JISC

Preface

I have pleasure in introducing this five year rolling strategy for the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). This Strategy describes the steps the JISC plans to take in helping to drive forward the use of information systems (IS) in higher education (HE) into the next century. It is aimed at senior managers and IS experts within the sector and at those with an interest in the exploitation of electronic information and IS in the wider realm of education both nationally and internationally.

The strength of the Joint Information Systems Committee lies in its ability to provide cohesive services, available to all in HE and research, together with the ability to promote and prove innovative, but achievable, developments in the exploitation of information systems. It does this by facilitating, not dictating or managing, the use of Information Technology (IT) in the institutions.

Collaborative advantage has been the key to past successes and is now even more vital as higher education faces unparalleled financial pressures and an accelerating rate of technological change. Higher education and research in the United Kingdom (UK) will soon be open to the full force of global competition as the information age becomes a reality.

This five year strategy builds on the existing strength of the JISC services and the dedication and hard work of the many experts involved in achieving the internationally respected position enjoyed by the UK higher education community. The Strategy seeks to move forward with a positive and pragmatic approach. The key elements of the Strategy are:

• the provision of more guidance and advice and the raising of the awareness, at all levels, of opportunities offered by IS;
• a plurality of network provision to meet the diverse needs of the community;
• access to a comprehensive and co-ordinated collection of electronic information;
• a tightly focused, modest, programme of innovative developments that will be closely evaluated with widely disseminated outputs.

It is in the nature of long term strategic planning that it cannot be right in all respects. The many valuable responses to the JISC Issues Paper "Exploiting Information Systems in Higher Education" did not suggest that a major revision of JISC activities was desirable or that our forward thinking was misdirected. For these reasons this Strategy is deliberately incremental but, the JISC believes, appropriate to enable the community to develop existing and new applications for the future.

As the role of information systems becomes ever more crucial to meeting the aims of institutions it is likely that it will cost more. The JISC has facilitated many areas of IS deployment but can make no funding assumptions; as the costs of meeting network and electronic information provision rise it is not safe to assume that the JISC can continue to meet all these costs. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will need to budget for the increasing costs of such provision in their future planning: this will need to form a key part of their thinking when developing information strategies.

Contents

1. Executive Summary

1. The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher Education Funding Councils of England, Scotland and Wales and the Department of Education Northern Ireland, facilitates the cost effective exploitation of information systems within higher education. It does this in partnership with the institutions, and other bodies such as the Research Councils, by providing a pervasive network infrastructure and central information services, and by exercising vision and leadership in identifying opportunities and promoting innovation throughout the sector.

2. This Strategy Paper describes ways in which the JISC seeks to help institutions take advantage of information systems and information technology. The recent JISC Issues Paper "Exploiting Information Systems in Higher Education" identified ways in which the application of information technology can help address the opportunities and pressures facing higher education. The paper was well received overall with responses mainly stressing differences of emphasis and priorities. These responses have been fully considered by the JISC.

Key Actions

3. The JISC will concentrate on developing the following activities over the next five years:

• a liberalised basic network service;
• advanced multi-service broadband network services;
• intermittent network access such as dial-up and ISDN;
• pervasive video service infrastructure;
• accelerated acquisition and availability of electronic information;
• a distributed national electronic resource for academia;
• a tightly focused, directed annual development programme to exploit technological opportunities;
• awareness and advisory support.

Networking

4. A central responsibility of the JISC is to provide a quality network service. The demands on the network are varied:

• dial-up service from home and workplace;
• ISDN gateways for video conferencing, teleworking and backup;
• conventional data network access for e-mail, text and document transfer etc;
• reliable Internet access;
• broadband multi-service network for multi-media applications, e.g. distance learning;
• international connectivity.

I. There is a requirement for a plurality of network services to cater for the plurality of network applications.

5. These network services must be pervasive and reliable. The current Joint Academic Network (JANET) and SuperJANET networks will be supplemented by enabling dial-up access, at local rate where possible, throughout the country. ISDN gateways will be developed such that all HEIs will be able to employ video conferencing applications as appropriate.

6. Reliability and resilience will be improved and international bandwidth greatly increased. Access will be facilitated to further education, schools, industry and the local community, including domestic access. This will require links to gateways with other network providers as well as liberalisation of the existing JANET connections policy.

Electronic Information

7. The higher education community is gaining considerable benefit from the central purchase and provision of electronic datasets and information. The process of acquiring such data and making it widely accessible and supported will be accelerated through partnerships with other public and private sector organisations. The JISC will also encourage and facilitate wider access to datasets and electronic information purchased by individual HEIs and, where appropriate, other organisations. Steps will be taken to assure that all disciplines are adequately covered without duplication.

II. The JISC will continue to promote and take a lead in developing a distributed national electronic resource for academia in the UK.

Technology Opportunities

8. The very rapid rate of technological change in IS and IT makes it essential that the community is well informed of developments when they are of proven value. The difficult financial climate in HE makes it essential that these opportunities are identified in a well focused way, in consultation with the community, and that duplication of effort is avoided.

III. JISC funding for developing technological applications will be tightly focused on the needs of HE and any bidding method will be by targeted calls for proposals. All projects will be fully evaluated and lessons learned disseminated widely.

Human and Support Issues

9. A strong message from the JISC Issues Paper was that the opportunities presented by IT are outstripping the ability of the sector to assimilate and exploit them. More guidance and education is required, as is a greater degree of awareness of the benefits and pitfalls of technological opportunities. The barriers, including lack of network access, to take up must be better understood.

IV. The JISC will establish structures to act as a clearing house to provide objective advice and promote awareness of IT opportunities.

2. Strategic Objectives

10. The Joint Information Systems Committee acts for the Higher Education Funding Councils of England, Scotland and Wales and the Department of Education Northern Ireland. It has the following mission:

"To stimulate and enable the cost effective exploitation of information systems and to provide a high quality national network infrastructure for the UK higher education and Research Councils community"

It carries out this mission by funding a range of services and innovative development projects. Other initiatives such as TLTP, CTI and SHEFC's Use of MANs build on these services. (A full glossary of acronyms will be found in the Appendices) 11. The JISC aims and objectives are:

• to exercise vision and leadership in bringing about benefits to the higher education sector by the exploitation of information systems;
• to ensure the provision of a pervasive network infrastructure to the higher education and Research Councils community;
• to ensure the provision of central data services where this is sensible on economic grounds;
• to ensure the provision of other IS software and information services where economic or strategic benefits can be gained;
• to promote the exploitation of new technologies as a service provision to the higher education community;
• to encourage and facilitate the development of Information Strategies in the higher education community;
• to ensure the community is adequately represented on standards bodies and to encourage the appropriate use of standards;
• to encourage and facilitate the cost effective, efficient and economical exploitation of all JISC funded initiatives;
• to seek where possible alternative sources of funding and partnerships in support of JISC initiatives.

12. The need to make well judged use of information systems and information technology to help meet the challenges facing higher education was a major theme in last year's JISC Issues Paper "Exploiting Information Systems in Higher Education" and has been identified by many other bodies (see the references in the Issues Paper).

13. At present the needs of UK HE are well served by a pervasive high bandwidth network infrastructure (JANET and SuperJANET) and by a wealth of relevant electronic information services. The sector is well advanced in developing novel IS applications such as video conferencing, distance learning and collaborative research. The facilities are widely used and are no longer the sole preserve of enthusiasts and technocrats. Usage of the more advanced facilities is not yet extensive, however, and only a few innovative applications are delivering a production service.

14. In the future HE will be capitalising on these investments by delivering more teaching and learning by electronic means within an institution and between institutions on a regional, national and even international basis. Large amounts of high quality information will be available to the desk top, rapidly accessed through intelligent and easy to use interfaces. Teachers, students and researchers will interact through broadband networks sharing common applications. Remote access to multi-media applications from the home and workplace will be widely available to faculty and students at modest cost, including document transfer, video on demand and desk top video conferencing. Managers of institutions will have access to timely and appropriate information especially related to financial health and human resources, including student records. The campus will be managed more efficiently by a range of environmental, security and access tools. The "virtual university" will have become a reality where required; especially for students in geographically remote areas and to meet the demands for flexible life long learning.

