American colleges and universities should quickly build a better set of shared high-speed networking tools and protocols for research if the United States is to maintain leadership in technology and higher education, said Arden L. Bement Jr., director of the National Science Foundation, in a speech here in November to college leaders.
In the speech, "Cyberinfrastructure: The Second Revolution," Mr. Bement highlighted the importance of what has become the major focus of the foundation’s support for technology at colleges in recent years. He predicted that innovations in cyberinfrastructure would have an effect similar to that of the invention of the Internet, which was also sparked in part with the foundation’s support.
Mr. Bement delivered the speech at The Chronicle’s Technology Forum, which drew about 250 attendees to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in this city just outside Las Vegas.
"Leadership in cyberinfrastructure may well become the major determinant in measuring pre-eminence in higher education among nations," he said. "Indeed, to be even more provocative, I would suggest that leadership in cyberinfrastructure may determine America’s continued ability to innovate – and thus our ability to compete successfully in the global arena."
He said that colleges have "a responsibility" to embrace a vision of sharing computing resources and developing better digital tools for research, and to do so "at a fast clip."
Focus on Collaboration
Exactly what is cyberinfrastructure? Even many of its proponents have had trouble answering that question in clear and simple terms.
One aspect is the development of better ways to share scientific instruments and high-speed computing power over distances using networks. Another aspect is the creation of better simulation methods and better ways to turn data into pictures so greater degrees of complexity can be understood.
Mr. Bement said cyberinfrastructure was a "comprehensive phenomenon that involves creation, dissemination, preservation, and application of knowledge." He said it was not just about building new networking tools, but new "norms of practice and rules, incentives, and constraints that shape individual and collective action."
That means colleges’ research projects should focus more heavily on collaboration, on crossing disciplinary lines, and on international cooperation. "Cyberinfrastructure is characterized by distributed knowledge communities," he said.
Mr. Bement described the foundation’s vision of cyberinfrastructure as evolving. "I say ‘evolving’ because I expect all of you to be part of setting and realizing that vision."
Although Mr. Bement noted that some prognosticators have said the growth of online networks would one day spell the end of traditional colleges, he disagreed. "There is ample time," he said, "to respond decisively to the changing landscape through important innovations in education."
by Jeffrey R. Young
This article was taken from the Chronicle of Higher Education