TERN Eco-informatics – Managing and delivering ecological research data now and into the future Craig Walker Eco-informatics Facility Director Logos used with consent. Content of this presentation except logos is released under TERN Attribution Licence v1.0

Eco-informatics Goals Bringing ecological data together for informed re-use Priorities for NCRIS: Negotiate sharing and access for key national ecological databases (States and Commonwealth) Consolidate ecological datasets from across Australia Develop a national framework for describing and publishing ecological information (“standards”) Encourage researcher uploading of data (SHaRED) Build a “One-Stop-Shop” portal for ecological data These Goals are being addressed through the Australian Ecological Knowledge and Observation System – ÆKOS

Eco-informatics Goals cont. Supplementary funding for projects: Fully ingest, integrate and deliver TERN Ausplots data (EIF) Support mobile field capture platforms and data (EIF) Support the TERN Data Discovery Portal (EIF) Incorporate MSPN datasets in ÆKOS (EIF) Build SHaRED tool for Researcher Data Submission (NeCTAR) Build Soils-to-Satellites web application (ANDS)

Environmental Information Landscape for Australia

Collaborations

What is ecological “plot” data?

The ÆKOS Information Landscape Supporting Knowledge Models Context Data © eResearchSA

The ÆKOS system Flora Govt Ecological Surveys Fauna ÆKOS Data Repository TERN MSPN Data Agency Datasets Web Services Data Portal SHaRED Tool RIF-CS ANDS, TDDP End-user Community Access Control Facilitated Ingest Researcher Submitted Data Information Framework Licensing Framework Soils-to-Satellites ALA

ÆKOS Operational Model Data Source Data Source ÆKOS Repository ÆKOS Repository ÆKOS Portal Common Information Model (Ontology) Contextual Description ETL Script ÆKOS DSL Engine Data Portal ‘ Traits’ (tags from controlled vocabulary) Data under Common Model Data Custodian Subject Expertise Integration via a common structure Enrichment Search Index Semantics Data Ingestion Graph visualisation Description products

Key benefits Access to research data increases the return from public investment (OECD Report 2007) Open Access promotes new areas of research and enables exploration of topics not envisaged by the initial researcher Demonstrates delivery in 2013 of a “discipline-oriented and purpose-specific research supporting infrastructure” under NCRIS

Key benefits for researchers as data publishers: Increased visibility Attribution, citation and acknowledgement Minimises data misuse Minimise loss of data memory Potential for increased collaboration

... as data users: Single point of access nationally Enables assessment of ‘fitness for purpose’ of data for re-use Reduces data preparation (integrate once, use many times) Minimises cost of recollecting data Integration and federation of datasets for local-to-national scale studies Key benefits for researchers...

Current “Beta 1.2” portal © State of South Australia (Dept of Environment, Water & Natural Resources)

The Future Potential Extension of thematic coverage to include vertebrate and invertebrate fauna, fire monitoring, aquatic ecosystems More data ingested to strengthen the focal point of the portal, given that ÆKOS is generic and supports all ecological data Improvements to visualisation and analysis based on feedback from the ecological community ÆKOS is a suitable repository for the vast volumes of hardcopy material including an effective means of dealing with “filing cabinet leftovers” from existing databases National method catalogue for ecological data collection Strong partnerships developed with custodians can be extended to support capacity building within Agencies, and can optimise legacy and future investments

Thank you Eco-informatics Facility Contact Details Eco-informatics Director - Craig Walker Data and Partnerships Facilitator -Dr Anita Smyth Ecological Data Manager - Dr David Turner ICT Project Manager – Martin Pullan Website