15. Within the limits of its remit the JISC will seek to assist the higher education and research community achieve this vision. This five year rolling strategy describes the next steps that the JISC intends to take to facilitate these developments.

Advance planning by the JISC and its predecessor bodies has provided the UK HE sector with one of the most technologically advanced networks in the world. The JISC intends to build on this to support HEIs in meeting their mission by continuing to provide a range of services available over the network, and by proving the efficacy of novel IS applications.

16. In particular the JISC seeks to help HEIs meet the following key objectives whilst taking full account of the diversity within the sector:

• increasing the efficiency and economy of the running of the institution;
• improving the educational environment and quality of teaching and learning. This includes supporting the current diversity of the HE sector;
• supporting research with tools and services that can best be provided at the collective level;
• improving liaison with other bodies nationally and internationally (including other educational organisations, industry and the local community);
• providing facilities to improve the competitiveness of the UK HE sector.

2.1 Efficiency and Economy of Institutions

17. The HE community is facing continuing economic pressure and increasingly competitive pressures nationally and internationally. All JISC initiatives are designed to improve the effectiveness of HE either through making available cost effective central services or by proving the applicability of novel applications and technologies. Some particular applications are:

• central dataset provision. Large datasets are costly to purchase, maintain and support and in many cases no single institution could afford them. There are huge economies of scale from central purchase. Savings over commercial rates of up to £7m pa have been enjoyed on some major datasets.
• CHEST which negotiates central software purchasing deals. This saves the community around £30M pa in total over commercial prices. Savings of £4m to over £6mpa have been negotiated on some widely used software packages.
• A centrally managed network which ensures pervasiveness and common technical and quality standards, thus securing the only effective means of developing advanced applications.
• Electronic information provision. Although not suitable for all applications, electronic information, and the development of the electronic library, could be cheaper and more effective than much traditional library provision.
• The promotion of new uses of the network; e.g. student enrolment, recruitment and registration.
• The development of technology driven applications that could lead to more cost effective approaches to the management of institutions. This includes smart cards, virtual and remote environments, distance learning, and multi-service networking (data, video and telephony on common lines) etc. These technologies, and others, are being explored and developed through JISC funding.

18. The JISC is aware that the barriers to reaping the full potential of new technologies are often cultural rather than technical or financial. There is a growing body of experience in the UK and elsewhere which needs to be thoroughly analysed in order to determine how best to tackle these problems. There are also "hidden" costs to the institutions that are not always immediately obvious; similarly there are often serendipitous advantages.

V. The JISC will continue to study the issues relating to the take up of new technologies, and the potential costs and benefits to the institutions of deploying these technologies.

2.2 Improving the Educational Environment

19. The use of multi-media teaching material (whether on-line or via CD-ROM) offers flexible and cost effective teaching tools. They are expensive to produce, however, and are more suited to some topics than others. They can be particularly effective in the teaching of large scale and foundation and remedial courses, reducing teaching time devoted to essentially repetitive teaching, and offering students greater flexibility in study time. Such material is also a useful source of background and research information to supplement more advanced studies.

20. Distance learning using video conferencing technology is particularly valuable to meet the demand for lifelong learning and could form the basis of virtual universities in the future.

21. Although the JISC does not support teaching and learning activities directly it makes available tools to facilitate the preparation and dissemination of such material. The JISC, through the SuperJANET project will continue to develop a multi-service network to support these tools; see Chapter 4.

2.3 Improving the Quality of Research

22. The provision of a high quality broadband network is essential for much research work. The JISC Issues Paper highlighted the value of data mining, the use of simulation techniques and the virtual laboratory. The JISC does not fund research but does provide significant infrastructure needed for high quality research. The JISC will maintain an interest in the provision of high performance computing by means of an active dialogue with the Research Councils. It will continue to secure suitable datasets and develop appropriate tools in areas such as visualisation and virtual reality. It is recognised that at present international network links are inadequate for the needs of the research community. Bandwidth has, however, increased enormously over the past few years and additional techniques such as caching and mirroring have been developed to mitigate the problem. However, considerably increased resources will continue to be necessary for such connectivity.

23. The Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib) is assessing the viability of a number of forms of electronic information of relevance to the research worker:

• the electronic journal and other electronic sources of articles;
• novel ways of refereeing in the electronic environment;
• digital images of historic, medical and artistic material;
• pre-print and grey literature;
• improved access to bibliographic records, research library materials and research data.

24. These facilities offer an essential infrastructure to the UK HE and research community for the dissemination of intellectual output over the international networked environment.

VI. The JISC will maintain close links with the Research Councils, the British Library and the British Academy and will increase its involvement in joint funded projects.

2.4 External Links

25. All HEIs need to foster close links with external stakeholders such as further education (FE) colleges, schools, local commerce and industry, and Government bodies. In many cases they also require links to overseas bodies.

26. The issues relevant to providing connectivity to networks outside the higher education and Research Council community are discussed in Section 4.1.

27. The provision of Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) is also important in this context, as is the provision of intermittent connectivity in support of dial-up and ISDN access for special applications and infrequent users; in particular for home working by staff and students.

28. The JISC is primarily concerned with infrastructure and with support activities of widespread utility. It does not pursue activities that can be better managed by other bodies or which are the responsibility of the institutions themselves. In particular it will not fund local infrastructure or projects that might compromise institutional or academic autonomy. The JISC will advise, when requested, on other initiatives which may have wider roles such as the various Funding Councils' LAN/MAN initiatives and the SHEFC Use of MANs initiative. It also maintains links with activities that rely on JISC services such as TLTP. The JISC fosters active links with external activities which have an IS dimension such as DTI and European Commission initiatives, and provides advice and comments on wider IS issues of relevance to education (e.g. the DfEE Superhighways paper). The JISC therefore acts as a representative for HE by providing a respected focus for IS practitioners in the community.

29. The JISC represents UK HE and research networking interests in international policy and funding bodies. It is involved in relevant European Commission programmes and maintains active links with international organisations in the USA (e.g. Educom, CNI, W3C). This is particularly important in the area of standards.

VII. The JISC will continue to maintain and improve links with relevant national and international initiatives, and act as a representative voice of UK HE in IS matters.

30. It is clear that all of the JISC's activities need to reflect and inform developments in the wider Funding Council and Research Council environment. Therefore, the JISC will endeavour to make a full contribution to the broader national debates on HE issues; highlighting relevant technology perspectives on a wide range of policy issues in HE. In identifying the potential of technology in securing strategic academic advantage nationally, the JISC will seek to encourage such perspectives at the institutional level. The JISC will address this by improving links with other agencies and players who are pushing forward the debate, and gaining a better understanding of the needs of students who will be going out into a world where technological change is becoming even more rapid.

31. The HE community does not exist in isolation from the rest of the world and needs to react to what is going on around it. This is particularly true for IS, especially given the explosion in the use of the Internet for both commercial and leisure activities. In order to ensure that the needs of HE are not overlooked, the JISC will seek to provide input, and where appropriate leadership, at a national level into understanding and influencing the economic, regulatory and legal environments surrounding the effective use of IS, and associated products and services. Advancing the national debate on copyright in electronic environments, and the associated issue of re-engineering the scholarly information chain, is seen as one key component of this strategic goal.

2.5 Competitiveness

32. JISC services are available to all HEIs and it exploits information services to achieve collaborative advantage for UK higher education. As the use of electronic information, and the possibilities of distance learning become more fully understood and deployed world wide it is likely that there will develop a greater global market for higher education. The UK has led the way in distance education. It is important that in the future the UK prospers in this global HE environment and the JISC intends to play its part by helping institutions develop world beating expertise and experience in the application of technology for academic advantage.

2.6 Technology Foresight Programme

33. Much of the work of the JISC underpins the Government's Technology Foresight Programme (TFP). In particular the TFP made the following recommendations where the JISC has an active role to play:

• the encouragement of the following long term technology objectives: digitisation; broadband networks; modularity; intelligent networks;
• achieving the aims of the Government becoming a leading-edge user and demonstrator of telecommunications and IT;
• infrastructure development, especially in respect of improving modularity across the academic/industry interface; technology initiatives; co-operation with the university sector; and the physical infrastructure for Research and Development in universities;
• the encouragement of distance learning technologies;
• promoting the availability of high performance computing systems to researchers and developers;
• accelerating the adoption of protection of intellectual property rights and open standards for privacy and security;
• copyright protection laws and practice in relation to electronic media;
• the provision of technically competent trained manpower.

