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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">Whether it will be called a guideline, a roadmap or a framework – all participants during the
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NSv2KLWysln0aVSbw49G2YZsFK0R2jOM/view?usp=sharing">
AOSP ICT Infrastructure meeting</a> held on 14 May 2018 in Pretoria, South Africa were in agreement that a document guiding African countries in preparing ICT infrastructures in support of research data sharing, will be of benefit to all. The one day meeting
brought together key stakeholders. African regional NRENs (National Research Education Networks) attendees included Dr Pascal Hoba (</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif">Chief Executive Officer, UbuntuNet Alliance<span style="color:black">),
Dr Ousmane Moussa Tessa (</span>Chief Executive Officer, NigerREN & <span style="color:black">
member of the WACREN Board, on behalf of Dr Boubakar Barry (Executive Director, WACREN), Dr Yousef Torman (</span>Managing Director, ASREN<span style="color:black">) and Dr Leon Staphorst (Executive Director, SANRen).
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">The objective of this meeting was to help NRENs better understand the needs experienced by collaborative data intensive research projects, and for NRENs
to consider future service delivery in support of research data. The three projects represented included
<a href="https://h3abionet.org/">H3ABioNet</a> (Prof </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif">Nicky Mulder, Head: Computational Biology, UCT & Lead: H3ABioNet),
<a href="https://www.gbif.org/">GBIF</a> (Dr Mélianie Raymond, Senior Programme Officer for Node Development, GBIF Secretariat) and Dr Jasper Horrell (representing the
<a href="https://www.skatelescope.org/">Square Kilometre Array Organisation</a>, SA).
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">The
<a href="https://www.gbif.org/">GBIF</a> <a href="https://www.gbif.org/ipt">Integrated Publishing Toolkit</a> (IPT) is
<span style="background:white">a free open source software tool used to publish and share biodiversity datasets through the GBIF network.</span>
</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;background:white">The IPT can also be configured with either a DataCite or EZID account in order to assign DOIs to datasets transforming it into a data repository.</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif">
<a href="https://www.slideshare.net/AfricanOpenSciencePl/introduction-to-gbif-for-the-african-open-science-platformmelianie-raymond">
Dr Raymond during her presentation</a> indicated that more portals, laptops/workstations and IPT installations for selected nodes are required to enhance the sharing and visibility of biodiversity data. Capacity building needs include training of researchers,
students, lecturers and more in digitization, data cleaning, data publishing, and data analysis, towards more relevant and sustainable data use in support of decision making concerning biodiversity conservation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><a href="https://h3abionet.org/">H3ABioNet</a> provides support for the H3Africa Human, Heredity & Health in Africa Consortium, which focuses on the
</span><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">study of genomics and environmental determinants of common diseases, with the goal of improving the health of African populations</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">.
<a href="https://www.slideshare.net/AfricanOpenSciencePl/research-infrastructures-h3abionet-case-studynicola-mulder">
Prof Mulder shared the limitations</a> that apply when sharing human data, and the importance of protecting the rights and privacy of human subjects when participating in research studies. The project follows a well-established workflow using open source software
tools, at the same time having policies built into the various stages of working with the data. As with biodiversity, skills need to be constantly developed, and infrastructure needs to be maintained and upgraded. A challenge faced by funded projects is that
collected data needs to be curated when projects come to an end, and it is for governments to discuss as to whether data is regarded as a national asset, and who will fund the long-term curation of the data.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/AfricanOpenSciencePl/data-infrastructure-development-for-skajasper-horrell">According to Dr Jasper Horrell</a> from the
Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDiA), key science on the SKA will be achieved by large-scale survey programs executed by globally distributed teams of researchers and through creating massive data.
<span style="background:white">A cloud computing system that utilizes the OpenStack Infrastructure as a Service framework has been established by IDiA.</span></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#666666;background:white"> </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#333333;background:white">
<a href="https://www.openstack.org/software/">OpenStack</a> </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">is a cloud operating system that controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking
resources throughout a datacenter, all managed through a dashboard that gives administrators control while empowering their users to provision resources through a web interface.</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif">
This ideal for the large amounts of data that is expected to be collected through the telescopes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">Regional NRENs represented indicated that they are in full support of working with AOSP on developing and populating a framework as part of service delivery
to their research communities, and to also invite national NRENs in their respective regions to explore opportunities. Important elements to be included in such a document have been identified, and the group will continue as a working group, building on what
is already in place through the SADC Cyberinfrastructure Framework, of which an <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/AfricanOpenSciencePl/reflections-on-sadc-cyberinfrastructure-frameworkcolin-wright">
overview was provided by Prof Colin Wright</a>. This framework was approved by SADC ministers in June 2016, and the next step would be to revisit the existing framework and to adapt – where needed – for the whole of Africa, with input from key stakeholders
across Africa. It was also clear that - through</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif"> possible partnerships and lessons learned from
<a href="https://www.kenet.or.ke/">KENET</a>, <a href="http://www.researchsupport.uct.ac.za/ilifu">
Ilifu</a>, <a href="https://www.dirisa.ac.za/">DIRISA</a>, <a href="http://www.sci-gaia.eu/">
Sci-GaIA</a> and more, the design, development and implementation of ICT infrastructures in support of data sharing and curation can become a reality – sooner than later.
</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">The AOSP ICT Infrastructure Framework will be tested during various stages and across different domains, before it will be finalized to be shared with African
countries interested in advancing the sharing and responsible management of data.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">Also view the following presentations:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/AfricanOpenSciencePl/the-african-open-science-platformsusan-veldsman-97057160">The African Open Science Platform</a>/Susan
Veldsman<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/crx06lnjm5lsthv/18-05-14-HODSON-AOSP%20FRAMEWORK%20AND%20ROADMAP%20FOR%20OPEN%20SCIENCE%20INFRASTRUCTURE-REDACTED.pptx?dl=0">Framework
and Roadmap towards an Open Science Infrastructure</a>/Simon Hodson<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA">Ina Smith</span></b><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA">Project Manager:
<a href="http://africanopenscience.org.za/"><span style="color:#0563C1">African Open Science Platform</span></a>
<br>
Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)<br>
<a href="https://blog.doaj.org/2016/09/07/the-doaj-ambassadors-biographies/"><span style="color:#0563C1">DOAJ Ambassador, Southern Africa Region</span></a><br>
<a href="https://loy2016blog.wordpress.com/"><span style="color:#0563C1">LIASA Librarian of the Year 2016</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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