Role of OBIS in Canadian Research Data Policy
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Role of OBIS in Canadian Research Data Policy
- 1. 1 The Role of OBIS in Canadian Research Data Policy Mary Kennedy1 & Robert Branton2 1 OBIS Canada 2 Ocean Tracking Network Monitoring and Adapting to Change on the Coast
- 2. 2
- 3. 3 News Highlights … • May 2013 - Mike Flavell joined IOC Project Office for IODE, in Oostende Belgium to provide technical support to OBIS and marine biodiversity related activities at IODE. • Nov 2012 - Second IODE Steering Group for OBIS meeting was held at IOC Project Office for IODE in Oostende, Belgium. • 2012 - All OBIS activities previously at Rutgers University, USA were transferred to IODE in Oostende. http://iobis.org/news
- 4. 4 OBIS history and database growth http://www.iobis.org/about/statistics 2000 - OBIS began under the Census of marine Life program 2010 - OBIS part of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission IODE Statistics - January 2013 Number of records: 35.5 million records identified to genus/species: 31.1 million valid species with data: 146,496 valid marine taxa: 163,313 valid marine species: 120,259 valid marine genera: 27,333 Number of datasets: 1,130 Census of Marine Life IOC/IODE
- 5. http://iobis.org/obis/regional-nodes OBIS nodes (data assembly centres) are engaged in a wide spectrum of activities, which demonstrates that the role of OBIS is not limited to raw data encoding but also to develop tools and products and offering services (including capacity building) for data-science and science- policy activities on a local, regional to global scale.
- 6. 41 OBIS Canada Collections 6
- 7. Typical Use Scenarios What organisms have been found or observed here? Where has this organism been found or observed? Oncorhynchus nerka / sockeye salmon http://iobis.org/mapper/
- 8. 8 What does OBIS means to Canada? Census of Marine Life OBIS Canada (2004) Data flows into OBIS thru regional nodes. Fisheries & Oceans Canada hosts the Canadian node OBIS Canada ensures data are •Authoritative •Discoverable •Accessible •Interoperable OBIS Canada data management team •decade of experience in processing OBIS data •experience with data management of biological oceanographic and fisheries data. Data: scientific names and locations
- 9. 9 Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONe) A strategic network focused on biodiversity science for the sustainability of Canada's three oceans http://chone.marinebiodiversity.ca/ Water body CHONe ARCTIC 5 GREAT LAKES NE PACIFIC 12 NW ATLANTIC 19
- 10. 10 Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) Understanding the effects of climate change on the behaviour of marine animals. http://oceantrackingnetwork.org/ Water body OTN ARCTIC 4 GREAT LAKES 1 NE PACIFIC 44 NW ATLANTIC 28
- 11. Public Policies 2011 Canadian Research Data Summit • all data from public funded research to be made openly available in a timely manner as a condition of funding • Exceptions being sought by OTN include: – not reporting location information on endangered species as a means of protecting them from illegal harvest, – protecting the thesis data for Highly Qualified Personnel who are in training. http://rds-sdr.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/events/data_summit_2011 07/03/13 11
- 12. 12 Roles for OBIS Canada & new program data management teams Mentoring -data management best practices (preparation of data and metadata) -knowledge transfer Facilitating data submission - new and refreshed updated content Promoting citation and use of data - proper metadata and terms of use Providing public portal to access data - Canadian data and data in area of interest to Canada Highlighting Canadian research and associated data Representating the OBIS community on Canadian network of data holders and in the global OBIS community
- 13. 13 Benefits Of Collaborating With An OBIS Regional Node Standards & Vocabularies Mobilize Canadian data & make it accessible & available for re-use!
- 14. Filling Gaps In Coastal Knowledge • From broad maps, one sees that although more data is available from coastal areas than from open waters, less is known about smaller animals than larger ones and on the southern hemisphere than on the northern. • OBIS is an open-access database with data from every corner of the world, whereby any provider (individual, institution, or otherwise) who cares to upload to the server and contribute to the global maps OBIS seeks to fill out. http://iobis.org/about/vision http://iobis.org/maps/distribution For example: invasive species like tunicates. Didemnum vexillumDidemnum vexillum marine vomitmarine vomit
- 15. 15 Summary •OBIS Canada has assumed a role as mentor and collaborator to the individual network data management teams to facilitate the publication of these datasets via submission to OBIS. •Routine CHONe and OTN data submissions to OBIS would clearly fulfill such data policy requirement to make the data accessible. •Underlying this would be implementation of best practices, whereby these data are inventoried, archived, and described so that the datasets are discoverable, accessible and reusable. •Knowledge transfer and training of students and data managers.