VIII The JISC will ensure its activities fully support the relevant recommendations of the Technology Foresight Programme.

2.7 Standards

34. The identification, introduction and ongoing use of appropriate de facto and de jure standards is vital in the effective development and exploitation of information systems. The work of the HE community in the standards area must be supported and measures taken to keep the community informed of current developments.

IX. The JISC will continue to identify and promote appropriate IS standards; support HE involvement in standards work; and keep the community fully informed of developments.

3. Context of the Strategy

35. In April 1994 the JISC published an Issues Paper "Exploiting Information Systems in Higher Education." This attempted to identify the main issues relevant to HE over the next five years that need to be addressed if the opportunities presented by the emerging information age are to be fully exploited. Feedback to this paper was sought.

36. The JISC has prepared its strategy on the basis of this feedback and subsequent analysis of developments in information systems and information technology.

37. A total of 77 responses was received from a wide variety of individuals and organisations: publishers, suppliers and professional bodies as well as 42 HEIs. A summary of the responses is given in Appendix A  . All welcomed the paper as a valuable and timely statement of the issues facing HE and many pointed out the applicability to other sectors of the economy.

38. There were no overall negative responses to the document but various shades of opinion and emphases were put which have been carefully considered by the JISC.

39. Many respondents welcomed the paper as a catalyst for debate within their organisation and found the opportunity for detailed discussions, using the paper to set an agenda, valuable in its own right.

40. There was widespread agreement in the following areas:

• the need to maintain a high quality, pervasive, advanced network;
• improved, intermittent connectivity (e.g. analogue dial-up and ISDN);
• more training and awareness to consolidate the opportunities offered by IT;
• a better understanding of the needs of students and potential cost to the institutions is required;
• the need to improve the dissemination of good practice and lessons learned;
• data and electronic information services are valued and should be expanded.

41. There was less agreement as to the value of open and distance learning; the main concerns being to prepare suitable material and the cultural barriers to its widespread take-up.

42. Views also differed as to how far the network should be opened up outside the higher education and research sector.

3.1 The Role of JISC

43. Many respondents made suggestions as to where the JISC could play a role and where such input would not be appropriate. There was near unanimous agreement that the JISC should continue to promote a high quality network and facilitate the provision of related support services.

44. It was felt that the JISC should take an active part in helping to fill the gap in training and awareness in appropriate areas, although there were no suggestions as to what this role should be.

45. The JISC cannot fund purely local hardware provision and thus can only provide advice and guidance in areas such as workstation and local infrastructure provision.

46. Some respondents felt the JISC should play no role in delivering support for campus management, while others agreed that it would be useful if the JISC could "demonstrate where technology has a role to play and then fund pilot projects and disseminate results to ensure confidence" (paragraph 140 of the Issues Paper). It was also suggested by a few respondents that the JISC should fund development in a reactive rather than or as well as, directed mode.

47. There was concern expressed by some as to whether links between the JISC and other Funding Councils' initiatives such as TLTP and CTI were close enough given the reliance of such application areas on JISC funded services and pilot projects. A few respondents felt the JISC should do more to promote applications rather than just provide the infrastructure, common services and development projects.

48. Some respondents felt the JISC could be a useful pressure group in national and international areas of common concern such as telecommunication regulation, copyright and IS standards.

3.2 Key Messages

49. A careful analysis of all responses to the Issues Paper (written and verbal) suggests the JISC Strategy should concentrate on the following key areas:

• all JISC activities should be tied to concerns of the HE and, where relevant, Research Councils environment. In particular the JISC has a responsibility to make available network links to the Research Councils. The JISC should also focus on ways to help students and other HE stakeholders realise their goals. There is thus a requirement for the JISC to continue to prepare business cases and evaluate projects and services against clear performance indicators. The identification of costs (capital, ongoing, staff etc.) to HEIs is also important;
• greater emphasis is needed on helping the community to assess, assimilate and effectively use the opportunities provided by IS. High priority must be placed on training and awareness, the dissemination of good practice and lessons learned, and advice (especially to counteract hype) are necessary;
• the underlying network service is fundamental to the well-being of the community. This must be of a high standard and biased towards production services. Enhanced international connectivity is essential;
• intermittent connectivity (e.g. dial-up and ISDN) is increasingly required;
• IT has an important part to play in the teaching and learning process (especially for open and distance learning) but material thus developed is only one tool in the total learning environment. Development and unit costs and quality are important issues as are acceptability and skills requirement. It is necessary to evaluate current experiences and identify where these techniques can be most effectively used and how they can be effectively distributed;
• other important areas are: copyright of electronic information; support of staff and students with special needs; high quality research data banks; and liaison with the Research Councils concerning central computer facilities (scalar and parallel) and networking.

3.3 Revised Key Issues

50. Having considered these key messages the JISC has revised the key issues identified in its paper "Exploiting Information Systems in Higher Education." These are issues for HE as a whole, not just the JISC. While the JISC will seek to provide the underlying infrastructure and services, and take an active role in providing guidance and increasing awareness, it is for the institutions and other relevant bodies, such as the Funding Councils and Research Councils, to determine any necessary changes in methods of organisation and working practice.

51. The following issues will be addressed by the JISC:

• the need to provide bandwidth and other mechanisms to improve international connectivity;
• the need to expand the identification, investigation and dissemination of good practice and lessons learned, such as management and administrative computing, technological innovation, information strategies, and suitable standards;
• the need to achieve a model of HEI requirements through feedback and other mechanisms in order to ensure that technology led initiatives are in tune with the necessary cultural change.

52. The JISC will seek to help HEIs address the following issues:

• the need to expand the "reach" of networking to halls of residence, the home and the workplace and to strengthen links with industry and other education sectors, while continuing to meet the special networking needs of HE, and to provide improved intermittent connectivity (e.g. dial-up, ISDN);
• the need to consider the necessary culture change and training to support the preparation and use of multi-media teaching material and electronic text book research material, and the promotion and improvement of the exploitation of IT in the creation of virtual laboratories for teaching and research use. This includes identification of the applicability of the approach (e.g. which students and in which environments);
• the need to ensure that information systems are exploited in ways that are relevant to the issues facing HE and to improve the efficiency and quality of teaching and research;
• the need to demonstrate technological opportunities and engender the necessary culture change to improve electronic information delivery;
• the need to consider ways of providing and disseminating the necessary training and awareness throughout the community and the skilled staff costs associated with this;
• the need to expand provision of high quality data archives of research material;
• the need to make greater use of information systems in the effective management of HEIs. This includes security, environmental and access control, management and executive information systems, data security and authentication, timetabling and the management of accommodation and catering etc.

53. The following issues are primarily the concern of the institutions:

• the need to ensure adequate provision of multi-media personal workstations (including portable hardware) for faculty and student use and to identify both the capital and ongoing costs related to this;
• the need to identify the diverse requirements of students, such as the variation in computer literacy skills and ability to purchase a computer, and the needs of students and staff with disabilities.

4. Core Services

54. The JISC funds an underlying network infrastructure, and core data and information services. To keep this provision up-to-date some development work is required directly related to these core services. More speculative development work, with a wider focus, is discussed in the next chapter. The following diagram illustrates this functional division.

55. The core services of network and information provision are considered in terms of the operational services and the development work needed to keep these services relevant to the advanced needs of higher education.

