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2004
Conference Paper
Titel
Grid content evolution and grid content management - Enabling e-science for the rest of us
Abstract
A complex distributed Grid-based Science Portal or similar platform in which data and model resources from various authors/organziations are integrated on an ongoing basis over substantial time horizons, to be offered for shared use in virtual organizations cannot be realistically considered a "static" system which is "finished" at some defined point in time. Of course, in projects developing such platforms, designated deliverables and milestones must be committed to in order to control project progress, make sure demonstrations and pilot operations can be carried out, etc. However in order to be successfull beyound the start phase, such platforms also need to offer strong support for further evolution - integration of new data sources and models, versioning, etc. The VirtualLab project, an ongoing collaboration of Fraunhofer FIRST and DLR (German Areospace Center) in which a specific Science Portal has been built and which in the next version will fully rely on Grid technology, provided valuable insights here. DLR primarily views this platform as a new technology transfer channel, for identifying and trying out "external application potential" for in-house developed scientific software. Such software is produced and improved at DLR (and at similar author/vendor organizations likewise) not in isolated, in frequent activities but rather on a continuous, day-to-day basis. Unsurprisingly, end users who can easily access this software (and data resources) remotely from their desktops don't expect outdated material. It thus should be as easy as possible to integrate new or improved models and data resources into the platform. If this is not easy enough (that is: possible for people with basic programming skills but without substantial Grid or Web development background), the platform risks "starvation" in the long run. For these reasons, we are carefully studying the Grid resource integration process in ongoing relevant projects and aim at designing adequate support for this process in the next generation of Virtual Lab. Strong parallels to traditional web content management are expected here - just that the concept of "content" now extends beyound the traditional interpretation of hypertext and multimedia documents to cover general data and executable resources as well.
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