Fire Re-Search Hub

Overall Outcome
Provide succinct access to relevant fire research materials.

Overall Objective
To provide a successful tool at one location that provides intuitive, concise and useful
access to identifying and locating publications and other literature that are relevant to
research within the international fire research community, as represented by the
Consortium.

Scope of the Fire Re-Search Hub

A further-refined search tool (developed from the demonstration of concept
example provided by the Federated Fire Research Tool) that forms a hub of all
relevant fire research publications, utilizing relevant search-engine technology
and presenting search results in a succinct and useful manner.
Development and implementation of other fire research community related tools
would be done separate to this. However consideration of these developments
and how to best utilize them within the scope of best implementation of the
Search Hub is recommended.

2 Year Objective: Fully operational search hub tool for fire research publications
5 Year Objective: Search hub tool with an expanded range of relevant searchable fire
research information

Intermediate Objectives of the Fire Re-Search Hub

be the primary place fire researchers use for locating relevant information
fire researchers use it and find it helpful
be a tool that contributes to the international fire research community
to promote efficient and relevant connections between people and information
be robust and future-orientated
assist international cooperation and communication
be a useful component/tool for the international fire research community that is
aware and integrated, where appropriate, to other community tools in order to
leverage access to and by the community

Implementation Objectives of the Fire Re-Search Hub

be a central hub for fire research information from a wide range of repositories for
research information - reports, papers, experimental data sets, etc
the implementation and on-going support of the Search Hub is not for profit
be freely accessible
access to the Search Hub is not restricted by provision of personal information of
users or any other requirements of the user
utilize a distributed network, such that relevant information is accessible for a
range of possible outcomes (e.g. change of an organizations focus from
research to other areas, etc.)
utilize appropriate and efficient technology
be a framework that interfaces with information in a large number of repositories
assist in the rapid and useful dissemination of recently completed research
project results/outputs
user feedback is collected and used in on-going development of the Search Hub
information on which Search Hub metrics are collected and the usage of the
results are transparent and publicized on the website in plain English
 Current State
Fire research publications and information is
organizational or group based and decentralized. This is
inefficient and ineffective. This can be better.

Overall Outcome
Provide succinct access to
relevant fire research
publications and information

Overall Objective
Provide a tool that connects fire
researchers and publications and
information

Intermediate Objectives

be the central be a tool that promote be robust

hub for fire contributes to connections and future-
research fire research between oriented
information effectiveness people and
information

Elements to be Implemented

Search Connection to Security User access Integration Measuring

capabilities information with broader success
repositories community

Core Design Principles

integrity, connecting people and information, easy to use, not for profit, inclusive, science-
based content, intuitive
Core Values
integrity, contributing, connected, respectful, enthusiastic
Stakeholders
3 Levels:
1. Consortium
2. Implementation team On-going maintenance and development team
3. Users/Members

Core Design Principles of the Fire Re-Search Hub

integrity
connecting people and information
communicative
easy to use
intuitive
not for profit
inclusive
science-based content
accessible

Core Values of Fire Re-Search Hub Community

integrity
contributing
connected
respectful
enthusiastic
People, Values, Culture and Commitment
Invested
Money

Consortium
Heads/delegates of
interested and
Provide governance
participating Provide delegates for the
organizations Implementation Team
1 member charged as custodian
of the tool hosting infrastructure
provide access to their own
organizations information
repositories
Implementation Team
The workgroup formed of
consortium delegates and self-
Fire Re-Search Hub volunteering interested parties
and individuals
integrity contributing design and
connected enthusiastic
implement the tool
not for profit respectful

Users of the Search Hub

Teams and employees of the consortium
organizations and use the tool Time
other interested parties provide feedback to the Invested
and individuals Implementation Team
Appendix