4.1. Production Services

56. At present the JISC provides the following core services to the HE and Research Council community.

• A production IP network of up to 8Mbps on leased lines, or up to the 10Mbps access class on the SMDS service to all HEIs. Each receive a single JISC funded connection and may connect their other sites at cost. A marginal charge is levied for bandwidth above 8Mbps and for the 10Mbps access class on SMDS.
• A development network at up to 155Mbps providing IP and ATM in most cases. Such links are provided to 14 sites through SuperJANET and to about 30 HEIs at present through MANs. HEIs may connect their other sites at cost.
• International network links mostly to Europe and North America. These links have been recently improved, by more than ten fold in the last two years, but are still failing to meet current demand.
• A range of network services to help connected institutions make full use of their network connection. These services include training, bulletin boards (NISS), caching for international access (HENSA), data mirroring, software servers and e-mail services (Mailbase). They are used by all sites.
• Large and valuable datasets are made available to institutions from datacentres at Bath (BIDS), Manchester (MIDAS), and Edinburgh (EDINA). The datasets are mainly bibliographic indexes (e.g. ISI, IBSS) but other widely used databases such as the 1991 Census Data are also provided. Each of these datasets is typically used by over a hundred HEIs.

57. These operational services have been built up mostly within the past three to five years (although network services have been provided for over ten years) and have been instrumental in underpinning the growth of electronic communication and information access to HEIs.

Networking

58. Usage of the network has grown steadily as the following graph illustrates.

59. Central funding ensures that the network is pervasive and to common technical and quality standards. It also enables the network, and services available through it, to be at the forefront of functionality necessary to meet the demands of users; in the past this was mostly the research community but with the increasing use of networks for teaching and learning, this is changing. The network is also becoming heavily used by mission critical administrative and management applications. Growth in network traffic has been particularly marked since the introduction of SuperJANET in 1992; this greatly increased provision in bandwidth has enabled the sector to increase its use of networked applications.

60. External connections to JANET and SuperJANET have always been encouraged where these are for the purposes of collaboration in teaching or research. There is a growing desire at some HEIs to offer connections to local bodies, including industry and commerce, for more general use; these institutions consider that such support for their local communities is an important part of their individual missions. The cost of these connections would have to be borne by all JANET users in the form of increased traffic on the backbone and, more importantly, on the international links. JANET has been established and tuned over many years to meet the specialist needs of a relatively small community with leading edge requirements; it cannot be expanded to meet the different needs of much larger communities such as schools, National Health Service (NHS) and public libraries without loss of fitness for purpose.

61. At present external connections are allowed to FE colleges and, to a limited extent, to schools and for collaborative use in industry. Connections to public libraries are not allowed: JANET is not set up to provide a service to the general public, particularly where such access would be unsupervised. Access is also not allowed for NHS use, except, of course, medical teaching and collaborative research.

62. There are also demands for greater commercial activity via the Internet such as selling services into universities and colleges and for HEIs to sell services, through the Internet, to outside bodies.

63. In considering a strategy for network provision over the next five years the following factors have, therefore, to be considered:

• maintaining a high capacity, high quality, pervasive production service to common standards;
• catering for the continuing increase in number and variety of uses and users;
• continuing to meet the leading edge requirements of a broad base of teaching and research applications;
• the cost of improving reliability and resilience for applications important to the mission of HEIs;
• minimising the total cost to higher education and capping the central costs to the JISC;
• identifying mechanisms to allow commercial services over the network (to and from sites);
• ensuring connectivity to other organisations and other networks.

64. The requirements can therefore be seen as:

• a basic cost effective service managed to a high quality;
• a more advanced service capable of delivering leading edge applications to the research and teaching community;

Both these network services need to be pervasive within the HE community. The basic service (JANET) would meet the mission critical administrative needs (e.g. student clearing). It will be available to all HEIs and Research Council sites. The leading edge service will provide for more innovative and demanding services such as distance learning, large scale data transfer, video conferencing and research applications. It will primarily meet the needs for innovative teaching and research by the majority of HEIs and some Research Council sites, and would be available to FE colleges and other organisations for genuine collaborative use. In practice, of course, these networks need not be physically separate if other cost effective ways of logically segregating them can be developed.

65. Institutions will be allowed to connect other sites to JANET as long as such traffic does not reach a level that compromises the special needs of the HE community.

X. The JISC will ensure that the national network continues to meet the need for a liberalised production service and a development service, sharing infrastructure in such a way as to minimise overheads but maximise functionality.

66. The basic network is unlikely to be physically separate from the broadband network but will form part of a single network link to the institution; it must therefore continue to be managed centrally. Even those sites not enjoying a broadband network connection need to be part of JANET and it is therefore essential to continue to provide an integrated network for the HE and Research Council community.

67. It is important for institutions to enable access to JANET from the home, work place and student residences to promote home working and a more flexible learning environment where this is considered appropriate. Ways of improving intermittent connectivity such as analogue dial-up and ISDN access for infrequent, lower bandwidth use are already under investigation. This could be through a separate commercial network or local points of presence as appropriate. The JISC will also help by advising the Funding Councils on the costs of wiring up student residences. The recent SHEFC, HEFCW and the new HEFCE LAN/MAN initiatives are important steps in expanding the reach of networking; both the JISC and its network operator, UKERNA, are fully involved in these activities.

XI. The JISC will encourage the identification and development of appropriate network gateways to improve domestic network connectivity to and from student residences and the home as well as the work place; once such services and technologies (e.g. "set top box") become available.

68. There will be no subsidy by the JISC of such connections. All such activities must generate sufficient income to cover all costs and where appropriate, this will include a profit element. The ability of higher education to remain at the forefront in its use of networking will not be compromised.

XII. The JISC will seek to ensure the provision of dial-up access facilities, where possible at local rates, to JANET. Similarly local ISDN gateways will be provided where appropriate.

69. True multi-services networking is not yet a commodity purchase. It is essential to manage such a leading edge network (SuperJANET) to meet the particular needs of HE. SuperJANET has been rolled out to over 130 sites over the past four years.

70. JISC's policy of developing MANs as a cost effective way of delivering broadband capacity (34Mbps and above) is proving most satisfactory. Savings of between three and ten fold in recurrent costs have been achieved. In addition MANs promote beneficial collaboration among neighbouring institutions which promise to lead to partnerships in teaching, local economic development and greater research collaboration. Early experience following the development of MANs in Scotland, and the subsequent SHEFC Use of MANs Initiative, is particularly encouraging. Partnerships with the local and regional community are also facilitated through MANs.

XIII. The JISC will continue to promote Metropolitan Area Networks to achieve collaborative working, local and regional partnerships and cost benefits.

71. The current SuperJANET contract with BT ends in March 1997. The original objectives of proving innovative applications such as distance learning, high quality image transfers, access to remote facilities and video conferencing have been largely achieved. These techniques can now be deployed on a larger scale for productive use. This is discussed in the next section. A production quality network must be provided to underpin these applications and to develop SuperJANET into a multi-service infrastructure serving all HEIs.

72. Although the SuperJANET project is demonstrating the efficacy of multi-service networking, through use of the ATM protocol, this is still not a commercially available offering from the major telecommunication operators. Most MANs, however, are deploying the ATM protocol at least experimentally. Other technologies will continue to be kept under review.

XIV. The JISC will procure a replacement SuperJANET network, from April 1997, to link all sites where technically and financially sensible. In particular this network will act as a backbone connecting all MANs. The minimum bandwidth for all sites will be 2Mbps.

International Networking

73. The coherence of the JISC Strategic vision is viewed with some envy by other countries. The issues that JISC are involved in, and the challenges it faces, are common to higher education throughout the world. The JISC will, therefore, need to establish closer international links with equivalent bodies in other countries. An international co-ordinated approach is necessary to anticipate, react to, or lobby in areas such as networking, data provision, copyright etc., including legislative changes and international policy making.

74. Assiduous attempts are being made to secure broadband network links to Europe and the USA. A number of factors have made such provision impossible as yet:

• Public Network Operators (PNOs) are not prepared to offer such links at reasonable prices (quotes have been at multiples of the current 2Mbps tariff of around £400K pa). There is a lack of co-operation between the PNOs. In many European countries this is likely to continue even after deregulation as state owned PNOs are "fattened" for privatisation;
• PNOs prefer to sell value added services rather than transmission circuits;
• lack of capacity (lines or switches) within key target countries; SuperJANET, while no longer unique, is matched only in a few European countries and some states of the USA at present;
• international links require joint funding and many countries do not require, or cannot afford, broadband international links. International bodies for co-ordinating policy and funding are still under development and are not yet fully effective;
• some countries, including the USA, do not have a suitable central funding body. A few countries do not even have a central operational body (such as UKERNA) for academic and research networking infrastructure;
• a European broadband backbone has yet to be achieved due to a variety of political factors despite the active involvement of the European Commission.

