1. Building the LTER Network Information System

2. NIS History, Then and Now YearMilestone 1993 – 1996NIS vision formed by Information Managers (IMs) and LTER Network Office (LNO) 1997 – 2003Network databases populated by IMs and LNO 1999 – 2002Metacat and Ecological Metadata Language (EML) developed by community, including LNO and IMs 2003EML adopted by LTER Network; NIS Advisory Committee (NISAC) appointed by LTER Coordinating Committee 2004NIS lead scientist hired by LNO 2005NIS Strategic Plan completed by NISAC and LNO 2007Cyberinfrastructure Strategic Plan completed by IMs and LNO 2008Provenance Aware Synthesis Tracking Architecture (PASTA) grows out of EcoTrends technical development 2009American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) awarded to core NIS development 2010NIS project and development plans outlined in LNO Operational Plan

3. NIS Mission Statement “… to promote advances in collaborative and synthetic ecological science at multiple temporal and spatial scales by providing the information management and technology infrastructure to increase” availability and quality of data from LTER sites timeliness and number of LTER derived data products knowledge generated from the synthesis of LTER data Bottom line: 1.Make all LTER data available in a consistent format through a single web portal 2.Provide derived and value-added data for community use

4. NIS Ingredients Site collected data and metadata LNO developed middleware (software) or integrated from other sources (e.g., sites, open source projects) Derived data and metadata products Data modules from other LTER science initiatives (e.g., ClimDB/HydroDB, EcoTrends)

5. LTER Network Information System NIS middleware (PASTA) Site data and metadata Value adding applications

6. LNO Operational Plan

7. NIS Development Timeline 20102011201220132014 Q1Q2Q3Q4Q1Q2Q3Q4Q1Q2Q3Q4Q1Q2Q3Q4Q1Q2Q3Q4 Production Deployment Full featured web portal Advanced programming interface for building external applications Support for user-created workflows and creation of derived data Automated metadata/data harvesting with QA/QC of tabular and complex data Full provenance capture for data life-cycle Operational Prototype Integrated into current web portal Basic programming interface for discovery/access of data System-based workflow execution for creation of derived data Automated metadata/data harvesting with QA/QC for tabular data Partial provenance capture for data life-cycle Start of Development Incremental release Transition to maintenance

8. Completing the NIS requires involvement from a broad cross-section of LTER members Tiger Teams – to provide community dialogue and rapid feedback as part of specific component development teams Requests for Comments – to receive thoughtful written comments from individuals or groups in the stakeholder community Working Groups – to provide design, specification, and development on specific tasks and sub-components Focus Groups - to get focused feedback on specific components Surveys – to assess bi-directional communication effectiveness NISAC – to provide advise and evaluation on the NIS LTER Executive Board – to provide endorsement and evaluation

9. Tiger Teams Roles & Responsibilities 2-3 individuals Information Managers Scientists Graduate Students Scope of work Direct input to requirements and design Intermediate and final acceptance testing of software Commitment 4-8 months 2-6 hours per week On demand feedback “Referring to a team set up solely in response to a specific situation or problem, without considering any wider or longer-term issues.” - Wikipedia www.maxim.art.prv.pl