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  • eScience, eResearch and Computational Problem Solving

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    By: Jan E. Odegard

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e-Research Glossary

Module by: Alex Voss. E-mail the author

Summary: A glossary of terms used in e-Research.

In this section we define a number of terms used in the Research in a Connected World book. We have aimed to keep these definitions simple to aid understanding of the core concepts rather than trying to come up with definitive definitions of what are often very complex and ill-defined concepts.

Definition 1: Cloud
An infrastructure that makes use of virtualisation technologies to provide on- demand services to users. Clouds provide access to dynamically scalable resources reserved for individual users within a shared infrastructure. Like grids, clouds can be private (in-house), community-specific or public. Access to clouds is often provided through web services.
See Also: Grid, Web Service
Definition 2: Grid
A type of distributed computing infrastructure. Grids can exist within organisations (private grids, campus grids) but often span organisational boundaries. The The EGEE grid infrastructure is an example of an international grid infrastructure.
See Also: Cloud
Definition 3: Ontology
A description of a set of concepts and their relationships within a given domain. Ontologies can be used as a basis for automatic reasoning.
Definition 4: RDF
Resource Description Framework: a set of specifications for data representation that facilitate the conceptual representation of data by forming subject- predicate-object style expressions. RDF is a core component of the Semantic Web
See Also: Ontology, Semantic Web
Definition 5: REST(-ful) Service
A web service that follows specific architectural principles. More often than not, REST-ful services are implementing the standard HTTP protocol.
See Also: Web Service, HTTP Protocol
Definition 6: Semantic Web
The plan to 'semantically annotate' data that is available on the web, thus enabling it to be processed more automatically. An example is that a postal address would not be just written like an address (making it recognisable by a human reader as an address) but also be 'tagged' so that a computer can relate the data to the concept of a postal address.
See Also: RDF
Definition 7: Web Service
A service that can be invoked across a network using an machine-to-machine interface that ensures interoperability across system boundaries.
See Also: REST(-ful) service, WSDL
Definition 8: WSDL
Web Services Description Language: a language used to describe web service interfaces, specifying the methods available and their parameters.
See Also: Web Service

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Definition of a lens

Lenses

A lens is a custom view of the content in the repository. You can think of it as a fancy kind of list that will let you see content through the eyes of organizations and people you trust.

What is in a lens?

Lens makers point to materials (modules and collections), creating a guide that includes their own comments and descriptive tags about the content.

Who can create a lens?

Any individual member, a community, or a respected organization.

What are tags? tag icon

Tags are descriptors added by lens makers to help label content, attaching a vocabulary that is meaningful in the context of the lens.

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My Favorites (?)

'My Favorites' is a special kind of lens which you can use to bookmark modules and collections. 'My Favorites' can only be seen by you, and collections saved in 'My Favorites' can remember the last module you were on. You need an account to use 'My Favorites'.

| A lens I own (?)

Definition of a lens

Lenses

A lens is a custom view of the content in the repository. You can think of it as a fancy kind of list that will let you see content through the eyes of organizations and people you trust.

What is in a lens?

Lens makers point to materials (modules and collections), creating a guide that includes their own comments and descriptive tags about the content.

Who can create a lens?

Any individual member, a community, or a respected organization.

What are tags? tag icon

Tags are descriptors added by lens makers to help label content, attaching a vocabulary that is meaningful in the context of the lens.

| External bookmarks