Research Information Infrastructure in Sri Lanka - Current Status & Future Plans Paper presented at the Advisory Group Meeting of the Association of Science Cooperation in Asia (ASCA)

by Dr Abhaya S Induruwa* Member of the Governing Board Natural Resources, Energy and Science Authority (NARESA) Ministry of Science, Technology & Human Resources Development Sri Lanka

Tokyo, Japan March 22-23, 1995

____________________________________________________________ * Head/ Dept of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Moratuwa and the National Coordinator of the LEARN/Internet Initiative email : [email protected]

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

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Research Information Infrastructure in Sri Lanka - Current Status & Future Plans Dr Abhaya S Induruwa * Member of the Governing Board Natural Resources, Energy and Science Authority (NARESA) of Sri Lanka

1.0

Preamble

It is accepted without question that scientific research and technological advances are key factors in determining productivity and the quality of life of people in a country. Therefore in the recent times increasing emphasis has been placed on the development of scientific and technological research infrastructure in Sri Lanka. This has received the attention at the highest political level and as a result many policy directions have been formulated to support this. Some of the important policy pronouncements include: i.

To use science and technology as an integral part of the development strategy of the country;

ii

To provide equal and adequate opportunities for all to acquire a basic education in Science and its basic applications;

iii

To ensure that our institutes of higher learning produce scientists and technologists of the highest calibre;

iv.

To identify priority areas of Science & Technology likely to be of benefit to Sri Lanka and to focus and promote research and development in such areas;

v.

To provide our scientists and technologists with good working conditions which include among other things the provision of adequate access to scientific knowledge and activity within the country and in other parts of the world.

________________________________________________________________________ * The author is the Head /Dept of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Moratuwa and the National Coordinator of the LEARN/Internet Initiative, Sri Lanka. email: [email protected]

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

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It is with reference to (v) above that the country is lacking proper infrastructure although there have been many efforts to build them. The absence of proper conditions and climate for scientific and technological research has been attributed to the dearth of scientific and technological personnel and the country's inability to retain them. Coupled with these policy guidelines is the recommendation to increase the research spending from 0.1% of the GNP to about 1% of GNP and to support this with an Information Technology (IT) capability. One major problem faced by the scientists, policy makers and planners alike is the lack of easy access to reliable information although a considerable volume of information has been accumulated. This has been aggravated by the explosive rate of increase in science literature. Moreover the spiraling costs of books and journals have placed major constraints on the work of scientists in Sri Lanka. Therefore much emphasis has been placed recently on the development of infrastructure for the collection, processing, updating and disseminating information. In a Report published in 1973, the UNESCO through the United Nations Information System In Science & Technology (UNISIST) has focused world attention on the need for coordinated international assistance to develop the national information systems of developing economies in a compatible fashion and also the need to seek and adapt new communication and information handling techniques to their specific needs. The Natural Resources, Energy & Science Authority (NARESA) which functions under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Human Resources Development has been given the mandate to take necessary steps to develop the S & T Information Infrastructure in Sri Lanka by undertaking the collection, processing and disseminating information and also by facilitating the introduction of new and effective technology and information services for the benefit of scientists in Sri Lanka. In relation to the above, NARESA is the focal point for the promotion of UNESCO assisted CDS/ISIS software package for libraries including training and support, and has been awarded a grant by SAREC (Swedish Agency for REsearch Cooperation) to popularise the use of new technology based services such as email and databases on CD-ROMs by scientists and researchers in the country.

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

2.0

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Current Status of Research Information Infrastructure

The current status of Research Information Infrastructure can be discussed in the context of the following four major topics: 1.

The promotion of human/organisational networks with a view to effectively disseminate information.

2.

The enhancement of libraries to cater to specialised information requirements.

3.

The Introduction of Modern Technologies to Libraries and the CD-ROM Initiative as a modern technology solution for the high cost of printed information.

4.

The LEARN/Internet Initiative which deals with the development of countrywide data communication infrastructure to facilitate wide area computer networking with a view to share information in electronic form as well as to provide convenient and timely access to information in machine readable form.

