[Corpora-List] UK linguistics research computing network

[Martin Wynne]

Apologies for cross-posting, and to those of you for whom this is not 
relevant. It is directly at researchers in the UK, but I hope that it 
will be of interest to more of you.

The short version:

I am writing to ask if you are interested in taking part in a UK-wide 
network activity to promote the development and use of shared services 
in the language sciences, especially in relation to the CLARIN 
initiative. Please write back saying 'yes' if you would like to be 
involved as we build a network and apply for funding from a UK agency.

The background:

As you may know, CLARIN is a research infrastructure for the deployment 
and use of shared language resources and tools across Europe. Over the 
past three years, hundreds of developers and researchers have been 
working together on this. CLARIN aims to overcome the current 
fragmentation of datasets, tools and services to create much easier 
access in ways integrated into the daily working environments of 
researchers. We have already had success in starting to develop a 
federated access and authorization system (single sign on via your home 
institution to the vast variety of resources), a common framework for 
licensing, conversion of tools to operate as web services, common 
metadata standards for resources, a resource discovery portal, and 
negotiations are under way to provide easier access to large-scale 
computing resources. Much further work is now required in order to find 
out more about user requirements and to ensure the participation of the 
relevant research communities.

In the coming months, negotiations will start to form a European 
Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). This new type of European 
legal entity will be necessary to manage and lead the effort to build 
CLARIN. It will be a lightweight administrative umbrella to harness the 
numerous significant programmes which are taking place at the national 
level. More can be read in the newsflashes at 
http://www.clarin.eu/documents/newsflash/.

Here in the UK there is a wealth of research, data and tools in the 
relevant areas in the UK, and there have been some important investments 
in several of the areas in which CLARIN is building services at the 
European level. Unfortunately, as you may be aware, funding bodies in 
the UK are not engaging with the European research infrastructure 
initiatives in such an enthusiastic way as many of our European 
neighbours, and the current economic climate is not conducive to 
persuading them to engage in new activities. So far, no UK agency has 
even identified itself as the relevant contact point for CLARIN ERIC 
negotiations. This makes it difficult for us to contribute in a 
systematic way to the next phase of development, and we risk being shut 
out in the future from some of the services that will be developed.

However, this doesn't mean that the researchers cannot get themselves 
organised to participate in CLARIN and to lobby for movement at the 
national level. I therefore propose the formation of a new network to 
spread information about CLARIN to relevant academic researchers and 
others in the UK, to promote communication with other related 
initiatives, to feed our requirements to the CLARIN design process, to 
facilitate participation in CLARIN R&D activities (including access to 
European funding schemes earmarked for CLARIN activities), and to 
develop collaboration with the computing infrastructure. The network 
would be limited to these activities, and for a specific period only - 
there is no intention to set up a new long-term association or to 
compete with any existing structures. I ask potential network 
participants to sign up their department or centre to the following 
simple propositions:

1. It would be of potential benefit to those creating, sharing, curating 
and using language data and tools in the UK to be able to share their 
resources via the CLARIN infrastructure;

2. It would be beneficial for the successful execution of the CLARIN 
project that the knowledge, expertise and requirements of UK researchers 
be represented in the design, construction and ongoing development of 
the infrastructure;

3. It would be of benefit to UK researchers in linguistic and related 
disciplines if the CLARIN pan-European research infrastructure services 
were made available to them;

I am planning to make a proposal to a relevant scheme for a small amount 
of funding to facilitate the network. Please note that the scheme won't 
provide funds to cover the salary costs of network participants, only 
travel and subsistence costs for meetings and events. The time 
commitment that we would expect is therefore minimal. What you can 
expect to get out of this are the following potential benefits:

- participation in the design process of the European research computing 
infrastructure;
- support for integrating your data and tools in the infrastructure;
- support for using the infrastructure for researchers in your institution;
- travel and subsistence costs for network activities;
- enhanced dissemination opportunities for your work (dare I say, 
enhanced 'impact'?) ;
- enhanced opportunities for collaboration with European partners;
- access to European funding streams for collaborative activities 
relating to CLARIN;
- opportunity to participate in the lobbying of UK funding bodies in 
relation to developing research infrastructure.

At this stage, I am writing to check whether you would be interested in 
participating in such a network, and whether you would be prepared to be 
listed as a network participant in the proposal. You will get an 
opportunity to see the draft proposal and another chance to opt out 
before submission. Also, if you would like to suggest other potential 
participants, from other institutions or within your own, please let me 
know, and likewise if you know of any related initiatives that we should 
consider in framing the network grant proposal.

Best wishes,
Martin

-- 
Martin Wynne
Research Technologies Service&
Oxford e-Research Centre

Oxford University Computing Services
7-19 Banbury Road
Oxford
UK - OX2 6NN
Tel: +44 1865 283299 or +44 1865 610677
Fax: +44 1865 273275
martin.wynne at oucs.ox.ac.uk


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