75. At the time of writing short term additional bandwidth is being purchased to the USA (up to 18Mbps) and to the current European backbone run by DANTE (6Mbps). This will give a total provision of 22Mbps to the USA and 12Mbps to Europe. It is hoped that a 34Mbps backbone can be established to the relevant European countries during 1996.

76. The ACN and UKERNA are continuing to pursue opportunities designed to provide, in the first instance, a 34Mbps production service backbone network to the USA and throughout Western Europe.

XV. The JISC will continue to seek, as a very high priority, international connectivity at a bandwidth appropriate to the capacity of the national backbone.

77. Other ways of making the most effective use of international bandwidth will continue to be investigated. This will include caching where cost-effective for WWW traffic, and mirroring of data, at the national and regional (e.g. MAN) level. The usefulness of managing access and partitioning bandwidth for different applications will also be considered.

XVI. The JISC will enhance the provision of services, such as caching and mirroring, to reduce the demands on international bandwidth.

Network Services

78. The JISC funds a number of services that are essential to the efficient and effective use of the network. These are:

• Mailbase - an electronic mailing list supporting collaborative teaching, research and administrative groups across a wide range of subjects;
• NISS - National Information Services and Systems providing a bulletin board facility and access to many external electronic sources of information;
• HENSA - Higher Education National Software Archive.

79. The funding and reporting of these services will be moved to the Advisory Committee for Networking to reflect their role as underpinning network services. These are mature, well proven and valuable services that enjoy widespread support across the whole community. The emphasis will continue to be one of securing the maximum value for money from these services.

XVII. The JISC will continue to promote widely used network services to maximise value for money to the community.

80. The need to expand network training and awareness is discussed in Chapter 6.

4.2 Datasets

81. Usage of datasets has steadily increased over the past few years as demonstrated by the graph of the BIDS ISI service:

82. Very considerable cost savings are enjoyed by the central provision of these datasets as compared with commercial charges. It is reasonable to expect that savings will accrue from the planned purchase of other datasets.

83. There is a demand for the provision of more than just datasets. The JISC is moving beyond the acquisition of datasets to full text journals and full text of collections and corpora.

84. On-line data has a number of advantages over printed matter or CD-ROM and other forms of electronic information:

• multiple read access across the network;
• easier to keep up-to-date;
• always available;
• usually provided with efficient indexing and search mechanisms;
• down-loadable for direct manipulation.

85. Individual HEIs are increasingly purchasing data, information and teaching material electronically; often in CD-ROM format. In some cases this information is made available from a data server over the campus LAN. Some MANs are also looking at the opportunities to set up regional data servers. The adoption of suitable standards such as Z39.50 access protocol, and the availability of good graphical interfaces, are both important if networked information is to be as usable and attractive as information on CD-ROM.

86. The following factors are important in considering the provision of on-line data and information services:

• high initial costs of data and hardware;
• considerable potential use throughout the community;
• increasing local and regional provision.

87. The JISC has established three datacentres and proved the cost effectiveness of on-line datasets. A core of widely used datasets and information services have now been provided, in some cases with joint funding from ESRC.

88. The JISC already funds datasets in the areas of: Biology, Chemistry; Education; Engineering; English; Law; Medicine; Science; Social Sciences and is developing an Arts and Humanities Data Service. In addition the JISC's Datasets Steering Group has identified the following timetable for major dataset acquisitions:

1996-97	Art and Design
	Mathematics and Computer Science
1997-98	Languages
	Technology and the Built Environment.

89. By 1998 there will be a broad range of datasets covering all the major disciplines. At present the BIDS dataservice meets its running costs in full and is expected to move into surplus, and thus start recovering the cost of dataset purchase, in 1996. The initial purchase costs of datasets and the hardware to run them on is high and JISC funding has been used to initiate these services.

90. Given the high usage of the existing datasets from across the sector, and the need to establish further research datasets for data mining application, the JISC will seek to accelerate the acquisition and availability of data. In many cases this data will be purchased by others; e.g. Research Councils, individual HEIs and other private and public sector organisations. The JISC will encourage purchase of such data to make it widely available throughout the HE by offering the following services:

• negotiating agents;
• the existing data centres (e.g. BIDS is mounting the electronic journals of Academic Press and others);
• partnerships with other organisations to fund suitable acquisitions.

XVIII. The JISC will encourage and facilitate the wider availability of electronic data and information whether purchased by JISC or others.

4.3 Development Applications

91. The JISC funds a number of development projects that exploit the potential of information systems to the benefit of HE. Over the past few years these have led to the production services covered in Section 4.1. There is scope to develop new services some of which, because of their complexity or widespread applicability, are best handled through centrally funded projects. Others may benefit from central co-ordination to ensure appropriate standards are promulgated and to enable the lessons learned to be widely disseminated.

92. Many of these applications are developed by other central initiatives (such as TLTP) or by individual HEIs and groups of research workers. There are, however, three areas which are the focus of current JISC programmes:

• high quality video conferencing using ATM; designed for multiple studio based meetings and as a tool for distance teaching and learning applications;
• multi-media communication containing high quality, still and moving images and sound;
• techniques to promote the development of the electronic library (the eLib programme).

93. It is anticipated that all these development projects will evolve into pervasive applications during the next five years.

Video Conferencing

94. High quality video communication is emerging as a valuable tool for:

• two way and multi-way formal meetings;
• person-to-person communication;
• distribution of live and recorded lectures and course material;
• remote tutorials and distance learning;
• collaborative research activity.

95. These applications offer considerable opportunities for enhancing the educational process in a potentially cost effective manner. There are, however, a number of issues that limit its suitability and uptake:

• the need, in some applications, for well lit and soundproofed studios;
• time taken to prepare material and the need for high presentational skills and tele-visual "presence" of lecturers;
• resistance of some staff and students to the use of this approach;
• high cost of hardware;
• demand for high bandwidth;
• lack of standards;
• need for development work on cheaper technologies.

96. On the other hand, video conferencing and related services offer a number of advantages:

• convenience for holding meetings between remote sites and consequent savings in travel and subsistence costs;
• ability to deliver lectures and course material across an institution, between HEIs, and internationally;
• flexible learning opportunities with enhanced visual aids (e.g. delivery to remote students and outside the normal working day).

97. Over the past few years a number of video conferencing applications have been developed and proven within the community including the SuperJANET project and the University of Wales Videonetwork. Currently, very high bandwidth video conferencing is being developed in Scotland.

98. There are a number of different video services technologies:

• very low quality desk top video over the Internet;
• low quality desk top video over dial-up ISDN lines;
• medium quality studio video conferencing over dedicated Kilostream lines (typically 128Kbps to 384Kbps e.g. WelshNet);
• medium quality studio based network links at 2Mbps (e.g. current SuperJANET projects);
• broadcast quality with digital quality sound over ATM: 12Mbps or more (as being developed in Scotland).

99. Video conferencing over ISDN is also well proven in commerce and industry. The topic is well covered by a range of reports published by AGOCG and UKERNA.

100. As with conventional networking, pervasiveness is essential and adherence to emerging international standards is therefore vital. The JISC will use its role, as a centrally funded body, to facilitate the widespread adoption of suitable video conferencing infrastructures across HE, thus enabling all institutions to exploit this emerging and valuable technology.

XIX. The JISC will facilitate the development of pervasive video services at an appropriate level by means of one or more appropriate technology.

101. The quality of video conferencing required varies according to application and it does not follow that broadcast quality is necessary for all purposes. In general 384Kbps seems adequate (especially at 30 frames per second) for the delivery of lectures and tutorials as well as meetings; in some cases 128Kbps will prove sufficient. Higher bandwidth is required for more specialist or demanding applications that require sharp images without blurring (e.g. surgery) or very high quality sound (e.g. music teaching). The usefulness of low quality video needs further investigation; its use in conjunction with visual aids such as the electronic white board may have some value but widespread use as simple video-mail is questionable. Although the cost in terms of hardware and software of workstation video is modest, the aggregate cost in bandwidth, especially for international use, could be high.

