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Guidance for Software Workshop Position Papers

The National Science Foundation is sponsoring a workshop on the topic “Cyberinfrastructure Software Sustainability,” to be held March 26 and 27 2009 at Indiana University. As a way to encourage broad and incisive community input regarding this topic, the workshop organizers are issuing an open call for position papers. Position papers should be no longer than 3 pages.
 
Workshop attendees are being identified through a mix of invitation and expression of interest. Position papers are invited from interested individuals, institutions, and organizations (formal and virtual), whether or not they have already been invited. Position papers are invited from:

  • Individuals who would like to attend the workshop (papers due: February 27)
  • Individuals who are not able to attend due to schedule considerations (papers due: any time prior to 25 March)
  • Individuals or organizations who would like to formally submit written comments and suggestions in order to inform and aid the discussions at the workshop (comments and suggestions due March 25)

We are particularly interested in community input on the following questions:

  • What kinds of software are most important to sustain and maintain in support of the NSF mission? What are the criteria that should be used to decide on priorities for sustainability and maintenance?
  • What models for sustainability and maintenance of software exist, independent of federal funding, that can be applied effectively to the cyberinfrastructure software that supports NSF researchers and the NSF mission? Particularly interesting are success stories and lessons learned from areas outside NSF cyberinfrastructure, including open source, community source, virtual organizations, and commercial models.
  • What role should the NSF and other funding agencies have in sustaining funding for important software? How can federal agencies best coordinate and achieve efficiencies of scale?
  • Are there dangers that heavy support of one particular open source system will stifle diversity of research? How should one choose software to sustain? How should one scale back when a particular system no longer seems promising but still has significant use? How does this support model compare to commercial systems where support is not guaranteed? Do open source systems require more or less operational support than commercial products?
  • The NSF strategic goals are built on the foundation of four basic areas of focus (see http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2006/nsf0648/nsf0648.jsp for more information on NSF plans):
  • Discovery (“foster research that will advance the frontiers of knowledge, emphasizing areas of greatest opportunity and potential benefit and establishing the nation as a global leader in fundamental and transformational science and engineering”)
  • Learning (“cultivate a world-class, broadly inclusive science and engineering workforce, and expand the scientific literacy of all citizens”)
  • Research infrastructure (“build the nation’s research capability through critical investments in advanced instrumentation, facilities, cyberinfrastructure and experimental tools”)
  • Stewardship (“support excellence in science and engineering research and education through a capable and responsive organization”)

How can new strategies for sustainability of open source and community source software be employed to help advance these goals?

  • The low/no cost of open source and community source software suggests it ought to be of particular value at smaller institutions, including MSIs (Minority Serving Institutions). Is this the case? If not, what should be changed to make such software of broader value?

This position paper process is modeled after the TeraGrid Future position paper process. See http://www.teragridfuture.org/ for examples generally. The following position papers offer useful examples of a variety of approaches to organizational and individual position papers:

Position papers will be published from the workshop web pages (http://cisoftwaresustainability.iu-pti.org/). Community input will be a critical component of a report including recommendations to the NSF to be written based on the workshop. We look forward to producing a workshop report that reflects the best thinking and deliberations of the community. For more information, send email to researchtechnologies@iu.edu.