5 Year Plan
Date Milestone Brief Description
30 July 2010 0 -
31 August 2010 1 Scoping of Project
Identify all groups to be involved at all levels.
30 September 2 Participants Confirmed
2010 Recruited and confirmed the Consortium
members.
Recruited and confirmed the Implementation
Team members
31 January 3 Guidance for Future Information Structure
2011 Provide guidance for the structure and formats of
publications that will be searchable by Fire Search
Hub, and a description of the intended
functionality and potential limitations of the tool.
31 July 2011 4 Working Demonstration of Tool
The Fire Search Hub is a working demonstration
of the intended tool, providing a succinct, easy-to-
use, and useful way to search a range of
publications from groups and other sources
relevant to fire research performed by the member
organizations of the Consortium.
31 July 2012 5 Fully Operational Tool
The Fire Search Hub a fully operational tool that
provides a succinct, easy-to-use, and useful way
to search electronically searchable publications
and databases of other publications from all
groups and other sources relevant to fire research
performed by the member organizations of the
Consortium.
31 July 2015 6 Expansion of Searchable Information
The Fire Search Hub provides a succinct, easy-to-
use, and useful way to search publications,
repositories of experimental data, researchers
biographies and current research project
descriptions from all groups and other sources
relevant to fire research performed by the member
organizations of the Consortium.
List of Intended Users Organizations
Organization First Point of Secondary Organization Organization
Name Contact Point of Representation Representation
Contact on Consortium on
Implementation
Team
NIST Y/N Y/N
BRANZ Y/N Y/N
VTT Y/N Y/N
SP Y/N Y/N
NFPA Y/N Y/N
IAFSS Y/N Y/N
SFPE Y/N Y/N
Combustion Y/N Y/N
Science
Society
WPI Y/N Y/N
U Maryland Y/N Y/N
U Canterbury Y/N Y/N
U Illinois Y/N Y/N
Hughes & Y/N Y/N
Associates
Thunderhead Bryan Klein Y/N Y/N
Eng
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Y/N Y/N
Elements of the Fire Re-Search Hub for Consideration
Search capabilities:
o How is the search accessed? i.e. multiple users at the same time, etc.
o What search engines, web-crawlers, etc. are relevant and available?
What search functionalities are best to utilize?
How does it access information? What is required of the
repositories that we want to search?
o What is the best format for the presentation of results?
o How is the best way to suggestion of other related search terms to the
user?
o How best to personalized filtering/selection of areas of interest?
o What are the best strategies to integrate a future focus into the design and
implementation of the search hub?
o What end-connections do we want? E.g. Endnote, etc.
Connection to information repositories:
o What are all the available and relevant repositories? What state is their
contents in?
o Who owns each repository and do we have their permission to search
their information?
o What is currently available in terms of:
What structure is used?
What file formats are used?
What strategies are in place for future development of these?
o How will these be integrated/linked?
Can a remote standard query be activated each month &
electronically reported back?
o What method is there for alerting the appropriate person to update the
system if changes are made to a repository?
o How are the links checked that they are still working and useful?
o What is the most appropriate way to connect to, search and handle free
versus commercial information (i.e. journal papers, etc.)?
o What is the potential for each of the repositories for
Security:
o What are the security risks and how best to remove or mitigate these?
o Are there any issues with Personal Information?
o Are there any issues in permissions and access method of repositories
that are not publically freely available?
User access:
o What is the best approach for users to have access to the tool? E.g.
Known membership base versus anonymity versus a virtually anonymous
login, and how these relate to aspects including as:
login access
membership via invitation by other members
personal portals
Integration into the broader international fire research community:
 o To what extent to relate to and integrate with other fire research
community tools/strategies?
o Future proofing this/ building in flexibility
Measuring the success of the Search Hub:
o What metrics provide the best estimating of the success of the Search
Hub?
o How to collect data on the usage of the Search Hub?
o How to implement these metrics?
o How to communicate what metrics are being collected, how and what they
are being used for?
What are all the issues for future-proofing?
o How do these affect each aspect of the Hub?
o What mitigation strategies will be most effective?
o Are there identifiable point where the Hub will be required to be
reassessed as to its appropriateness, etc.?
Who is responsible for the Hub overall and for each section?
o How is this handled so that no one person is relied on solely?

The Five Biggest Challenges to having this Succeed

1. Starting
2. Managing peoples expectation, so that they support it, are happy with the output
and use it
3. How to present the results in a meaningful way to the user
4. What shape the data is in compared to presenting it meaningfully
5. How to future-proof it
CONSORTIUM
Overall Outcome
Provide succinct access to relevant fire research materials.

Overall Objective
To provide support and guidance for the initial and on-going development of a
successful Fire Re-Search Hub.

