A different story Melendez, 2011

 The role of Information Management in the evolution of Informatics: two perspectives  About Informatics and Information Management Concepts  Two sources for one story: goals, issues solutions  your book  an LTER information management paper  LUQ LTER Case Melendez, 2011

 INFORMATICS (pp 14 in Reddy 2009): investigates the structure and property  “discipline of science which investigates the structure and property (not specific content) of scientific information as well as the regularities of scientific information activity, its theory, history, methodology and organization” (1967) or the interdisciplinary study of the design, application, use and impact of information technology  “interdisciplinary study of the design, application, use and impact of information technology” (2008 on) (pp 16)  INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (Wikipedia)  is the collection and management of information from one or more sources andinformation the distribution  the distribution of that information to one or more audiences.  This sometimes involves those who have a stake in, or a right to that information.  Management means the organization of and control over the structure, processing and delivery of information.Management Observe that while one studies the information the other includes the information per se, and that while one studies the design of the information the other one includes the design of the structure Melendez, 2011

IM/IT IT/IM Earth Science Earth Science Computer Science Figure 5b. Computer science perspective. A computer science point of view where information management is considered closer to domain science. Figure 5a. Domain Science Perspective. An earth science point of view where information technology is considered close to information system and computer science. Ambiguity in Understanding Roles: IT and IM Baker and Millerand, 2007

What is Informatics? Domain Sciences Social Sciences Information Sciences Informatics is an applied science, an interdisciplinary field of study at the intersection of social sciences, information sciences, and domain science. Baker and Millerand, 2007

 On ILTER: collaborative global network of sites detect global trends collectionmanagementanalysis  …”has the unique ability to design collaborative, site base projects, compare data from a global network of sites and detect global trends. ILTER members also have the expertise in the collection, management and analysis of long-term environmental data” pp 31  On KNB (Knowledge Network for Bio-Complexity)  “We have conceived of the KNB as a mechanism for scientists to discover, access, interpret, analyze, and synthesize the wealth of data that is collected by ecological and environmental scientists nationally (and eventually internationally) pp  On ILTER: collaborative global network of sites detect global trends collectionmanagementanalysis  …”has the unique ability to design collaborative, site base projects, compare data from a global network of sites and detect global trends. ILTER members also have the expertise in the collection, management and analysis of long-term environmental data” pp 31  On KNB (Knowledge Network for Bio-Complexity)  “We have conceived of the KNB as a mechanism for scientists to discover, access, interpret, analyze, and synthesize the wealth of data that is collected by ecological and environmental scientists nationally (and eventually internationally) pp Melendez, 2011

 On data curation related to data sharing  by drawing on an ethnographic study of one of the longest-running efforts at long-term consistent data collection with open data sharing in an environment of interdisciplinary collaboration.  On the continuous and historical role of the LTER information managers  through data care work and information infrastructure development. Melendez, 2011

Data Curation* in e-science or cyberifrastructure data sharing interdisciplinary collaboration data collection with open data sharing in an environment of interdisciplinary collaboration large-scale science distributed global collaborations large-scale science carried out through distributed global collaborations providing a substrate access, sharing and (re)use parallel to providing a substrate for the successful access, sharing and (re)use of data collections archive and preserve contemporary discovery future re-use archive and preserve exponentially increasing volumes of primary data for contemporary discovery and future re-use The Goal or drives: (from Helena Karasti et al., 2006) From The International Journal of Digital Curation Issue 2, Volume 4,2009: data curation is defined as a set of repeated and repeatable activities focusing on tending data and creating data products within a particular arena. “ways of organizing, displaying, and repurposing preserved data.” Melendez, 2011

Study of inherent structure of ecological information management and analysis of ecological information facilitate and expedite large scale ecological research with language common to both humans and computers define entities and natural processes with language common to both humans and computers aims to facilitate environmental research and management The Goals or drives: (as defined in the Reddy, 2009) Melendez, 2011