102. The current SuperJANET project is only one element in achieving pervasive video conferencing facilities for HE. Its role will be reviewed in the light of the differing needs and emerging technologies to ensure that appropriate and cost-effective provision is available to all HEIs.

103. Video technologies are also valuable in the research environment, particularly in underpinning the development of virtual laboratories. In the same way that a worldwide network (i.e. the Internet) adds value beyond a series of regional networks so it is essential that the HE and Research Councils' community collaborates to achieve a video conferencing network that is as pervasive as possible. The JISC will seek to promote a cohesive and integrated video conferencing infrastructure through the provision of suitable network links (not necessarily the existing SuperJANET network) and gateways, and the dissemination of good practice and relevant guidance, particularly by establishing standards for end-stations and protocols. This will form an important part of the general need to raise awareness and provide guidance addressed in Chapter 6.

XX. The JISC will promote pervasive video conferencing through provision of infrastructure and gateways to JANET/SuperJANET, and by guidance and the dissemination of good practice.

Multi-media Data and Communications

104. In 1995, the JISC commissioned a study into the needs of the HE community in relation to the digital storage and network delivery of image-based information. The findings of the study indicate that image collections and resources are of immense importance for research, teaching and learning across a wide spectrum of subject areas and at all levels.

105. There is a wealth of image material in UK universities, as well as in other public and commercial organisations. Compared to text collections, however, image resources are under-exploited because of difficulties associated with indexing and retrieval, physical constraints, limited staffing resources and copyright issues. Over the past few years a number of projects have attempted to address these problems through digitisation and electronic delivery, and have established the technical feasibility of developing large-scale high resolution image banks and providing access to them over the network.

106. Increased transmission of image traffic has implications for JANET. JANET users with 64Kbps links have in the past reported frequent problems with image handling, although the situation is improving as 2Mbps becomes the minimum bandwidth and SuperJANET becomes more widely available to HEIs at speeds in excess of 2Mbps.

XXI. The JISC recognises the growing importance of multi-media data and will promote appropriate measures to ensure such data is appropriately available and transmissible electronically.

The Development of the Electronic Library

107. Under the auspices of the Follett Implementation Group on IT (FIGIT), the JISC is currently funding some 50 projects arising from the IT-related recommendations contained in the Joint Funding Councils' Libraries Review Group Report (the Follett Report). These, together with a number of initiatives funded by the JISC's Information Services Sub Committee (ISSC), form the Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib).

108. A number of projects may evolve into core JISC services. In view of this, the JISC is planning to combine the present FIGIT and ISSC sub-committees to oversee eLib and to ensure that these services continue to meet the needs of the HE community.

109. The Funding Councils have also asked the JISC to monitor the non-formula funding (NFF) of specialised research collections in the humanities. These include the addition to the CURL OPAC (COPAC) database of all the catalogue records created from this initiative, the preparation of a catalogue of resources and access conditions for successful bids and the setting up of relevant committees to identify gaps.

110. The JISC's Access to Networked Information Resources (ANIR) working group recommended the establishment of a support activity responsible for:

• the establishment of a national entry point and registration body;
• establishing links for registration and directory services in other countries;
• the promotion of guidelines and standards relating to the creation of resource descriptions;
• co-ordination with other interested UK organisations.

111. The report recommended that the body would perform a range of functions and act as a focal point for raising awareness of the importance of networked information and give impetus to the development of the necessary infrastructure. This responsibility will form part of a group with a wider remit to act as a clearing house for disseminating good practice and providing guidance and awareness across a wide range of IS related activities (see Chapter 6).

112. Unlike printed matter, it is not necessary to hold multiple copies of electronic information. However, if unnecessary duplication, and cost, is to be avoided there needs to be considerable co-ordination and a national strategy leading to a common catalogue and standard interface.

113. When viewed together, the eLib projects, the growing collection of network based services resulting from the ISSC's development programme, and the resources resulting from other non-formula funded initiatives provide significant components of a distributed national electronic resource for academia. This ensures the electronic propagation of the intellectual output of UK higher education in a coherent, and highly visible, manner. An effective electronic collection will involve external parties including the National Libraries, ESRC, museums and galleries and the private sector. This is still incomplete and it will take some years to have all the elements in place. An important step is to ensure the evolving subject based resource discovery tools and the underlying data and resource centres act in concert. To achieve this, a federation of information services (FIS) will be established with the objectives of ensuring the effective interworking of data services, promoting appropriate standards and liaising with relevant external bodies.

114. The distributed electronic resource will be available to all staff and students in HE (and, at cost, and where appropriate, others) through the network; access will not be limited, except by bandwidth and other technical constraints, to campus based users.

115. The following diagram illustrates the components potentially making up a distributed national electronic resource for academia:

XXII. The JISC will continue to act as one of the key players in the development, promotion and dissemination of a distributed national electronic resource for academia.

5. Technology Opportunities

116. This chapter considers the areas where technological developments are needed in order to support the JISC Strategy.

117. The rapid pace of technological change in IS requires the JISC to be able to fund promising development opportunities on a flexible and expeditious basis. This requires careful analysis of the needs of HE as well as the potential benefits of new technology. Strong links with other organisations, such as the Research Councils and DTI, will be maintained both to avoid duplicate funding and to promote collaborative developments. The JISC needs to carefully identify areas where it funds projects that rely on the provision of facilities supplied by external bodies to ensure appropriate levels of support are maintained.

5.1 Past and Current Initiatives

118. Historically, investment by the JISC and its predecessor bodies in emerging technologies has been predominantly driven by the belief that those technologies were of great value in themselves, and highly likely to produce benefits to HE in the UK. This approach has produced stand-alone initiatives such as those in Knowledge Based Systems and Parallel Centres, and is typified by the current New Technology Initiative (NTI). The NTI has funded some 62 projects, covering a wide area of technologies. Six centres for Training and Education in High Performance Computing have delivered a targeted service based on a single core technology, and there have been significant groupings in other areas, such as cluster computing and multimedia. Many of the remaining projects are based upon excellence in particular areas, ranging from the use of IT in a simple student advisory system, to remote robotics across SuperJANET.

119. There has also been continual development in support of the JISC's core services, such as the programme for specific technological development in support of the network; for example, support of true multicast video through the MBone and MICE projects.

120. The Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib) is however an example of a new direction in JISC technology funding. Following the Follett Report, it has taken as its starting point a clearly established requirement within the HE community for a group of technologies and services in the specific area of libraries, and has based its investment carefully on the specification of that requirement.

121. The JISC will ensure that all development projects have viable exit strategies, unless there are clear reasons for continued central funding.

XXIII. The JISC will promote exit strategies for all activities where appropriate and, in particular, will ensure the outputs from the New Technologies Initiative and Electronic Libraries Programme are appropriately exploited, including by the provision of ongoing national services where appropriate.

5.2 Future strategy

122. It is now necessary to focus JISC investment more tightly onto those areas where it can be readily shown that development will be complementary to that taking place elsewhere, and will positively support those application areas needed by the HE community. This will entail a shift of focus to a more directed, rather than responsive, mode of funding developments. A greater emphasis will be placed on predicting and evaluating the benefits of development projects. The need to disseminate the lessons learned is discussed in the next chapter.

123. The JISC will conduct market research into the needs of the HE, and related, environment to identify profitable areas for the application of technological opportunities. This will be done with the full involvement of the community through focus clubs and one-off working groups across all JISC activities.

XXIV. The JISC will aim to support development in those technologies which can be shown to underpin required applications for HE, through collaboration with HEIs and others, in a way which gives value for money and makes the most of current developments elsewhere.

124. To follow such a strategy successfully there will be a change from the cycle of single-purpose, limited-term initiatives to a method of funding which can both be responsive to changing requirements and developments, and offer a longer-term structure for those areas which may need it in order to come to fruition.

XXV. The JISC will endeavour to secure funding for a rolling programme of development, targeted at its main strategy aims.

125. Even so, it seems likely that the JISC will always be able to identify desirable areas for investment which outstrip its available resources. There will therefore need to be a process of prioritisation, with ongoing review.

