Transcript EIONET-2001

e-EIONET 2001
Hannu Saarenmaa
European Environment Agency
Why?
• End users ask: What is the purpose of this
network? What will it do for me? Why don’t we
just use email and the web?
• Developers ask: How should applications be
designed for EIONET? Can’t we just use our
own tools?
• EEA asks: Can e-EIONET provide new
products and services?
General business requirements for EIONET
• Provide an integrative generic infrastructure
–Platform for coordination of initiatives, enable interoperability, creation
of new opportunities
• Support the collaboration process of integrated analysis within DPSIR
framework
–Project coordination, management of information overload, making life
easier, achieving savings, other practical benefits...
• Streamline environmental data- and workflows within the wider
MDIAR chain
–Remove duplication and reporting burden
Infrastructure
e-EIONET is about infrastructure
• The prerequisite of interoperability
• Building on each others work
• There are many aspects to infrastructure
–Physical, network, application, information,
harmonisation, support, security, ...
Application infrastructure
Build
apps
(public,
corporate,
group,personal)
Select common tools
(CIRCA library,
Yihaw, ...)
Support
Adopt generic services from
open source (Zope, Apache...)
Use network infrastructure (Internet)
Protocols
Information interchange infrastructure
Application
protocols
(Domain XML
Schema)
Interoperability
protocols (SOAP,
RSS, ...)
Applications
Server protocols (HTTP,
LDAP, SQL, CORBA, ...)
Network protocols (TCP/IP)
Harmonisation
Data harmonisation infrastructure
Resource
discovery
(UDDI, ...)
Metainformation
(DC, GELOS, ...)
Protocols
Metadata (ISO11179, UML,
XML, ...)
Generic Search (Altavista, ...)
Support
Details of the layered architecture
Personal
workplace
Library
tool
Group
collab app
DataMgmt
tools
Corporate
portal app
Portal
tools
Other
tools ...
Generic services from open sources
www, directory, email, news, search, SQL, ...
Internet and its communication protocols TCP/IP,
http, ldap, nntp, smtp, ...
33 Unix server computers across Europe
e-EIONET decomposition diagram
HW and network decomposition
Generic services decomposition
Common tools decomposition
Application decomposition
Developer API decomposition
Support for collaboration
Portal Tool Kit 2.0
• Some of the following features can be
expected by end of 2001
–Calendar and meetings
–Expertise exchange
–Enterprise knowledge portal
–CIRCA integration
–Registry of collaborating portals
–Personalisation between and within channels
–Search
CIRCA will prevail (currently 2.4)
CIRCA 2.5e
• Roles
• Organisation objects
• Dynamic mailing lists based on roles
• Library enhancements
• ”What is new”
• Rich Site Summaries
• Multi-node administration support
CIRCA 3.0
• Database foundation
• Domain access for multiple directories
• Open source engines
• Electronic newspaper (Slashcode)
• Linux platform
–October 2001
• Modules with Java 2 Enterprise Edition
–in 4.0?
New data management tools
• Reporting Obligations Database
• Inland Waters Data Warehouse
• Coastbase (IST project)
• EUNIS Data Warehouse
• Metadata (XML Schema store)
• Content registry (UDDI)
• DEMs with XML interchange
Streamlining
Reporting burden
• Each year, each member state has to provide
37,000 figures to various international
environmental reporting systems, essentially
answering that many questions.
• Only 17% of these figures are related to
evaluating the effectiveness of any particular EU
policy.
• There are 57 sectoral committees in the
environment sector alone.
• Most of them have developed their own data
collection and applications.
Currently: Ad-hoc overlapping dataflows
on email, floppy, fax, letter
The Public and Decision-Makers
EuroStat
EC
DG
EEA
OECD
UNEP
ETC
DG
NRC
NFP and other National Authorities
2001: Report to Data Warehouse
on NFP EIONET server
The Public and Decision-Makers
EuroStat
EC
DG
DG
EEA
OECD
UNEP
ETC
EIONET
Server
NRC
NFP and other National Authorities
Reportnet - the real CIRCLE
Opportunities abound
Objectives
• bring every citizen, school, business and
administration on-line - quickly
• create a digitally literate and
entrepreneurial Europe
• ensure an inclusive information society
11
How?
• address key areas of action at European level can make a
difference
• collaborative efforts by Member States, Commission and
private sector
• 10 key areas selected for action
12
Action
1. European youth into the digital age
2. Cheaper Internet access
3. Accelerating e-commerce
4. Fast Internet for researchers and students
5. Smart cards for secure electronic access
13
Action
6. Risk capital for high-tech SMEs
7. eParticipation for the disabled
8. Healthcare online
9. Intelligent transport
10. Government online
14
Government Online priorities
• Ensure easy access to at least four essential
types of public data in Europe.
–Define the pilot areas
• Ensure consultation and feedback via the
Internet on major political initiatives.
• Ensure that citizens have electronic access to
basic interactions.
Lessons learnt in
e-community building
General success factors in network
building
• It is easy to start a network, but difficult to keep
alive
• Build the organisation and technology hand in
hand: Managers must understand technology and
technologists must listen to users
• Understand users' contraints
• Respect rights of data custodians
• Provide opportunity -- the IS lives by opportunity
• Then, persistence
Building institutions
• Network organisations can not be managed – but they
can be led
• Network organisations are normally based on
voluntary cooperation – motivated by opportunity
• By nature, network organisations are slow – a top
down drive difficult to create
• The traditional approach for defining user needs first
and then finding technological solutions does not
normally work
• Demonstration, interaction, and iteration works
• Spread of best practice: make the best the norm
• Providing a political forum works
Building network infrastructure
• Model the organisational network in technological
infrastructure – ownership
• Build services that provide opportunity
• Learn how to build on each others' work
• Build infrastucture – open interfaces
• Build gateways – navigate by metainformation
• Allow contributions – build dialogue and platform
for opportunity
• Personalise and integrate
• Don't build applications – build infrastructure
Building content value chains
for e-communities
• Information society consists of communities (i.e., networks of
people and organisations)
• Content can not be the same for all
• We have tried mass personalisation: How to define Special
Interest Groups without excessive fragmentation? What is the
critical mass?
• Personalisation via community portals
• Involve content publishing expertise in all teams
• Avoid information overload
• Key in value chain: From information exchange to information
provision
• When is information sustainable?