Identity in Research Infrastructure and Scientific Communication

Digital media and the Internet are used near-ubiquitously for rapid dissemination of scientific knowledge, and scientific research itself is increasingly undertaken, debated and communicated online in highly collaborative and interactive fashion. This is raising difficult questions concerning identity of the growing number of individuals who use and contribute to an expanding range of electronic publications and online resources as part of their scientific activities.

Meanwhile, the recent emergence of user-centric Internet identity and supporting technologies is opening up new possibilities for addressing identification and authentication challenges at scale on the ‘open’ Internet, enabling researchers to take control of, manage and use their online identity outside the realms of traditional, closed grid environments.

Workshop aims

Building on the success of the IRBW2009 workshop which focused on biomedical research, the 1 ½ day IRISC2011 workshop will bring together representatives from communities of identity experts, users, funders and other stakeholders. The workshop has two main interrelated themes: i) identifying & attributing authors/creators of scholarly works, with a focus on ORCID, and ii) identification for access management purposes, i.e. with a focus on federated identity management.

Specific aims of the workshop include:

The Venue

The CSC Life Science Center is located 10 km west of Helsinki City Center.

Address: Keilaranta 14, Keilaniemi, Espoo/Helsinki, Finland (see map).

You can get to CSC by bus from Helsinki railway station or the main bus station in Kamppi.

Buses 102 and 103
Takes 12-18 minutes, timetable
4.00 EUR (“regional ticket” from the driver or a machine)
From: Kamppi bus terminal 1st floor. Exit stop: ”Miestenmetsä” (map).

Buses 194 and 195
Takes 20-30 minutes, timetable
4.00 EUR (“regional ticket” from the driver or a machine)
From: Elielinaukio (railway station), platform 36. Exit stop: “Otaniemenristi” (map).

Find detailed timetables and routes from the Journey Planner:http://aikataulut.ytv.fi/reittiopas/en/

Travel and accommodation

A block reservation has been done at two hotels in central Helsinki:

• Sokos Hotel Presidentti - http://www.sokoshotelpresidentti.fi
  Address: Eteläinen Rautatiekatu 4, 00100 Helsinki.
  Reservations: +358 20 1234 600 / FAX +358 20 1234 640/ email sokos.hotels@sok.fi
  Standard single 150EUR/night, standard double 170EUR/night, incl. breakfast and VAT.
• Radisson Blu Royal Helsinki - http://www.radissonblu.fi/royalhotelli-helsinki
  Address: Runeberginkatu 2, 00100 Helsinki.
  Reservations: +358 20 1234 700 / FAX +358 20 1234 742 / email reservations.finland@radissonblu.com
  Standard single 120EUR/night, standard double 140EUR/night, incl. breakfast and VAT.

Please use the block name when making the reservation: IRISC2011. The block is available for 12-15 Sep 2011 and expires on 15th August – please make your reservation before this date.

Additional accommodation close to Kamppi bus terminal or the railway station

• Scandic Hotel Simonkenttä
• Scandic Hotel Marski
• Sokos Hotel Vaakuna
• Sokos Hotel Torni
• Holiday Inn Helsinki City Centre
• Radisson Blu Plaza
• more can be found via this easytobook.com list.

From Helsinki airport to Helsinki city centre (railway station, Elielinaukio): Finnair bus  (35 min, 6.20 EUR, timetable), or taxi (30 min, 35-40 EUR).
From Helsinki airport to CSC: taxi (25 min, 35-40 EUR).

Helsinki

Finnish architect Alvar Aalto said, “Every morning, when Finns leaves their homes to go to work, they should pass through the forest.”  Remarkably, Helsinki was designed to make this come true. The Central Park runs north-south through the heart of the city, but it’s nothing like a Frederick Law Olmsted design: it’s like a real forest, rather than a mannered and manicured imitation of one.

The Finnish love of nature is distinct from that of other modern nations in that it’s not a return to nature. The Finns never left. This is evident in innumerable ways in Helsinki, from the way design centers on wood and natural curves – subtracting human elaborations instead of adding them – to the love locals feel for the Bubo Bubo (eagle owls) nesting atop the Forum shopping center in the City Center. (The owls can be viewed from the rooftop terrace of the Sokos Hotel right next to the train station. A compact history of Finnish design can be viewed at the DesignMuseo, a 15 minute walk from the train station.)

But venture just outside Helsinki, to any one of the 187,888 lakes in Finland, and you’ll find one of the hidden treasures of Finland: the mökki, or traditional summer cottage. Everything about the mökki experience is designed to return you to a state of harmony with nature: proximity to water, a rustic sauna instead of a bath, water likely to come from a hand-pumped well, electricity optional. Seurasaari, a car-free island connected to Helsinki by a footbridge, features an open-air museum that shows the past of the Finnish cottage, as well as the Kalevalakehto, a futuristic temple to nature.

Is it a paradox, then, that a culture that has retained a direct relationship with Nature as it is, is also one of the most futuristic? Not in the flashy sense of a Shanghai or a Dubai, but in the sense of quiet, pragmatic innovation. Finland is the birthplace of IRC, Linux, and Git, has had checking-free banking for over a decade, and of course is famed and studied for having the world’s best educational system. Helsinki was one of the first cities to have live mobile updates for public transport, and is one of the world’s 12 true underground cities, a fact that testifies to the observation that Finland is a culture of engineers. And yet Helsinki, the cosmopolitan ‘White Princess’ of the Baltic, has a small-town feel, is easily navigated by foot, bicycle, and tram, and you are never far from nature, even in the city center.

There is much to be learned and seen in Helsinki and Finland, not in spite of, but because it’s not interested in selling itself.