5.3 Identifying the Technologies

126. Working from the applications in Chapter 4, and having considered the priorities of the Technology Foresight Programme and other related developments, the JISC has identified areas where there are opportunities for further development of technologies. These are listed below. While the broad areas of interest may remain relevant for five to ten years, the detailed interests in each area will be kept under regular review.

• Networks;
• Electronic Information (including databases and services);
• Management of the institutions;
• Virtual and remote environments;
• Teaching and learning;
• Security of electronic information and data transmission;
• User interfaces;
• Person-to-person communication.

127. An analysis of these technologies and an indication of whether the JISC has a role to play in their exploitation is given in Appendix B.

6. Human and Organisation Issues

128. One of the common themes in the responses to the JISC Issues Paper was the need to consolidate the opportunities that are currently offered by technology. Several respondents made the point that the provision of technology was in danger of outstripping the ability of the community to exploit it. Thus there is a real need to improve awareness across the sector of the potential of IS, and to ensure staff are adequately trained to feel at ease with such applications. Responsibility for training of staff falls to HEIs, professional organisations and others interested in staff development, but the JISC will provide adequate training to facilitate effective use of its services. There is also a real need to increase awareness in the community of the impact of IS and JISC has an important role in this process.

129. Paragraphs 147 - 157 of the Issues Paper highlighted the key issues that the JISC and the community need to consider in these areas:

• to ensure the HE community is fully aware of the opportunities made available by JISC funded and related services;
• to focus information about JISC initiatives on relevant staff in HEIs;
• to ensure JISC members and the Secretariat are fully appraised in important developments in IS;
• to ensure adequate skilled staff resources exist at all levels to exploit the information age;
• to ensure technology led initiatives are in tune with the necessary cultural change issues;
• to ensure professional staff receive adequate training in technical areas of relevance to JISC funded services.

130. The successful implementation of information systems into higher education is arguably more a matter of economics, sociology, psychology and even politics than of any technical rationality. Although technological developments are important, such progress needs to be tempered by a sensitivity for the human issues which are ultimately much more critical determinants of eventual success or failure. The JISC will also seek to identify and promulgate information on likely costs and benefits. The development of Information Strategies by the institutions is an important step in identifying and addressing, where appropriate, the necessary changes.

XXVI. The JISC will continue to promote the development of Information Strategies and provide guidance as required. Progress will be monitored and evaluated, and lessons learned disseminated to the community.

131. In view of this the JISC has decided to adopt a number of top-level strategic goals in the area of its awareness and training activities and has identified operational objectives which are associated with each of these goals.

132. There was overall agreement in the responses to the JISC Issues Paper about the value of JISC's services and in order to ensure widespread penetration of these to all users, it is important that adequate awareness is provided as an integral part of each and every service.

XXVII. All JISC activities, services, and special initiatives, will incorporate, from the design phase through to eventual implementation, identifiable action lines with associated budget allocations, to promote relevant awareness and training activities, and an appropriate focus on cultural change at the individual and organisational level.

133. This will ensure that the community is able to take full advantage of its investment in information technology both at a local and national level. JISC intends to undertake the following actions to ensure this objective is met:

• an audit of all current JISC services in order to ascertain whether there are appropriate training and awareness strategies in place;
• earmark funding to take appropriate action in light of the results of this audit;
• decide whether future training strategy should be a separate strand of JISC activity or an integral part of all JISC activities;
• ensure all new JISC activities (including JTAP) put aside funds for training and awareness activities;
• the preparation of business cases and cost/benefit studies;
• measure the effectiveness of training and awareness programmes.

134. The responses to the Issues Paper highlighted the need for better identification, investigation and dissemination of good practice in the utilisation of IT. The JISC recognises that there is a shortage of sound independent advice available to policy makers and decision takers within HE on the technology options currently available, on current technology trajectories, and on the social issues associated with the successful uptake of modern information and communication technologies and their associated products and services. Accordingly, the JISC will establish an advisory unit which will blend technology awareness with a sensitivity for implementation issues. The unit will provide advice on critical issues of information dissemination, awareness and training, and associated culture change that need to be addressed, both at the individual and organisational level. It will also act as a national clearing house for models of good practice within the sector. In order to ascertain what will be required of such a unit, the JISC will:

• define terms of reference for the unit and sketch out possible areas of work;
• carry out a needs analysis to find out what the community wants;
• compile a list of areas that the unit could be involved in, this will include the registration body referred to in Section 4.3;
• identify possible partnerships;
• produce a map of how relevant technologies fit together.
• The remit of the advisory unit will not be limited to JISC initiatives and need not be limited to higher education.

XXVIII. The JISC will foster activities and working practices, both nationally and within institutions, that recognise the dilemmas and challenges which face the HE community in selecting and implementing today's technologies. The JISC will establish an advisory unit to provide guidance, awareness and training, carrying out market research, and act as a clearing house for good practice.

135. Some concerns were expressed in the responses to the Issues Paper about whether the links between JISC and other related technology activities were strong enough to ensure the most effective deployment of the resources involved. In order to address this the JISC will seek to bring a higher level of integration and co-ordination to its own programmes and activities, and will commend to the Funding Councils the value of a more integrated holistic view of IT services and initiatives.

136. One of the key messages in the responses to the Issues Paper was a perceived need to help the HE community understand, assimilate and effectively use the opportunities provided by IS. There are important human and educational considerations which are often the make-or-break factors in information systems use in HE, and technical training and awareness must be complemented by greater attention to such non technical considerations. This will include greater attention to skills for strategic thinking, project management, pedagogic considerations, business process re-engineering, and organisational renewal. The financial costs will also be more clearly identified. To address this, the Committee will concentrate on ensuring that its members have a wide understanding to help identify areas where further work is required.

137. This will ensure that all HEIs can take full advantage of JISC services and initiatives irrespective of size and geographical circumstance. The JISC will also promote programmes of awareness and training designed to promote more uptake of information systems among those disciplines and scholarly traditions which have been less to the fore in current usage. In the first instance, the JISC will identify areas, both geographical and discipline, where JISC funded services are not being fully utilised.

XXIX. The JISC will continue to build close links with parallel initiatives; improve its understanding of the needs of the sector; improve the promotion of JISC activities; and continue to foster equity of access to its products and services across higher education.

138. Much of this work will fall to the Head of Programmes. It will involve much more attention to media relations and a review of JISC's mechanisms for communicating with the sector.

139. An important step will be to ensure the JISC is always properly credited as the funding agency by the services and projects. This will include appropriate acknowledgement on reports, papers, WWW home pages, promotional literature, software etc.

XXX. All JISC funded services and projects will acknowledge JISC as a funding source.

140. In particular the JISC will seek to foster closer links with further education. All further education colleges can link to JANET or SuperJANET, either directly or through a MAN, and can access all JISC funded services. This provision is made available on a marginal cost basis without inclusion of historic costs. The further education sector is an important exemplar for the role of JISC funded, and institutional driven, information systems outside the HE environment.

XXXI. The JISC will provide assistance to further education by allowing access to JISC funded services as appropriate.

7. Funding and Charging

141. This chapter discusses the need for, and scope of, charges for services in the light of growing demand and, at best, stable funding from the Funding Councils.

142. The JISC will only implement charging for services where it is necessary to:

• allow sites to choose a higher level of service;
• manage demand of critical resources;
• recover a proportion of the costs of mature services;
• ensure non-HE users are not subsidised.

143. The JISC will not charge for non-production services and will always seek to give adequate warning of new or changing rates to enable HEIs to make provision in future financial years.

144. The JISC currently charges for non-HE use of services, bandwidth above a threshold level and data services.

7.1 Networking

145. It will be necessary to increase the level of charge to institutions if the cost of the required network provision continues to grow. The aim will be to keep JISC expenditure on connectivity (including international connection) to within 60% of the total networking budget. This will ensure value added user services can continue to be provided and developed while keeping central funding to a minimum level compatible with providing a coherent and pervasive network.

146. Charging by metering domestic usage is unlikely to be an option because of the high cost of collecting such information and the complex billing arrangements necessary.

147. Network traffic growth has been at least three fold per annum for some years now. Reasons for this include:

• use of networking for day-to-day communication by the majority of staff and students rather than specialists (e.g. research workers) and enthusiasts;
• use for video conferencing, particularly CU-SeeMe, which are bandwidth hungry applications using inefficient protocols;
• opportunities offered by a pervasive global Internet.