2.1

Human/Organisational Networks

As a first attempt to make more effective sharing of information and to facilitate meaningful interaction of personnel belonging to a particular subject area of interest, human/organisational networks have been developed with the initial impetus coming from NARESA. As early as 1968, on the recommendation of UNESCO, NARESA established the Sri Lanka Scientific and Technical Information Center (SLSTIC). Under the auspices of SLSTIC, the Sri Lanka Scientific & Technical Information Network (SLSTINET) has been created with the following objectives: a.

to promote the resources development and cooperation among the scientific libraries in Sri Lanka

b.

to bring about meaningful exchange of information at national level.

The SLSTINET has helped SLSTIC as well as other libraries to economically utilise the locally available information resources.

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

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2.1.1 Cooperative Acquisition Plan for Abstracting and Indexing (CAP A&I)

CAP was formulated in 1978 by SLSTIC to purchase jointly important abstracting and indexing services which are comparatively costly compared to the primary journals. The objectives of CAP have been identified as the following: a. to ensure that important abstracting & indexing journals in S & T are available in libraries participating in SLSTINET b. to avoid unwanted and expensive duplication c. to promote resource sharing. The CAP has been implemented with the voluntary participation of a member library of SLSTINET without restricting in anyway the acquisition policy of the individual library. 2.2

Subject Oriented Networks

To provide specialised information and documentation services to special groups of information users, SLSTIC has organised several subject oriented networks as follows. 2.2.1 Agriculture Information Network (AGRINET)

AGRINET is a subsystem of SLSTINET and includes about 25 libraries dealing with agriculture related information. Although SLSTIC was responsible for AGRINET at the inception it now functions independent of SLSTIC with assistance from Sri Lanka Council for Agricultural Research Policy (CARP). 2.2.2 Health Science Information Network (HELLIS)

HELLIS (Health Literature, Library & Information Services) is a WHO sponsored network of Health Science Libraries in South East Asia. HELLIS of Sri Lanka was originated in 1979 with the support of the Ministry of Health as a subsystem of SLSTINET to cater to the group of libraries in Sri Lanka dealing with medical information. The Medical Library of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo acts as the focal point for HELLIS in Sri Lanka. Under this arrangement WHO has provided subscription payment to the complete MEDLINE Database (1966 todate) with monthly updates on CD-ROMs.

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

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As part of this an Inter Lending and Document Delivery Service is operational and the member countries have access to * INDEX MEDICUS for SEA region * HELLIS Newsletter. which are publications of HELLIS. 2.3 Introduction of Modern Technology to Libraries

SLSTIC has given the initial impetus for the development of computerised data bases to facilitate the exchange of S & T Information at national level. These efforts of NARESA are complemented by the activities of organisations such as Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) which provides bibliographic information on standardisation and related areas, Industrial Development Board (IDB) which operates Information Services to the industrial sector, Agrarian Research and Training Institute (ARTI) which serves the agriculture related community and ITMIN, a recent private sector initiative to provide Industry, Trade and Market Information. 2.3.1 Union Catalog (UNICAST)

SLSTIC compiles UNICAST, a Union Catalog of Science & Technology books in Sri Lanka. In 1983, this Catalog has been moved from a card based system to an automated system thus becoming the first Library facility in Sri Lanka to offer computerised information services. SLSTIC collects the information on new acquisitions from about 30 libraries in the country and the UNICAST database is updated. UNICAST helps to locate easily, locally available scientific books, to promote inter library lending and to avoid duplication.

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

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2.3.2 Union List of Scientific and Technical Periodicals (UNILIST)

UNILIST is maintained by NARESA in order to help the libraries to locate a particular issue of a periodical available in the major libraries. At present UNILIST contains approximately 6000 scientific and technical titles held in 54 libraries in Sri Lanka.

Table 1

Database UCAT

ULIST SLSI

Databases at Natural Resources, Energy and Science Authority (NARESA) Description Union Catalog of Sci & Tech Books Union List of Sci & Tech Periodicals Sri Lanka Science Index

Records

Fields

1634

50

6300

25

300

12

Updated daily until 1988 daily until 1987 monthly

Started in

Presently

1977

not in use

1977

not in use

1994

in use

2.3.3 Other computerised databases

In addition to the above, there are the following computerised data bases which facilitate keyword search and automated services.

