Monash Virtual Research Environment using Sakai (Sakai VRE)

Monash e-Research Centre is currently introducing the use of Sakai and Lotus Quickr research collaboration environments. The Monash Sakai VRE provides a web GUI all-in-one collaboration front-end to the Monash LaRDS research data store.  LaRDS provides reliable long term preservation of your research data.

With Sakai VRE you can share files within your research team, create wikis and blogs, create multiple virtual work areas, add participants into your team, and publish information to the internet or keep information secure within your research team.  Sakai VRE has many other exciting features for you to explore as you need them.

Accessing Monash Sakai VRE

All Monash staff and HDR students have access to the Monash Sakai VRE. Simply enter your authcate username and password into the Monash Sakai VRE web site:

       https://sakai-vre.its.monash.edu.au

Use by your research collaborators external to Monash University is encouraged and welcomed. You can set this up very easily yourself. Once logged-in you can create additional users of your worksites. When creating users external to Monash please use their official home-institution email address as their Monash Sakai VRE username, preferably in the form:

        External username format:  firstname.lastname@homeinstitution.edu.au

This will assist us greatly later when we add sector-wide AAF and international authentication to the Monash Sakai VRE.

When adding users to your worksite please do communicate with them directly first, so that they know to expect an invitation and agree to participate. Otherwise they might throw away the email invitation from Monash Sakai VRE thinking it is just more spam email.

Getting started and getting help

You are more than welcome to explore Sakai by yourself if you want to, simply login and start playing:

       https://sakai-vre.its.monash.edu.au

Also, we don’t want you to feel lost or overwhelmed. If you want any help or advice from us, or suggestions or discussion about how to best use Sakai or other tools to best meet your needs please do not hesitate to contact any of us by any means. In particular please direct Sakai enquiries to:  Nicholas McPhee, Neil Clarke, Russell Keil, Peter Dixon or Paul Bonnington.  We do not want to lose your interest.

In particular, much of Sakai’s rich functionality is intended for eLearning applications. This can easily hide its many excellent research collaboration features. For this reason, we are developing specific information about using Sakai as a Virtual Research Environment:

• A  quick-start guide (read this first)
• Sakai introductory tutorials:
  • Monash user - creating a new worksite to share (WMV, 7.6MB)
  • External user - registering & creating a worksite to share (WMV, 5.7MB)
• A comprehensive user guide
• Also see the About, Features and FAQ sections within the Monash Sakai VRE

• For more information, please view this Sakai Demonstration (MOV, 37MB) which was presented at a recent Data Management Seminar.

Support arrangements for Monash Sakai-VRE are currently under development, please do not refer enquiries to your local IT support staff.  Instead please contact the Monash e-Research Centre  directly.

Acceptable use policy and Disclaimer

This Monash e-Research Sakai Virtual Research Environment pilot is provided ‘as is’ by Monash University for use by Monash researchers and their research collaborators at other institutions. Use by your research collaborators external to Monash University is encouraged and welcomed. Use of this pilot by all users is subject to Monash University 's normal Staff Acceptable Use Policy for IT Services (AUP) available at: www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/management/its/it-use-policy-staff-and-authorised.html. The Monash team leader of each research group is responsible for ensuring that the AUP is adhered to by all members of the group.  Publication of information, information access controls and group membership controls are the responsibility of the team leader of each worksite.  Monash University does not warrant the accuracy of the information provided by the service, nor the fitness for purpose of the service for your intended application.  Data is stored and backed-up on the University’s LaRDS research data store.  Services are provided to 3rd parties on an ‘all care no responsibility’ basis.  Use of this site indicates your acceptance of these terms and conditions.