Table III. The extended temporal horizon of ongoing data managing in LTER (pp 332) Recovering legacy datasets Attending to ongoing data collection Designing for the future ‘‘I was trying to document a lot of historic stuff because the PI [principal investigator] was coming on with Alzheimer’s and I knew that he was going to retire. I had a series of interviews with him and I got incredible documentation for these early corporate data.’’ (IM) ‘‘Getting scientists’ data into our system from the very beginning...whether it is to help them with data entry forms, setting up data entry programs, all the way from QA/QC programs to getting it archived into our system and accessible on the Internet.’’ (IM) ‘‘We envision also that we’ll also be adding the EML [Ecological Metadata Language]... and sort ofoften go back and forth between whether we want to do that from the ASCII files or the database...but at any rate we’ll somehow make EML available dynamically on the Internet to the group at large.’’ (IM) Historical/legacy Immediate/near term Long-term

The infrastructure for this network must deal with major impediments to synthesizing data on ecology and the environment:  Data is widely dispersed  Data is heterogeneous, and  Synthetic analysis tools are needed Melendez, 2011

Study of inherent structure of ecological information create and apply computer technology to create and apply computer technology developing computer databases and algorithms integrates environmental information developing ways to access, integrate databases of environmental information, and develop new algorithms enabling different datasets to be combined to test ecological hypotheses The solution: (as defined in the Reddy, 2009) Melendez, 2011

a cooperative, federated database system approach to organizing information management in LTER (Baker et al., 2000) SITE LEVELNETWORK LEVEL ongoing, retrospective– prospective data management, intensive data contextualization and description, judicious technology design collaborative information infrastructure and metadata standards work. The Solution: the site – network model Melendez, 2011

The new ERA: decade of synthesis and the accumulation of more than 20 years of data forces the scientific community to see IM as their necessary tool: From  a mandate (from NSF) a need for data depository a need for data depository a need for data synthesis Equivalent to the trajectory of data accumulation and growth and the software tools to manage them Proprietary software (MS) from Excel access Open source access mysql The Solution: the site – network model Melendez, 2011

US LTER since 1980 A social network: 2100 participants 26 site biomes Network Office A technological network: information managers Loose network supporting local site data repositories Sites work in collaboration on Network Information System Instrumenting the ecosystem site network

LTER:

 4 LTER proposals since 1988  Information Management began in 1989  Evolution and Development of an Information Management system  the Web site as a window to the site’s Information Management System (IMS)  the website as the IMS framework  Close working collaboration with the LTER Network Office (LNO)  Close working collaboration with the information managers: conceptual framework Melendez, 2011

Data Archiving Data Sharing Data Integration 1989 on 1995 on 2001 on Need to team up and publish metadata Organizing, cataloguing; Develop LUQ documentation standards and protocols Need to document Need to have searchable data in the web site Documenting and publishing the data on our first web Decadal Plan and the adoption of the EML standard Melendez, 2009

 At the site level  Data gathering  Data entry  Data quality control  Data sharing  At the network level  EML: Ecological Metadata Language  Specialized network databases: climdb/hydrodb, GIS (under development) Melendez, 2011

LUQ EML METADATA PACKAGES DEVELOPED Melendez, 2011

Dataset Design -PI -Information Manager Data Collection Data Entry Metadata Preparation Quality Control and Assurance Review Data Publication on WWW Revision Melendez, 2009 * Diagram graphics was designed by J. Porter in 2006

Melendez, 2009

Data Local Use Knowledge production Community Reuse Data Production Baker and Chandler, DSR, 2008 Modes of Knowledge Production Data Delivery New Practices Collaborative Research Interdisciplinary Data Exchange Contemporary: Mode 2 Publications Reports Individual Research Disciplinary Traditional: Mode 1

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 US Network: EML, Metacat, (data harvestin  Outreach:  Schoolyard  ILTER: China, Malaysia (The Kepler Example)  Other Networks: ULTRA, CTFS Melendez, 2011

Data manager Information manager Informaticist (ie physicist, geneticist) Informatician (ie statistician) Informologist (ie biologist) Informateer (ie mouseketeer) Informatics specialist (ie on-the-job training) Data librarian (ie information & library sciences) Data scientist (ie data & domain expertise) Data curator (ie with data repository) What is the name for those who work with data? Information Professionals Baker and Chandler, DSR, 2008