148. The demand for bandwidth, particularly international links, will soon exceed the JISC's ability to fund them; the cost of leased lines is static but not falling. Current traffic predictions are that over 100Mbps would be required to meet transatlantic demand alone; this sort of bandwidth is not commercially available, and if it were, would cost over £20M pa. This inevitably means that the institutions will have to meet some of the cost if networking demands are to be satisfied.

149. External connections to the network cannot be funded through top slicing since the Funding Councils should not subsidise non-higher education activities. There will therefore be in order some form of charging either through licensing or charges per secondary connection, or both, to recover an appropriate proportion of the total cost of providing the overall JANET service to those sites offering secondary connections. At some stage a charging mechanism for scarce and limiting resources (e.g. international networking) will need to be introduced.

XXXII. The JISC will improve the monitoring of scarce network resources and take other measures such as the provision of mirrors and caches to reduce traffic. As demands exceed the ability of the JISC to fund, an appropriate charging mechanism will be implemented.

150. Currently network lines from PTOs are paid on a rental basis irrespective of usage, except for intermittent connectivity (e.g. dial-up and ISDN). The JISC cannot fund links that are subject to usage charging the total cost cannot be predicted. The intermittent network service provided by the JISC is limited therefore to gateways to JANET and SuperJANET. The institutions or end users will bear the usage charge element of cost.

151. Costs have increased with the development of SuperJANET and the need to increase massively the provision of international network links. The following chart illustrates the basic cost of network links and datasets compared to the total JISC budget:

XXXIII. The present charging regime will be further developed based on bandwidth provision for both the basic and leading edge services. Charges for connecting non-HE and Research Council sites will be reviewed. Bandwidth related subscriptions for common services will also be considered. A charging algorithm will be developed that reflects the utility of the network provision to individual sites but minimises the overhead costs of implementation.

7.2 Electronic Information

152. The rate of acquisition of datasets is limited by budget constraints to three or four a year. The basic JANET/SuperJANET network is not currently constrained but increasing growth, particularly in bandwidth hungry applications such as video conferencing, is likely to consume the surplus bandwidth by the end of 1997. It is not possible from the current JISC budget to meet the growing demands for network bandwidth and associated services over the next five years; further, the demands for electronic information cannot, even now, be met from the JISC budget. The current subscription rates and charging model are being evaluated and re-examined to ensure maximum take-up of electronic information, where cost-effective, throughout the entire diverse, higher education and Research Council community.

XXXIV. The JISC needs to ensure the rapid take-up and provision of electronic information and datasets funded, and paid for, by a variety of methods.

153. A mechanism to achieve this will be created with the following aims:

• to identify additional datasets and information services of widespread value to the higher education community and related sectors such as the Research Councils and further education;
• to encourage individual HEIs and groups of HEIs, to make on-line data available as widely as possible;
• to promote partnerships with the private sector to fund suitable acquisitions, and where appropriate data services; either on a commercial basis where this is to the benefit of HE, or on a collaborative basis to develop novel applications.

7.3 Priorities

154. Should the total funds available to the JISC fall, it will seek to maintain the proportional balance of funding between service provision and development work. Priorities will be given to:

• multi-service network provision;
• a mechanism for facilitating data services available to the whole community;
• pervasive video services infrastructure;
• the promotion of the electronic library;
• awareness raising and dissemination.

XXXV. The JISC will continuously review the desirability of retaining central funding as technologies become mature or services become commodity purchases.

7.4 Funding

155. The following table provides an indicative financial scenario (£M) of how JISC services and development projects might be funded within a fixed centrally provided budget.

	96-97	97-98	98-99	99-00	00-01
Networking
Operational services	5.7	6.1	6.6	7.0	7.3
International links	5.7	6.7	8.0	9.0	10.0
SuperJANET	6.6	10.0	11.0	11.5	12.0
Video networks	0.4	1.0	1.5	2.0	2.5
Electronic information
Information services	2.8	2.5	3.0	3.0	3.0
Datasets	5.6	6.0	6.5	7.0	7.5
Development
Networking	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8
Electronic Library	4.5	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
JTAP	2.9	3.0	2.5	2.0	2.0
Other initiatives	0.4	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Total	35.4	38.6	42.4	44.8	47.6
Income
JISC Contribution	31.3	31.3	31.3	31.3	31.3
Networking charges	2.5	4.8	7.1	8.5	9.8
Information charges	1.6	2.5	4.0	5.0	6.5

Footnotes to table:
1. Including training, liaison, support etc.
2. No payment needed for this year to BT for SuperJANET contract.
3. Excluding usage costs (e.g. ISDN).
4. Including awareness unit.
5. From secondary connections, higher bandwidth access lines, and to meet international costs.

156. These costs only relate to the provision of JISC services and the associated development programmes. It can be seen that the contribution from users must increase fourfold from a planned £4.1m this year over the next five years. HEIs will also need to make provision for suitable computing and video hardware and local infrastructure; the JISC will provide guidance on this as mentioned in the previous chapter.

8. Operating Plan

157. The main objectives of the JISC Strategy are:

• greater emphasis on human and organisational issues;
• acceleration of acquisition and effective management of electronic information;
• improved exploitation of the output of development projects;
• a network service that reflects the diverse needs of the community.

To help achieve these the JISC committee structure will be revised as shown below. This structure will reduce the number of main sub-committees from six to four thus improving co-ordination and efficiency. The main changes are:

• each sub-committee will give greater emphasis to identifying the generic needs of HE through market research, promoting standards, raising awareness and disseminating findings.
• a merger of ISSC and FIGIT to form the Committee on Electronic Information (CEI).
• transfer of generic network services from ISSC to ACN.
• a new committee to handle the human and organisational issues: the Committee for Awareness, Liaison and Training (CALT); this will include the existing Information Strategies Steering Group.
• a new body, the Federation of Information Services (FIS), to provide co-ordination and management across the range of subject based electronic information services.
• the role of TASC will be widened to fund annual development projects in all areas of JISC activity. TASC will be advised by the JISC and its sub-committees of important needs and technologies, it will also carry out an evaluation role across the whole spectrum of JISC's development activities. This will incorporate the existing Standards Working Group role.
• a new post, Head of Programmes, will be created to oversee the work of the co-ordinators and provide co-ordination across the breadth of JISC activities, raise the awareness of IS issues and improve liaison with the community.

158. The terms of reference of these new committees are given in Appendix D  . The membership of the JISC sub-committees will be revised to reflect their new remit while retaining continuity and an appropriate balance between the funding bodies and different sectors of higher education.

159. It is important to keep overheads to a minimum but there is a real need to improve the internal co-ordination of JISC funded activities and improve the liaison between JISC services and the wider customer base (whether in HE or external). Co-ordination and other overhead costs will be kept to within 2% of the JISC budget.

160. The following table presents an operational plan with target dates for achieving the short term objectives of the strategy plan. Each sub-committee will prepare their own more detailed operational plan which will include specific tasks aimed at driving forward the strategy in the medium to long term.

Task	Target	Responsibility
Revise development programme	2Q96	TASC
Appoint Head of Programmes	2Q96	JISC
Create new sub-committee structure and develop new remit:		JISC
ACN	3Q96
CEI	4Q96
CALT	3Q96
TASC	4Q96
Create Federation of Information Services	3Q96	ISSC
Review charging and funding policy	3Q96	JISC
Negotiate new SuperJANET contract	4Q96	ACN
Create new guidance / awareness and information registration agency	4Q96	CALT
Develop intermittent connectivity network	4Q96	ACN
Develop sub-committee strategic plans	4Q96	All
Develop policy on video	2Q97	ACN
Carry out prior options study of services	1996/97	All
Improve international connectivity	1996/97	ACN
Create basic and development network services	1997/98	ACN

JISC Structure (PDF)

Appendices A - E

The JISC is grateful to the Department of Media and IT, De Montfort University, Leicester for the use of the photograph on the cover of this publication.

Design, Rowland Spyer, HEFCE. Printed by TL Visuals, Bristol. HEFCE Ref: M 22/96