Virtual Research Environments: An Overview and a Research Agenda

Authors

Leonardo Candela Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell’Informazione (ISTI) “Alessandro Faedo”, Italian National Research Council (CNR), Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Donatella Castelli Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell’Informazione (ISTI) “Alessandro Faedo”, Italian National Research Council (CNR), Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Pasquale Pagano Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell’Informazione (ISTI) “Alessandro Faedo”, Italian National Research Council (CNR), Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy

DOI:

Keywords:

Virtual Research Environment, Scientific Gateway, Digital Library, Data Infrastructure

Abstract

Virtual Research Environments are innovative, web-based, community-oriented, comprehensive, flexible, and secure working environments conceived to serve the needs of modern science. We overview the existing initiatives developing these environments by highlighting the major distinguishing features. We envisage a future where regardless of geographical location, scientists will be able to use their Web browsers to seamlessly access data, software, and processing resources that are managed by diverse systems in separate administration domains via Virtual Research Environments. We identify and discuss the major challenges that should be resolved to fully achieve the proposed vision, i.e., large-scale integration and interoperability, sustainability, and adoption.

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Published

2013-07-30

Issue

Vol. 12 (2013): Special Issue

Section

Proceedings Papers

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