UK wide e-Infrastructure to support research, and in facilitating community engagement and broader take-up of e-Science tools, services and resources. Concurrently, she is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Computing Research, London South Bank University, where she is investigating HCI, information system design, and collaborative technologies among other topics.