CODATA, The Committee on Data for Science and Technology

World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
Past, Present and Future of Research in the Information Society
13-15 November 2005, Corinthia Khamsa Hotel, Tunis

Abstract:

Access to Scientific Information in the Research and Academic Network in Ukraine

Michael Zgurovsky
Rector of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Kiev Polytechnic Institute”, Ukraine

A developed national information and communication infrastructure is and an indispensable condition for ensuring an access to information and knowledge. Every citizen is to be provided both by an access to information, ideas and knowledge and the possibility to make his/her contribution. During the time passing from the Geneva Summit Ukraine has made some steps at the state level aimed at construction of the information society and in this connection a number of normative documents have been prepared. In the first place, taking into consideration the necessity of complex approach to the task of information resources development in the area of science and education and ensuring an access to them, the strategy of information and communication technologies development in science and education for the period of 2006-2010 was elaborated.

The strategy envisages fulfillment of a complex of tasks which are to ensure the following:

introduction of ICT in research and education and access to the national and global information resources;
development of infrastructure of the national research and educational telecommunication network, connecting it with research institutions, scientific libraries, centers of scientific and technical information by channels of data transfer, integration of the network in the European research and educational network GEANT;
development of distance learning technologies;
development of network of electronic libraries of educational and research institutions and access to them;
access to national and global distributed computational resources, virtual laboratories and scientific data bases.

Implementation of the above strategy in the field of informatization of education and science will give the possibility to raise research efficiency; to ensure the citizens’ right for free search, acquisition, transfer, production and spreading of information; to accelerate Ukraine’s integration into the global research and educational area.

Among the large-scale components of the information infrastructure are the national research and educational network, distance learning system, information technologies in education and science, electronic libraries and information-production system “Osvita”. Each of these components ensures an access to specific data of scientific, educational, statistical character.

Thus, in the framework of the International virtual university (CEEVU – Central and Eastern European Virtual University ) which unites universities from eight countries of Europe , joint information resources are created and access to them is provided for organization of research and education in the field of information technologies, exact sciences, humanitarian field.

An example of direct practical application of telematics methods is a project for Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on ecological monitoring and telemedicine which ensures collection, accumulation, processing and transfer of scientific data about the state of NPP, living conditions in the Chernobyl District and other. It allows toprovide continuous and efficient control over the state of the sarcophagus above the fourth block, the state of health of those working at NPP and population of the district.