2.3.3.1Agrarian Research & Training Institute (ARTI)

ARTI maintains the databases shown in Table 2 for the purpose of providing upto-date information on agriculture products and services, food commodities and other statistical data for scientific and research study. Table 2

Database Agriculture Market

Databases at ARTI

Description Agricultural Data Food commodities

Records 1.2 M

Fields 13

Updated daily

Started in 1984

Presently in use

30,000

54

daily

1986

in use

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

2.3.3.2

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Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI)

The following data bases are presently maintained by the SLSI for customer support and also for in-house consumption. Table 3

Databases at SLSI

Database

Description

Records

Fields

SLSLINE

Sri Lanka Standards International & Foreign Nat Stds Tech Books & Journal Articles Tech Reg including EC Directives SL Stds related to legislation

1500

INSD LIBINF & JOART TECREG LEGIS

2.3.3.3

Started in

Presently

32

Update d daily

1988

in use

75000

10

daily

1990

in use

7000

20

daily

1990

in use

2500

31

daily

1992

in use

200

7

daily

1992

in use

Industrial Development Board (IDB)

The Centre for Industrial Technology and Information Services (CITIS) of the IDB has been responsible for the computerised data bases on Industrial Technology for the industrialists and to support the work of the IDB. Table 4 Database CITIS LIBACCN TECINF INDUS PATEN THORG

Databases at the CITIS/IDB Description Bibliographic & Machinery Catalog Library Accession List

Records

Fields

Updated

Started in

Presently

10885

77

daily

1990

in use

11868

12

1991

in use

Tech Info Industries in Sri Lanka Patent Info Technology Promotion Institutions

95 6202

22 9

1992 1993

in use in use

165

9

as and when received a&wr once in 3 months a&wr

1994

in use

235

16

a&wr

1994

in use

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

2.3.3.4

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Industry, Trade & Market Information Network (ITMIN)

ITMIN is a recent private sector initiative which is planning to provide modern technology based solutions for the access of Industry, Trade and Market Information worldwide. 2.3.4 CD-ROM Initiative of NARESA As an answer to the problem of providing increased access to scientific literature it is not adequate to attempt to strengthen a few libraries in the country but a modern technological approach must be applied. It has been correctly argued that the initial outlay may be high but the long-term benefits of such an exercise to the development process of the country will be immeasurable. It is also argued that developing the libraries in the conventional manner is likely to be wasteful and will involve duplication of effort and considerable time delays in making the information available. Sixteen S & T institutes responded to a recent questionnaire sent by NARESA. It was found that a total of 14 CD-ROM data bases are available with 8 institutions. Almost all are single user versions. The distribution of the use of CD-ROM based databases by sector and by subject is shown in figures 1 and 2 respectively. S cie nc e 4 0%

Res / Edu 60% University 30% Other 10%

Fig. 1 : Use by Sector

Ag ri * 2 0%

E d uc a tion 4% L ib ra ry 12 %

E nviro n 12 %

M e dic ine 1 2%

Fig. 2 : Use by Subject

More recently SAREC (Swedish Agency for REsearch Cooperation) has accepted a proposal by NARESA to set up a Multimedia PC-LAN at the NARESA premises to provide CD-ROM based multimedia services to the S & T personnel in the country. Once set up this PC-LAN will be connected to LEARN - Lanka Experimental Academic and Research Network, the country wide on-line academic and research backbone network thus providing access to remote users.

