1st IAIS Workshop on Cloud Computing Research

Research and Practice in the Cloud: What is on the Horizon?

National University of Ireland, Galway hosted the first IAIS Workshop on Cloud Computing Research (IWCCR) on Sep 27, 2013. The workshop was supported by the Irish chapter of the Association for Information Systems (IAIS), the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre (Lero) and NUI Galway's Whitaker Institute, and was delivered by the Business Information Systems discipline and Lero at NUI Galway, and the Cloud Computing Services Innovation Centre at Hewlett-Packard.

One particular focus was on the Irish national agenda for research on cloud computing, bringing together researchers and practitioners across the island of Ireland. Another focus was on the international research stage for cloud computing, providing a forum for the development of research from international authors.

The workshop accepted national and international submissions comprising short (max. 2 pages) structured abstracts representing emerging, novel or partially-completed research on cloud computing, and work with the author(s) to develop the research, create an architecture for its development, and to propose a direction for the research. Authors did not submit full papers, nor did they present their work as per the typical conference setting; rather they sat with small round-table panels comprising academics, industry practitioners and peers to advise on further development of the authors’ research/company practices. As such, this workshop was capacity-building, and suitable to Masters or PhD students at the early stages of some research on cloud computing, who may have wished to gain advice on building their ideas into a dissertation; academics or students who wished to develop an idea into a full research paper; or industry persons working with cloud technologies who wished to influence their company in cloud adoption, implementation or strategy.

The IWCCR built upon NUI Galway, Lero and Hewlett-Packard’s strengths in cloud computing. NUI Galway’s Masters degree in Cloud Computing Research began in Sep 2012, and is already helping to shape the national agenda. This new degree provides a dedicated programme of advanced research on high-value, business-focused aspects of cloud computing. In the current year, students from Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Eircom and elsewhere, are covering a number of important issues for businesses, including a study on business success factors for cloud services, a model for return-on-investment for strategic cloudsourcing, user interaction for mobile cloud business applications, Irish legal considerations for cloud strategies, user benefits of cloud services, in addition to other topics of importance to both large businesses and small SMEs. The university’s research on cloud computing has been published in international outlets, and cloud computing has become a core part of a large SFI-funded research team.

**** Important Dates ****

Structured Abstract submission: Friday, Aug 30, 2013

Feedback to Authors: Friday, Sep 6, 2013

Signup to attend: Open Friday, Sep 6, 2013

Full schedule: Provided below

Workshop: Friday, Sep 27, 2013

**** Topics ****

We envisaged receiving submissions across a range of cloud-related topics. All aspects of cloud computing were encouraged, with a particular focus on business needs, encompassing adoption, deployment, strategy, value, impact, business models, services, and so on. Also encouraged were cloud-related topics such as the business management of big data, business analytics, and future trends.

Sub-topics included, but were not limited to:

• business success factors for cloud services
• business models for cloud computing
• business risks in cloud computing
• cloud financial models
• business benefits in cloud computing
• legal, jurisdictional and ethical considerations in cloud computing
• cloud computing for small- to medium enterprises
• global models for cloud computing
• cloud computing for consumers, non-profit organisations or Government
• cloud commerce
• mobile interaction with cloud services
• cloud analytics and big data
• cloud management
• cloud trust and security
• innovation in the cloud
• cloud adoption
• green clouds/cloud standards

**** Submission Guidelines ****

Perosns were invited to submit a 2-page structured abstract. This limit of 2 pages included title, author(s) details, and the structured abstract, and excluded any references, appendices or graphics. The structured abstract should have had the following sections: a) motivation (why the research is important), b) very brief literature review (indicating what the research builds on), c) method (how the research was/may be executed), and d) potential contribution(s). Submissions should have been in 12-point Arial font on A4 with 2.5cm margins, fully justified 1.5-spaced text. Submissions resembled: Title (bold, title case, centred), Author details (centred, incl. names, affiliations, email addresses, with the corresponding author’s email address appended by *), Abstract (non-bold), References (non-bold, Harvard format).

The corresponding author sent their submission in .doc or .docx format (not .pdf format) by email attachment to thomas.acton@nuigalway.ie, specifying IWCCR in the email subject line.

Single-blind submissions were peer-reviewed. Accepted abstracts were included in the workshop proceedings, ISBN 978-1-908358-17-2. Author(s) retained copyright of their submission. For inclusion in the proceedings, at least one author attended the workshop. Acceptance was based solely on the structured abstract, there was no requirement for a full paper. Also note that the workshop sought to capture new emergent work, ideas for new research, or new cloud-based changes in organisational work practices: the workshop was intentionally not suitable to fully completed research.

After the workshop, author(s) may be invited to submit an extended version of their research for inclusion as a chapter in a book on emergent research on cloud computing. Practitioners may be invited to submit an extended version of their abstract for inclusion in a case booklet as a practitioner guide on cloud computing.

**** Costs ****

The workshop was FREE, and participation was open only to authors of accepted submissions, academics and industry persons. The event was not a public event.  We provided lunch and beverages, and a free copy of the proceedings. Online registration on this website opened from Sep 6.

**** Structure ****

The workshop ran from 9am to 3:45pm on Fri Sep 27, 2013.  The schedule is below.

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Roundtable session 1 (Green table) 9:45am, 1^st floor Cairnes building open space

Session Chair: Lorraine Morgan 

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Roundtable session 1 (White table) 9:45am, 1^st floor Cairnes building open space

Session Chair: Orla O'Dwyer 

_______________________________________________________________

Roundtable session 1 (Orange table) 9:45am, 1^st floor Cairnes building open space

Session Chair: Chris Coughlan 

_______________________________________________________________

Roundtable session 2 (Green table) 11:15am, 1^st floor Cairnes building open space

Session Chair: Maciej Dabrowski 

_______________________________________________________________

Roundtable session 2 (White table) 11:15am, 1^st floor Cairnes building open space

Session Chair: Tom Acton 

_______________________________________________________________

Roundtable session 2 (Orange table) 11:15am, 1^st floor Cairnes building open space

Session Chair: Clare McInerney 

Please note that the schedule may be subject to change.

**** Organisation ****

Workshop Chairs:

Dr. Tom Acton, Business Information Systems, J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics & The Irish Software Engineering Research Centre (Lero), NUI Galway, Ireland

Dr. Chris Coughlan, Hewlett-Packard, Software Professional Services, Cloud Computing Services Innovation Centre, Galway, Ireland

Dr. Lorraine Morgan, J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics & The Irish Software Engineering Research Centre (Lero), NUI Galway, Ireland

Local Organising Chairs:

Dr. Garry Lohan, The Irish Software Engineering Research Centre (Lero), NUI Galway, Ireland

Dr. Maciej Dabrowski, Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI), NUI Galway, Ireland

Proceedings Editor:

Trevor Clohessy, Lero at NUI Galway

+ Workshop Chairs

Artwork:

Eoin Cullina, Lero at NUI Galway

**** FAQs ****

How did delegates get there?

> We pointed delegates to www.ecis2008.ie, there are details there about how to find us, and where to stay.

What were the round-table discussions like?

> We had a number of parallel sessions.  Taken as a set of 3, each accepted submission was discussed for about 20-30mins in a round-table format comprising  academics, some industry people working in the cloud space, and the 3 authors.  It was about 'moving the proposed work onwards', suggesting next steps, and indicating potential avenues for the work.

Can I get an e-copy of the proceedings?

> Sure. Grab them from the cloud: http://cl.ly/182C0a0c0J0C