Unity is an open source cloud collaboration platform for academia that provides a consumer-grade user experience. It allows for collaboration within and between institutions at a low cost using a utility pricing model. The platform is owned and managed by the institutions with institutional data ownership and service level agreements. Unity provides an alternative to tools like SharePoint, Google Docs, and Microsoft 365 for collaboration, research networking, informal learning, administration, and more in a multi-tenant environment controlled by each institution.

1. Integrate your mojo

2. What is *Unity?
• Cloud collaboration for academia
• Within and between institutions
• Consumer-grade User Experience
• Institutional ownership and SLA
• Open source platform
• Built by universities, for universities
• Low cost, ‘utility’ pricing

3. Within one institution,
use *Unity instead of…
• SharePoint
• Collaborative wikis
• Groups in LMS/VLE not used for learning
• Third party identity providers
• Cloud or campus data storage

4. Between institutions,
use *Unity instead of…
• BaseCamp, Hudl etc
• Google docs, Microsoft 365 etc
• Ad hoc collaboration mechanisms
• No set up, easier to use, better real-world
security

5. Who is *Unity for?
• Faculty
• Staff
• Students
• Alumni
• ‘The Others’

6. What is *Unity for?
• Research
• Informal learning
• Alumni
• Administration

7. *Unity is a network of
Research & Scholarship
• 400 tenancies at leading institutions
• Rising to 10s of 000s this year
• Universities
• Research institutes
• Funders
• Government
• Some companies
• Some schools

8. Multi-tenant
• Each university has its own tenancy
• Integrates with Single Sign On
• Powerful permissions model baked into the
interface:
– Easy to keep material secure inside your tenancy
– Easy to share material with people outside your
tenancy

9. Your tenancy
• Currently
– Tenancy controlled by *Research
– Users agree *Research Terms & Conditions
– Data owned by *Research
• When you subscribe
– Tenancy controlled by you
– Users agree your Terms & Conditions
– Data owned by you
– Service Level Agreement

10. Game plan
• Get some users to try *Unity out
• See if they like it
• If they do, come and get a subscription

11. Administration
• Full suite of tenancy admin tools
• “Become user”
• Brand with your logo, skin with your theme
• Configure your own tenancy landing page
• Integrate with your single sign on service(s)
• Monitor usage

12. Data control
• Servers located in the Netherlands
• SLA enables your compliance with:
– Data privacy legislation
– Export control legislation
– Federal Educational Rights And Privacy Act (US
only)

13. Platform
• Modern architecture
• Built to integrate
• Built for content re-use
• Node.js
• Everything is an API
• Ongoing development
• Open source

14. Examples of integrations
• Experience API or xAPI (learning analytics)
• MediaCore (streaming media)

15. Utility Pricing
• You pay for what you use
• Cost plus 20 per cent
• No per-user costs
• No quotas you don’t need
• Quarterly billing
• It’s easy to start small

16. Why ‘Integrate your mojo’?
• Academia is a great place for fluid, easy
interactions that help people think deeply
• But your VLE/LMS is more like a classroom –
enclosed and didactic
• *Unity lets you bring the spirit of your
campus to the IT services you provide – an
approach we sum up as ‘Integrate your mojo’.

17. Integrate your mojo