Scope
The Consortium is the body that provides governance to the overall project.
Each organization of the consortium contributes:
providing two (2) delegates or proxy delegates for participation in the
Implementation Team (that is responsible for the design and implementation)
ensuring access to their publications and information, with an active in-house
policy to maintain and provide appropriate levels of access to their own relevant
publications
elect a chair with the final right on decisions, to ensure immediacy of potential
actions of the Implementation Team
charge one member organization as custodian of the tool hosting infrastructure
Each organization of the consortium receives:
input to the overall governance of the Implementation Team
access for their fire research teams and employees to a tool that will streamline
the process of finding relevant publications and information from

Intermediate Objectives
spur the development of the Fire Re-Search Hub
provide guidance to the Implementation Team during the design, development
and implementation of the framework

Implementation Objectives
provide funded support for the development of the Fire Re-Search Hub by
providing two (2) delegates from each organization of the Consortium for the
Implementation Team
charge 1 member organization with ownership of the web-hosting infrastructure
ensure continuity of the project by:
o developing a handover procedure for the web-hosting infrastructure in the
case where the custodian must change
o developing a handover procedure for each organizations publication and
information repositories in the case where an organization significantly
changes focus and will no longer maintain their interest in fire research
have at least passive support from all FORUM member organizations
promote and champion the international Fire Re-Search Hub
maintain responsibility for the timely implementation of the international Fire Re-
Search Hub by the Implementation Team
maintain a future focus for the usability and evolution of the International Fire Re-
Search Hub
 maintain a future focus for the use of the International Fire Re-Search Hub for the
application of the framework to other fields/areas of research

Consortium Members
Organization Point of First Second Primary Interest
Name Contact Delegate Delegate Regarding Search
Hub
IAFSS
NIST
BRANZ
Thunderhead Bryan Klein Bryan Klein - Development
Eng
IMPLEMENTATION TEAM
Overall Outcome
Provide succinct access to relevant fire research materials.

Overall Objective
Design and implement the successful Fire Re-Search Hub. Hand over the successful
Fire Re-Search Hub to the On-Going Maintenance and Development Team.

Scope
The Implementation Team will take the Federated Fire Research Search Tool as a
demonstration of concept and develop and implement a further-refined search that
forms a hub of all relevant fire research publications, utilizes relevant search-engine
technology and presents search results in a succinct and useful manner.
The Implementation Team is formed of the delegates from each of the member
organizations, institutions, etc. of the Consortium and other interested parties and
individuals.
The implementation team is responsible for the design and implementation of the Fire
Re-Search Hub and communication of the current status, functionality and future of the
Fire Re-Search Hub to the Consortium and Fire Re-Search Hub Users.

Intermediate Objectives
create a tool that is a central hub for fire research information from a wide range
of repositories for research information - reports, papers, experimental data sets,
etc
design and implement a tool that contributes to the international fire research
community
create a tool that promotes efficient and relevant connections between people
and information
design the tool to be robust and future-orientated
assist international cooperation and communication
integrate the tool with other international fire research community tools, where
appropriate, in order to leverage access to and by the community

Implementation Objectives
identify the intended-user base
identify the repositories desired for incorporation
o determine the current state of the contents of each repository and the
intended direction of the owner organization
o recruit the participation of the organization
solicit, collect and collate intended-user data for use in designing the framework
of the Fire Re-Search Hub
formulate the scope and objectives of the Fire Re-Search Hub
identify need for specialist input required for design or implementation, then
identify potential sources of specialist knowledge and recruit
determine and implement the appropriate level of security (particularly pertaining
to PI, if any, etc.)
 develop and implement a strategy to check the status of the Fire Re-Search Hub
(e.g. the links to each of the federated banks of data, etc.)
identify metrics to assess the success of the Fire Re-Search Hub
develop an implementation strategy
execute the implementation strategy
maintain contact with intended-users during the design and implementation
phase of the Fire Re-Search Hub
maintain communication of progress with Consortium
develop the scope and objectives of the On-Going Maintenance and
Development Team in preparation for the handover of the Fire Re-Search Hub
at the 2 year milestone

Key Elements for Implementation

search capabilities and functionality
connections to information repositories
security
ser access
integration with the broader community
measuring success of the Search Hub

Implementation Team Members

Team Member Email Contact Organization Organization Primary
Name Representation Interest
on Consortium Regarding
Search Hub
Thunderhead Eng Bryan Klein Y/N Development
Y/N
Y/N
Y/N
Y/N
Y/N
ON-GOING MAINTENANCE AND DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Mission Statement
Provide succinct access to relevant fire research materials.

Scope
The On-Going Maintenance and Development Team will take over responsibility of the
Fire Re-Search Hub from the Implementation Team at the 2 year mark.
The On-Going Maintenance and Development Team will be responsible for the
continuance of the successful Fire Re-Search Hub.
The structure and objectives of the On-Going Maintenance and Development Team will
be developed by the Implementation Team.