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

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Under this project NARESA will subscribe to many of the important science and technology databases on CD-ROMs which include the following. • • • • • • • •

2.4

Aqualine Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts Biological Abstracts EI Energy & Environment SIRS Science Text & Index Dialog on Disc Inspec on Disc Dissertation Abstracts on Disc

LEARN/Internet Initiative

Lanka Experimental Academic & Research Network (LEARN) is an initiative of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Moratuwa. This Department operates, manages and further develops LEARN which it pioneered in 1989. Today LEARN connects the Universities of Colombo, Moratuwa and the Open University on-line and provides high speed dial up access to other sites (Figure 3). Internet Colombo IP Router

X.25 dial up email Relay

64

Moratuwa IP Router

64 Kbps

64

Dial-in Router

Kbps

Network Server DEC Alpha

Kbps

Open Uni IP Router

AXP upto 28.8 Kbps

Fig. 3 : LEARN Phase I - Already Operational

Since October 1993, limited access to the Internet was provided to LEARN users using the DataPac X.25 packet switching service operated by Sri Lanka Telecom.

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

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2.4.1 Electronic mail services in Sri Lanka The email service for the academic and research sectors known as LEARNmail has been in operation since June 1990. This has been pioneered and operated by the Department of Computer Science & Engineering of the University of Moratuwa and is currently used by more than 50 sites in Sri Lanka to communicate with more than 140 countries in the world. Email traffic is carried mainly through the Internet, the world wide academic and research network. From the beginning Internet type domain style addressing had been used. Among the local sites are all universities except Jaffna (due to technical reasons), many research institutes, other educational institutes, government agencies such as NARESA and several NGOs and professional organisations such as the Institution of Engineers (Sri Lanka) and the Computer Society of Sri Lanka. The LEARNmail user base at present is a few hundreds and the monthly overseas traffic is in the region of 5 MB. LEARNmail network represents a Wide Area Network (WAN) of truly heterogeneous computing systems spread across many parts of the country. Email services are offered to the private sector organizations and individuals by a number of commercial email service providers which have emerged in the recent times. Email, although the most popular service on a network, is a very basic service requiring low channel bandwidth usually equal to that of a dial up line from the PSTN. In addition to personal messaging, data base access, accessing Bulletin Board Services (BBSs) and ftpmail based file transfers, which are all variants of the basic email service are available for users. LEARNmail network facility has been used in the recently concluded general elections to broadcast the election results in machine readable form to the world. The use of LEARNmail by various sectors is shown in figures 4 & 5. L E A R N m a il

LEARNmail Research 18% Govt Min 6%

Other 9%

O th e r 52% A c a d e m ic 22%

Academic 68%

Fig. 4 : Government Organisations

R esearch 26%

Fig. 5 : Non- Govt Organisations

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

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2.4.2 Use of Local Area Networks Sri Lanka has seen a rapid growth in the use of LANs in the nineties. This has been mainly due to the deployment of LAN based Management Information Systems and Office Automation Systems (MIS/OAS). Therefore in many instances the requirement has been for an organisation-wide (in other words internal) LAN allowing the sharing of information and resources confined to that organisation. This has led to the development of islands of networks with very little connectivity to outside. However the distributed nature of the information and other resources have required that these organisation-wide networks are interconnected in order to more effectively utilise the information and other resources, without having the need to duplicate same in many geographically diverse locations. Email has been one of the driving forces that led to the interconnection of islands of information systems to facilitate easy electronic messaging. This is true for many large organisations which have their information resources distributed over a large geographical area. The same need arises in the service provider's organisations such as Electricity and water, and also in organisations where central data repositories are maintained for other interested parties to have access. The data collected at the Export Development Board and the need of other related agencies such as the Trade Chambers to have access to them is an example of the latter case. 2.4.3 Internet in Sri Lanka The efforts in introducing the Internet to Sri Lanka can be traced back to early 1990 when Internet based LEARNmail service was introduced initially for the benefit of the academic and research community in Sri Lanka. The benefits of online Internet connectivity to the academic and research community have been discussed by the author in a report to the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 1992. The commissioning of LEARN Phase I (Fig 3) in January 1995 marked the setting up of the first IP (Internet Protocol) based wide area network in Sri Lanka. In the mean time trade and commerce sectors have begun to understand the benefits the Internet has to offer and the impact it can make on a country's economy. Realising this Sri Lanka has made a commitment to introduce Internet not only to the

