LTER Moving from Data to Information Management John Porter

The World in 1989 All data sharing between LTER sites is on a case-by-case basis – no policies Site data catalogs are not available Most researchers don’t use electronic mail –Many mail systems won’t talk to one another An “online system” is a “bulletin board” type system that requires a modem There are no standards for metadata content or structure

The World in 1999 LTER sites share most data within 2 years of collection There is a centralized system for searching for LTER Datasets LTER Climate, Personnel and Bibliographic Databases are fully operational Electronic communication (e.g., ) is ubiquitous There are published standards for Metadata content

How did we get there? A timeline for progress

1990 (Snowbird) “LTER Core Dataset Catalog” published “Guidelines for Site Data Policies” produced at 1990 DM and All-Scientists’ Meeting (“Proprietary Issues”) LTER forwarding system active –(e.g., -> ) –Links different mail systems (e.g. forest service) LTER “Connectivity” report submitted to NSF

1991 (San Antonio) Working group discussed “Interactive Data Access” systems

1992 (Honolulu) Mention of “Gopher” online systems at DM meeting All-Site Bibliography proposed (but not funded) 10-year plan developed Demonstration of structured metadata using “Attribute-Value” syntax –Started the chain of development on metadata to support automated processing

1992 The idea of using a common format for metadata exchange was an important outgrowth from the 1992 meeting that ultimately led to EML 2.0 a decade later. A test shell-script at the VCR/LTER automatically generated a SPSS job based on metadata in the “attribute-value format” from the CPR (now SGS) LTER

1993 (Madison) Symposium “Environmental Information Management and Analysis: Ecosystem to Biosphere Scales”, May 20-22, 1993, in Albuquerque – Led to 1994 book Prototype All-Site Bibliography database developed 8 sites had online Gopher/WAIS systems “Site Review Tips” –precursor to site review guidelines Oct – initial distribution of WWW “kit” for LTER sites

1994 (Seattle) Use of WWW servers at LTER sites grows dramatically –(first use of URL’s in meeting report) Expanded LTER DM Meeting – bought in other groups for joint meeting LTER Coordinating Committee mandates that each site share at least one dataset online “LTER Data & Information System” (later became “Network Information System)” proposed “LTER Data & Information System” (later became “Network Information System)” proposed LTER Minimum Metadata Content Standard formalized

Metadata Content

1995 (Snowbird) Strategic Vision Statement –First use of “Information Management” instead of “Data Management” Continued design of “NIS” –“Dream” Information system Continued to formalize governance – “Data Management Task Force” precursor to IMEXEC –First election Most LTER sites now have online servers DataBits starts publication hiatus 

1996 – Archibald Biological Sta.

1996 (Lake Placid, FL) X-roots Climate Data workshop –May 1996 (seed for CLIMDB) –V1.0 ClimDB data exchange format developed Mandate to share all data within 2-years of collection Strategy developed for Data-Table-of-Contents (DTOC) data catalog Survey of Site Software & Hardware Participation in Eco-Informa ’96 conference LNO move from Seattle starts

1997 (Albuquerque) FLED committee produces Ecological Metadata paper in Ecological Applications Prototype CLIMDB & DTOC operational Revision of LTER Network Data Policy DIMES workshop

Data & Information Management for the Ecological Sciences (DIMES) workshop – 1997 – Albuquerque, NM Also was important precursor to 2000 book

Baltimore

1998 (Baltimore) LNO completes move from Seattle –New Sheriff in Town Presentation on XML

1998 Operational: Personnel DTOC CLIMDB Revision: Bibliography Prototype: SiteDB Planned: NitrogenDB

1999 (Spokane) Knowledge Networking for Biodiversity Project funded SiteDB and ClimDB move to LNO DataBits publication resumes EML 1.4 standard published Active Metadata working groups

Lessons Learned “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” –Initial 1991 Climate Database never really got off the ground, but subsequent efforts have been highly successful –SiteDB had several different homes “Many hands make light work” –CLIMDB – X-roots -> Climate Committee -> NTL -> LNO -> AND –SiteDB – PAL/BNZ -> LNO

THANKS: People that left the LTER Network Bill Michener – Core Datasets Catalog, DIMES Rudolf Nottrott – forwarding system, LTER Personnel Database, Core Datasets Catalog Caroline Bledsoe – All-Site Bibliography v 1.0, X-Roots Harvey Chin – All-Site Bibliography v.1.0, setup kits for WWW servers Tom Kirchner – Attribute-Value format And MANY more

THANKS – 8/12/1999