Framework of
Qualifying Guidance for Building Grid projects.
This framework aims to provide guidance to those
who are developing and applying Grid technologies within their work.
The framework is not a methodology and
thus does not provide a linear process for guiding the Grid development
process. Rather it is a structured set of concepts, ideas and questions
which emerge from our research. In using the framework these concepts
will allow a self-reflective analysis by those engaged in similar work.
In particular it provides a structured discussion about the various
things (technical and social) which GridPP needed to achieve their Grid.
The framework considers the socio-technical Grid as emergent from
three separate elements (which continue to constitute the
"Socio-technical Grid" throughout its development and use. These are the
Technical Grid (i.e. the technical components, networks, computing
elements, storage elements, middleware etc) which are the fabric of the
Grid. In addition there is a knowledge infrastructure which is
reflective of the Technical Grid (i.e. much of it resides in the same
locations as the technical fabric) but includes social and historical
elements. It is the unseen structure which allows the fabric to emerge
and which enables sensible discussion about the Grid.
Tying these two infrastructures together are a set of people and
their work practices. These practices are specific to the group involved
(and hence reliant on the knowledge infrastructure) and are linked to
the material fabric being developed. They are however distinct and take
a very distinctive form in the case of GridPP. Click on the relevant
areas on the diagram to explore the framework.
This framework is both descriptive, mundane and obvious – but also rich, theorised and new.
We hope that it will prove useful.
The framework is wholly founded upon a set of research papers which we have written throughout the
project – most of which are available either complete, or as working
papers (or as presentations where the paper cannot be shared) on this
website. Links are provided in the relevant sections of the framework to
these papers.
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