Participants

i-Borrow Team: Phil Poole, Adrian Wheal,

weCAMP Team: Chengzhi Peng, Leo Care, Darren Roberts, Panagiotis Patlakas, Puja Basu and Adrian Powell

Introduction

The weCAMP project team hosted the i-Borrow team in Sheffield on Friday 29th May 2009. The assembly provided a great opportunity for the groups to learn more about each other’s research and project development and achieved a common understanding of how a collaborative framework could be developed to share project outcomes and where possible realise the joint benefits of the two projects.

Aims of Assembly

From the initial JISC Institutional Innovation programme meeting in London, weCAMP and i-Borrow have already discussed the possibility of working together to explore benefits beyond each project’s own institutional context.

On a simple level, the i-Borrow team saw possibilities to visualise their spatial data collected from a series of geo-located laptops in a new learning facility through the weCAMP project platform. Conversely, the weCAMP team welcomed the opportunity to test their visualisation platform by introducing and supporting different types of information and datasets, testing the capabilities and possible uses of the platform by another institution. By working together to develop a new hybrid project, both teams are aiming to show the potential wider benefits of their research to other institutions.

Assembly meeting at the Information Commons Building

Programme

The Assembly was conceived as a half day discussion and visit, divided into two meetings and a tour of the University of Sheffield’s Information Commons building.

09:00 Assembly introduction and meeting [part 1] at the Information Commons, University of Sheffield

10:45 Tour of the Information Commons [a new learning facility/library that has received architectural awards and highly valued by students]

11:30 Meeting [part 2] at the ICOSS building, University of Sheffield

12:30 Lunch [during meeting]

1:00 Departures

Meeting Agenda [Part 1 @ Information Commons]

09:00 Introductions

09:20 Presentation of the uCampus platform version 0.04a

09:40 Presentation/update of the i-Borrow project

10:00 Collaboration development

Meeting Agenda [Part 2 @ ICOSS building]

11:30 Developing a collaborative work plan

12:00 Technical developments and further benefits realisation

12:30 Discussion continues/AOB and lunch

Key Areas of Discussion at the Assembly

· weCamp providing the visual platform upon which i-Borrow location tracking data could be displayed to facilitate the research and dissemination of project findings.

· The weCAMP team demonstrated progress with the uCampus platform.

· The i-Borrow team were able to explore how data could usefully be displayed in the models. Coloured zones and ‘clouds’ or individual laptops were discussed as was the usability of 3D Models in this context.

· Although no firm decisions could be made without experimentation the consensus was that 2D+ projections with transparent floors would be a possible starting point.

· If the user could pick from a range of fixed views and associate these with subsets of the data available from a menu this was most likely to be user friendly.

· It was highly unlikely that the level of expertise to create new views, fly-throughs or edit data would be available outside of specifically trained personnel within an institution.

· Christ Church Canterbury University (CCCU)/i-Borrow offers an opportunity for a full scale demonstration of the uCampus system informing research and delivering a rich source of information which can inform institutional decision making.

· The weCamp demonstration also highlighted the potential for adding user-generated data to the model. Students or staff could add text, pictures and podcasts thus potentially creating an ‘experience database’ which could be explored by others across the web.

· The potential of this was felt to be exciting in terms of the i-Borrow pedagogic research strand which would add to what the sector knows about large scale learning spaces and dissemination to the sector.

· The teams agreed that there was enormous potential for the respective projects to benefit from a close association.

What is the nature of the collaboration?

i-Borrow are exploring a novel way of visualising the locations of laptop computers within a given building. Where possible this data would also be required to be recorded and presented in a temporal as well as spatial way. In order to do this the team would need a 3D digital visualisation of the interior of the new learning centre building and a way of representing their geo-referenced and time dependent data with this space. The weCAMP team on the other hand are interested in testing the applicability of the uCampus platform through finding ways of accommodating and facilitating different datasets.

Diagram of proposed collaboration

Agreed actions

· weCAMP to generate a guide for CCCU to develop a digital model that can be uploaded into uCampus. Evaluation of this will assist weCAMP in its dissemination.

· I-Borrow will employ a designer to generate the digital model ASAP.

· A further assembly was agreed for November to be held in Canterbury with some sector stakeholders invited too, e.g. SCONUL, AUDE.

· Explore joint bid to JISC for benefits realisation funding.