Surveys

The Sci-GaIA survey

The Sci-GaIA project has launched a survey on current or planned e-Infrastructure Applications (HPC, Grid, Cloud Computing, Data Repositories, web portals, etc) in Africa. The objective is to monitor and assess the implementation and uptake of e-Infrastructures services and Science Gateways in Africa. The survey instruments used in eI4Africa will be adapted and reused in this task to continue the assessment of the success of Science Gateways and e-Infrastructures, as well as identifying and assessing the potential needs of new communities.

A potential user of an e-Infrastructure might therefore need:

  • a more powerful computer to run an application
  • a great number of these computers to deliver results faster
  • access to specialised High Performance Computing facilities
  • access to large data sources
  • access to software not available locally (see examples at the Africa Grid Science Gateway http://sgw.africa-grid.org/applications)
  • to collaborate with other scientists across the world
  • access to scientific literature resources
  • to connect to specialised instrumentation for analysis
  • to connect to sensors for data collection
  • access to these facilities via a web-based portal or mobile device (e.g. the Africa Grid Science Gateway http://sgw.africa-grid.org)

This is based on understanding the current and potential future use of e-Infrastructure by African researchers and scientists. As a current or potential user of e-Infrastructures Sci-GaIA would like to capture your details and your current or planned application by filling in this questionnaire. If you would like assistance in filling in this questionnaire, then please get in touch with [email protected]. You may take the survey in English or in French.

TAKE THE ONLINE SCI-GAIA SURVEY

The results of these monitoring activities:

  • will be updated on a six-month basis
  • will be gathered together to form a final monitoring report with recommendations on the continued and sustainable implementation and uptake of Science Gateways and e-Infrastructures

MORE ON PAST AND ONGOING SIMILAR SURVEYS OF OTHER E-INFRASTRUCTURES PROJECTS

The eI4Africa surveys and studies

Sci-GaIA aims at using experiences and methodologies from surveys conducted in ERINA4Africa and eI4Africa, which identified key e-Infrastructure applications that are being developed in Africa.

The eI4Africa project has therefore studied the current state of the art in e-Infrastructure application uptake in Africa. Using its extensive networking base, it reached out a wide range of stakeholders and then focused mainly on selected areas where the network infrastructure had advanced rapidly, building on and updating the data collection experiences of previous projects.

The reports generated have been vital in understanding the current e-Infrastructure scene and its impact in Africa, the e-Infrastructure application uptake in Africa, the identification of who are early adopters of e-Infrastructures (providers) and which user communities are early beneficiaries (consumers) of e-Infrastructures.

Access the latest Summary Report on eI4Africa e-Infrastructure Survey

The ongoing TANDEM project survey: Your feedback expected!

TANDEM (TransAfrican Network Development) is a Horizon 2020 project aiming at supporting dialogue between the EU and African Research and Education Networks, with special attention to Western and Central Africa region. Sci-GaIA and TANDEM are two complementary projects addressing the topic of Infrastructures policy development and international cooperation with a focus on Africa.

TANDEM activities aim at enhancing the dialogue between WACREN, End Users, NRENs and research and tertiary education institutes of the Western and Central Africa Region, in order to elaborate an implementation roadmap of a service portfolio answering to the End User needs. In support to these service-oriented activities, TANDEM has launched a survey to gather the End User requirements in order to establish the need for National Research and Education Networks services.

This survey therefore gives End Users the opportunity to say what future services they would like from an NREN in their country. The results will be used to guide the development of a WACREN roadmap for the future implementation of key NREN services in its region.

The survey consists of four sections: NREN Services for Education; NREN Services for Research; Networking Technology and Application Management; Personal Details and Contact Information.

Survey links:

More about this TANDEM activity and the survey here: Gathering the End User requirements.

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In support of this survey, TANDEM has created a support document demonstrating the benefits of National Research and Education networks. The document provides the following information: explains what NRENs are, lists and describes the possible services that can be offered by NRENs (network and connectivity services, middleware services, collaboration support services); explains what NRENs mean to end users; describes the role that a strong Regional Research and Education Network can play in supporting NRENs; provides an overview of WACREN, UbuntuNet Alliance, GEANT, RedCLARA, ASREN.