Best Practices Wiki Ruth Duerr NSIDC, IEEE Jay Pearlman, IEEE Siri Jodha Singh Khalsa, IEEE Report to GEO Committees February 2008

WIKI – what is that? Wiki software is a type of collaborative software that typically allows web pages to be created and edited by all participants using a common web browser.

How does a “WIKI” work Wiki software is collaborative software that allows web pages to be created and edited. Wiki software is collaborative software that allows web pages to be created and edited using a common web browser. Wiki software is collaborative software that allows web pages to be created and edited by all participants using a common web browser. Wiki software is a type of collaborative software that typically allows web pages to be created and edited by all participants using a common web browser.

Best Practices Wiki Objective: facilitate population of an open access repository of accepted best practices for GEOSS

BP Wiki Concept of Operations (I) Individuals and organizations propose a practice for consideration as a “best” practice by submitting an entry in the wiki. Submitted practices undergo an open peer review process for roughly one month with comments in the wiki on the best practice utility or other aspects. Comments in the wiki are publicly accessible, facilitating a moderated community dialog. At the end of the comment period, the practice may be accepted, rejected, or modifications may be requested.

BP Wiki Concept of Operations (II) Once a practice has been accepted as a “best” practice, it will be advertised as such on the wiki. The practice will remain available for community comment. Comments will be periodically reviewed to determine whether the practice should continue to be accepted as a “best” practice or whether it should be retired, replaced, or augmented. Original contributors will be kept informed of activities

Wiki Facilitation A volunteer “editorial” team, led by an “editor-in-chief,” operating under guidelines reviewed by reviewed the GEO Secretariat and approved by the GEO Committees, will manage the review process. The team will be comprised of volunteer specialists in broad areas of Earth observation and information products. These associate editors will be the team focal point for his/her respective subject area. The associate editor will draw on subject matter experts when appropriate

Associate Editor Responsibilities review newly submitted practices for applicability to their subject areas and to address any erroneous or malicious entries periodically review and respond to comments on practices in their area that are in the review process To solicit comments on proposed practices from their communities solicit proposed practices from their communities if needed annotate conflicts between practices in the wiki in the hopes of eliciting further review and comments leading to resolution of the conflict To keep their communities informed about the status of the practices that have been proposed in their area correspond with submitters to keep them informed of the status of their submittal (this may be automated) recommend approval, disapproval, or modification of a proposed practice to the editorial team at the end of the review period, and changes in status periodically thereafter collaborate with other members of the “editorial” team and participate in “team” activities including periodic telecoms, etc.

Development Plan First pilot –Initial checkout with limited set of areas – 3 mo. –Assessment (clean out any test entries) & rework – 1 mo. Second pilot –Checkout w/ expanded topic areas, involving more participants – 3 mo. –Assessment & rework – 1 mo. Final test period – 1 mo. Fully operational system - announced to all of GEO - 1 Nov 08

First Pilot Phase The first pilot is to test the usability and usefulness of the Wiki, as well as to develop and test the review processes. Best practices will be solicited only for a small subset of each major subject area. Science and Modeling –Climate monitoring/SST –Sea ice concentration algorithms and modeling Measurement Techniques –Reflectance terminology Data management –Provenance –Permanent identifiers (e.g. DOI) Data discovery/access/delivery/visualization –Metadata catalogs SBA focus areas –Energy/Carbon accounting

ISSUES (I) It is not clear how to handle “best” practices that have already been accepted by other international organizations. Should these go through the standard review process? For example, a CODATA committee on data management best practices is expected to complete its work in Nov Once approved by the full committee, these practices will be submitted as best practices for GEOSS. Do they need to go through another review process? Should submitter’s be expected to place the full text of their practice on a Wiki page or may they supply a full description of the practice as attached files? Some of the considerations are: –Allowing attachments greatly simplifies the submission process thereby increasing the likelihood of submissions at the likely expense to users that are searching for practices on a particular topic.

ISSUES (II) The scalability of the existing Wiki needs to be assessed – planned at the end of the second pilot The efficacy of the proposed review process needs to be assessed – planned at the end of the first pilot At this point it is not clear how easy it will be to maintain a stable commitment from members of the editorial team. Will a reward structure be necessary? What do we do if activity on the Wiki is low and entries are few. It may be necessary to solicit entries.

Best Practices WIKI - Summary WIKI is on-line at wiki.ieee-earth.org Associate editors and subject matter expert volunteers in the pilot subjects are being solicited Entries are welcome in the pilot phase subject areas. Volunteers and also comments on the process are being requested and can be provided to Ruth Duerr at Your participation is important. Exposure of the WIKI through Members and Organizations and the GEO Secretariat is critical to BP utility