Case Studies

Case Studies

The Global Open Science Cloud (GOSC) initiative will encourage cooperation, alignment, and ultimately interoperability, between existing and emerging Open Science Clouds (OSCs). GOSC aims to do this through a combination of thematic Working Groups (building on existing experiences and addressing key areas of shared interest), and a set of detailed Case Studies that will demonstrate how international collaborative research communities and projects can be supported by Open Science Clouds.  

Topics of the initial Case Studies have been suggested by domain experts from communities close to CODATA in cooperation with the GOSC Steering Group. The following initial Case Studies are proposed:

• Incoherent scatter radar data fusion and computation
• Biodiversity and ecology information platform
• SDG-13 climate change and natural disasters
• Sensitive data federation analysis model in population health
• Open reproducible raw diffraction data for access in pandemics
• Essential Biodiversity Variables Indicators

We invite expert participants who are involved in OSCs as well as additional experts who might not be directly involved in an OSC, but who would contribute valuable insights and knowledge. 

Interested to join one or more of the Case Studies as a member or co-chair? SIGN-UP HERE 

To suggest another topic as a GOSC Case Study, follow the ‘Proposing additional Case Studies’ guidance.

 

Operation of the Working Groups and Case Studies

The WGs and Case Studies will be composed, on a voluntary basis, of experts from the various OSC initiatives, as well as other experts in the field.  It is intended that each WG and Case Study should have 2-4 co-chairs. The initial lifespan for the WGs and Case Studies will be two years, after which they may be renewed, redirected or retired according to progress.  It is felt that the matrix approach (thematic WGs, community-focussed Case Studies) is a useful way of breaking down the problem space and important to have focussed and usable outputs.  Nevertheless, it is also clearly important to ensure that there are regular opportunities for communication and engagement among the WGs and Case Studies.  This will be insured by open working practices and regular opportunities for joint activities (see the timeframes below).

Initiating the Case Studies

To initiate the Case Studies, we propose to:

• Invite the OSCs to nominate appropriate experts and researchers to each Case Study.
• Invite additional experts, stakeholders (as necessary and where additional input may be needed): i.e. experts on the particular topics that may not be associated with an OSC initiative.
• Allow interested and expert volunteers to join the Case Studies.
• Invite volunteers as co-chairs for the Case Studies.
• Assemble preliminary membership and co-chairs following the June launch meeting and start regular virtual meetings.
• Aim in early discussions to narrow down focus and identify tractable objectives and outputs, which will be presented and discussed at virtual SciDataCon in Oct/Nov 2021.

Timeframes for the WGs and Case Studies

WGs and Case Studies should hold regular virtual meetings and should proceed with their work and the preparation of outputs, with a view to the following milestones. These are based around events at which WGs and Case Studies will be asked to report on progress and will have the opportunity to hold workshops to advance their activities.

The following schedule of activity, reporting and public discussion of progress is proposed:

1. From 28 June 2021: WGs and Case Studies formed, co-chairs identified and approved by the GOSC SG, outputs scoped.
2. Oct-Nov 2021: GOSC Workshops as part of fully virtual SciDataCon 2021. WGs and Case Studies discuss and refine their mission, objectives, planned outputs and progress.
3. 19-21 Oct 2021: EGI Conference (fully virtual), WGs and Case Studies (where on appropriate topics) report on and communicate activities to global eInfrastructure community.
4. June 2022: GOSC Workshops as part of International Data Week 2022, Seoul, Republic of Korea. WGs report on progress and outputs.
5. Sep 2020: International Symposium on Open Science Cloud, Beijing, China. WGs reports on progress and outputs.
6. Oct 2022: GOSC Workshops as part of 2nd FAIR Convergence Symposium, Leiden, Netherlands. Selected presentations on WGs progress.
7. Q4 2022: EGI Conference, report on progress and outputs to global eInfrastructure community
8. Q2 2023 (TBC): WG report on final outputs as part of first International Symposium on Open Science Clouds.  WGs renewed, redirected or retired.

Additional Observations

• The WGs and Case Studies do not have to be symmetrical in size, activities and organisation. They should do what is useful for each topic and what works for the people involved.
• It will be better to identify small topics for cooperation and alignment, than aiming to address the whole range of issues suggested by each theme. 
• In doing so, the WG or Case Study should identify tractable and useful outputs. The precise scope and nature of these is for the WG or Case Study to determine. Examples include recommendations for alignment between OSCs.
• Among the objectives of the WGs is simply to establish a forum for cooperation on these important issues.