nicis: stepping stone to a sa cyberinfrastructure commons?

NICIS: Stepping stone to a SA Cyberinfrastructure Commons?

Bruce Becker, SANREN Competency Area,

Meraka Institute, [email protected]

CHAIN REDS ConferenceOpen Science at the Global Scale:

Sharing e-Infrastructures, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Progress

20150331

15/03/31 CHAIN-REDS Final Conference 1

Bruce Becker | [email protected] | CSIR | CHAIN-REDS Final Conference | 31/03/2015

Outline

● “The” Commons ? Some commons...● What is this “Open” you speak of ?

● What is Open ? ● What is an Open Commons ?

● Systems Thinking for Cyberinfrastructure in South Africa : NICIS

● Implications● For researchers, developers and operators● For the economy● For the region

mailto:[email protected]


Wherefore art thou ?

What does it mean to be a commons ?



Give me a signal...



Dear Internet...

… belonging to or affecting the whole of a community



Hm. Creative Commons ?

http://creativecommons.org/

...helps you shareknowledge and creativity

DevelopsSupportsStewards

DigitalInfrastructure



Hm. Wikimedia Foundation ?

A database …

to which anyone can contribute



Hm. Flikr ?

The key goal of The Commons is to share hidden treasures

from the world's public […] archives.

https://www.flickr.com/commons



Everybody comes from somewhere

Jenny Hallward


https://www.flickr.com/photos/jennyhallward/8077223474/


Everybody uses the Commonsin their own way

Jenny Hallward


https://www.flickr.com/photos/jennyhallward/8077223474/


What is a Commons Anyway ?

… belonging to or affecting the whole of a community...

...anyone can contribute...

Share



The Commons, Openness and Science

“The more we understand about science and its complexities, the more important it is for scientific data to be shared openly”

http://creativecommons.org/science

“Science == Openness” ?


http://creativecommons.org/science


Systems Thinking

ORDER ENABLES CREATIVITY



(Complex Adaptive)

Systems Thinking

● The number of elements is sufficiently large that conventional descriptions (e.g. a system of differential equations) are not only impractical, but cease to assist in understanding the system. Moreover, the elements interact dynamically, and the interactions can be physical or involve the exchange of information

● Such interactions are rich, i.e. any element or sub-system in the system is affected by and affects several other elements or sub-systems

● The interactions are non-linear: small changes in inputs, physical interactions or stimuli can cause large effects or very significant changes in outputs

● Interactions are primarily but not exclusively with immediate neighbours and the nature of the influence is modulated

● Any interaction can feed back onto itself directly or after a number of intervening stages. Such feedback can vary in quality. This is known as recurrency

● Such systems may be open and it may be difficult or impossible to define system boundaries● Complex systems operate under far from equilibrium conditions. There has to be a constant flow of

energy to maintain the organization of the system● Complex systems have a history. They evolve and their past is co-responsible for their present behaviour● Elements in the system may be ignorant of the behaviour of the system as a whole, responding only

to the information or physical stimuli available to them locally



The National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System



VISION: national leadership in the provision of a comprehensive Cyber-Infrastructure, essential to 21st century advances for South African research, education and innovation.MISSION: increase knowledge creation through provision of a national platform of essential Cyber-Infrastructure.

1715/03/31

PRINCIPLES• Joint planning and budgeting• Good governance • Visibility of CI services • Sustainability • Constructive stakeholder

engagementNICIS: TIER 1

Advanced Services

Governance

Strategy AdvisoryBoard

Senior Management

User and Community Inputs

NICIS: A System for Cyberinfrastructure



15/03/31 CHAIN-REDS

18

+

NICIS Components: Network



15/03/31 CHAIN-REDS 19

NICIS Recommendation: CHPC in essentially its current form should take on the role of the Computing Services area, with some changes to its mandate.

NICIS Components: Compute



NICIS Components: Data



Nice kit ! ... What about the people ?



“Nous sommes tous de jeunes barbaresque nos jouets neufs émerveillent encore.”

- A. de Saint-Exupery“Terre des Hommes”

Une Terre Pour Toushttp://aaroc.github.io/blog/2014/11/26/Terre-des-hackers



La verité pour l’un, fût de bâtir, […] elle est, pour l’autre, de l’habiter.

Pour le colonial qui fonde un empire, le sens de la vie est de conquérir. Le soldat meprise le colon, mais le but de cette conquete n’etait-il pas l’etablissement de ce colon ? […]

Le Colon et le Soldat



Nous étions autrefois en contact avec une usine compliquée […]Au delà de l’outil, et à travers lui, c’est la vielle nature que nous retrouvons, celle du jardinier, du navigateur, ou du poète.



Open Commons as Exchanges

● Interoperability: ● Develop standard interfaces to common services● Coordination of OLAs and SLAs to provide coordinated operations

● Core services to support 3rd party and community contribution● Accounting● Monitoring● Identity and Service Federation

● Specialisation and Skills● Re-Use : Develop “Building Blocks” and donate them to the commons● Reward Structures : Make it worth the while to do things for the long-

run



Implications for … “Commoners”

Educators

Researchers

Developers

Operators

http://brucellino.github.io/blog/2015/02/24/ECommonsStrategy/



Implications: Teaching and Research

● Teaching and Research in the same environment● Path to scale from university or group resources

to national or regional infrastructure● Skills developed throughout, fed back into the

commons● The use of the commons becomes part of standard

practice in teaching and research● The commons is assured of new ideas, skills and

stimulus.



Fork my Science

● Science faces a reproducibility crisis:http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/reproducibility/

● Scientific output is the result of Data, Algorithms, Applications, Workflows – and interpretation

● Reproducible science:● Discoverable● Citable● Executable● Accessible


http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/reproducibility/


Fork my Infrastructure

● Big science often requires and builds it's own infrastructure

● LHC, SKA, CORDIS, H3ABioNet● Often developed entirely in parallel to “national” infrastructure

● Often new techniques and technologies are invented in these large projects

● Are they shared, improved and supplemented with other players in the commons ?



Fork my Infrastructure

● Operations, best practices encoded● Open Infrastructure means Open Code

● https://github.com/AAROC/DevOps● Everything = Code● You can test, validate, reproduce research

infrastructure

buildbuild passingpassing


https://github.com/AAROC/DevOps


Implications for the economy

● Where will all the Ph.D.s go ? ● An Open Commons means expertise can cross

boundaries● Technical (tools, applications, methodologies)● Institutional (cross-cutting, collaborative activities)

● Private and public enterprise using the same infrastructure

● standardisation around a common set of tools● Innovation of new services with-reusable components

● People develop transferrable skills

ResearchSoftwareEngineer

InfrastructureArchitect(DevOps)



Implications for the Region

● Is NICIS a Commons ? ● No. It can become aspects of one, particularly bringing

order.● Is there a Regional Commons ?

● No. There is an embryonic regional infrastructure● EGI.eu / FedCloud provides a very good reference case

● What's taking you so long ? ● The lack of order and coordination● The erosion of the commons



Conclusions



Conclusions

● A Commons allows sharing, and community development● Specialisation and markets can emerge

● Cyberinfrastructure is a complex undertaking● It needs to be addressed as a system● Placing the right constraints on it can make it work

● Cyberinfrastructure is expensive – but also cross-cutting● Open exchanges create lively ecosystems

● Cyberinfrastructure is public ● Openness, accountability, transparency and constituency are

crucial to its success


nicis: stepping stone to a sa cyberinfrastructure commons?

Documents