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

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academic and research community but for the benefit of other sectors of the economy as well. This has resulted in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in October 1993, between the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe and the US Vice President Albert Gore. The Sri Lanka Internet project has been coordinated initially by the CINTEC and USAID in collaboration with the University of Moratuwa, the latter organisation providing the necessary technical expertise. The US-Sri Lanka initiative has also produced much interest and enthusiasm in the private sector. Already few parties have shown interest in investing in the implementation of a Sri Lanka Internet on a commercial basis. 3.0

Future Plans for the Enhancement of RII in Sri Lanka

More recently the CINTEC has initiated a joint venture approach with Sri Lanka Telecom with technical assistance from the University of Moratuwa to provide funding for a leased digital link at 64 Kbps to connect LEARN to the Internet. Shown in Figure 6 is the conceptual connectivity of LEARN Phase-II including the Internet connectivity and how the CD-ROM data base service of NARESA will be connected to LEARN. The figure also shows the proposed fibre based campus-wide network of the University of Moratuwa and the proposed fibre LAN to provide connectivity to the S & T institutions located on the Vidya Mawatha. The combined efforts of LEARN wide area networking project initiated by the University of Moratuwa, SAREC funded CD-ROM project of NARESA, and the collaboration between CINTEC, Sri Lanka Telecom and University of Moratuwa in bringing the Internet connectivity to Sri Lanka are bound to make a very significant impact on the Research Information Infrastructure facilities in Sri Lanka. Once these infrastructure facilities are in place, the research scientists in the country will be able to access information with ease using the most modern types of technologies. With the introduction of research and scientific community to these technologies it is expected that relevant S & T and research information will be readily available to other scientists and researchers within and outside the country. Therefore these steps are certain to bring about an increased and an effective collaboration between our scientists and their peers in the region.

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

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Internet 64 Kbps

64 Kbps

Colombo LEARN HUB

64 Kbps SLSI IP ROUTER

64 Kbps

64 Kbps CINTEC IP ROUTER 64 Kbps

OU

KLN

64 Kbps CMB 64 Kbps 64 Kbps

Kandy LEARN HUB

IFS

University of Moratuwa Campuswide Fibre Network

Moratuwa LEARN HUB

ACCMT

UOP

Other Research Institutes

Dial-in ROUTER

LEARN NMC

NETWORK SERVER

CISIR NARESA IP ROUTER

NIBM

Multiplatter

CD-ROM

SLAAS IESL Multi Media Workstation

Novell Server

ARTI ICTAD MET OFF Vidya Mw Fibre LAN (Proposed)

Fig 6 : LEARN Phase II - Conceptual Connectivity

The author, as the pioneer of LEARN project, is actively engaged in all of the above phases of development of information services and networking infrastructure in the country. The Department of Computer Science & Engineering of the University of Moratuwa which undertakes the network management functions of LEARN is making arrangements to provide Domain Name Systems (DNS) support to the Internet.

ASCA Advisory Group Meeting Tokyo, Japan, March 22-23, 1995

4.0

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Bibliography

1. Annual Report of NARESA, 1992 2. Annual Report of NARESA, 1993 3. Annual Report of NARESA (Draft), 1994 4. NARESA Proposal to SAREC on the "Establishment of a CD-ROM database service and its connectivity to LEARN", December, 1993. 5. Induruwa, A S, "A Proposal to set up a Lanka Experimental Academic and Research Network (LEARN)", Report to the Ministry of Higher Education and the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka, April, 1989. 6. Induruwa, A S, "Introducing Internet Services to the Academic and Research Community in Sri Lanka", Report to the UGC, January, 1992. 7. Induruwa, A S, "Report on the Implementation of LEARN Phase - I", submitted to the UGC, February, 1992. 8. Induruwa, A S, "Establishment of a Nationwide Computer Network", Report to the CINTEC, July, 1994. 9. Induruwa, A S, "Advances in Computer Networking in Sri Lanka", Proceedings of the Annual Sessions of the IEE Sri Lanka Overseas Center, September, 1994. 10. Induruwa, A S, "Establishment of a Fibre Based Campuswide Computer Network", Internal Report, November, 1994.