- 16. Thank you Acknowledgements L. Bajona, H. Hayden and others at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography for developing and operating the OBIS Canada node. 16
Notas del editor
- WEALTH OF DATA INTEGRATION OF DATA EXTENSIVE COVERAGE CHANGES OVER TIME PATTERNS ACROSS SPACE PUBLIC VISIBILITY If you need more infor on OBIS: OBIS can provide a wealth of data for use in understanding species and ecosystems as well as monitoring, evaluating and forecasting change in our oceans. OBIS datasets will facilitate integration with freshwater and marine biodiversity data within an international and national framework of data standards and protocols. It will also provide access to highly distributed data sets from a multitude of partners in areas of interest to regional groups: ---Temporal coverage (time series datasets) ---Geographic coverage ---Taxonomic coverage (phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, birds, mammals) OBIS can provide data of use in understanding species (particularly stocks which straddle international borders) and ecosystems as well as monitoring, evaluating and forecasting change in our oceans. OBIS will enable scientists to study biodiversity at both national and global scales, facilitating research in areas such as ecosystem based management, species at risk, or invasive species which are best examined within the context of global biodiversity changes. OBIS directly relates to efforts to identify biodiversity hotspots and large-scale ecological patterns OBIS will bring increased global visibility to the very high standard of biodiversity research going on regionally and financial support will confirm an organization ’ s continuing commitment to this highly visible international ocean science project.
- OBIS: The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS, www.iobis.org) began in 2000 under the Census of Marine Life (CoML, www.coml.org) programme as an alliance of people and organizations sharing a vision to make marine biogeographic data from all over the world freely available over the World Wide Web (http://www.iobis.org). When CoML ceased in 2010, the OBIS moved to Oostende, Belgium, to be part of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, under its International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) programme. OBIS maintains a portal where one can access giant global database. Records are standardized and collections from across the globe are accessible in a standardized format all from one location – no longer do you have to go to different sources to get plankton, fish, bird and mammal data records. All collections are properly described and metadata documents are designed to provide information so that the end user can determine fitness for use and so that the original data provider obtains due credit. The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) seeks to absorb, integrate, and assess isolated datasets into a larger, more comprehensive picture of life in our oceans. The system hopes to stimulate research about our oceans to generate new hypotheses concerning evolutionary processes, species distributions, and roles of organisms in marine systems on a global scale. The maps generated by OIBS contribute to the ‘big picture’ of our oceans: a comprehensive, collaborative, world-wide view of our oceans. OBIS provides a portal or gateway to many datasets containing information on where and when marine species have been recorded. The datasets are integrated so you can search them all seamlessly by species names, higher taxonomic level, geographic area, depth, and time; and then map and find environmental data related to the locations.
- Data flows into OBIS thru regional nodes. The intent is to serve QC data to the portal and have contact close to the source.OBIS Canada is responsible for quality control (QC) and submission of Canadian marine biodiversity data to OBIS OBISCanada ensures data are: Authoritative; Discoverable; Accessible; Interoperable Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) as a member of the IOC and IODE supports OBIS. DFO houses the OBIS Canada data repository at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. OBIS Canada started in 2004 at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Canada by the Centre of Marine Biodiversity as part of the Census of Marine Life. OBIS Canada data management team have almost a decade of experience in processing OBIS data plus the two authors have over 70 years combined experience with data management of biological oceanographic and fisheries data. Data flows into OBIS through regional and thematic nodes. The nodes are responsible to QC the data prior to submission to the international database. OBIS Canada started in 2004 at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Canada by the Centre of Marine Biodiversity (http://www.marinebiodiversity.ca) as the focus for quality control (QC) and submission of Canadian marine biodiversity data to the OBIS Portal at Rutgers State University of New Jersey USA. The regional node is hosted by DFO at BIO and the regional nodes ’ database is on the BIO server while the web page is outside the government firewall on the CMB server at Dal Authoritative - describing specimens and observations using reliable species names and hierarchical classifications. Discoverable - listing data collections and their characteristics in a searchable catalogue system. Accessible - serving data as part of a global geo-referenced ocean information system on marine species. Interoperable visualizing and analyzing data from several different sources and disciplines Data flows into OBIS through regional and thematic nodes. OBIS Canada is the Canadian Regional node. The OBIS Canada node is located in the Maritimes at BIO. During CoML the OBIS project office was at Rutgers University The IOC/IODE OBIS administrative office is in Oostende, Belgium Figure 1. Locations of samples archived in OBIS. Orange symbols show the location of samples submitted by OBIS Canada (left) and green symbols show the location of all samples that fall with the Canadian area of interest as defined by DFO Integrated Science Data Management for oceanographic data (35–90o N and 40-180o W) from all OBIS sources (right). Submissions of marine data via OBIS Canada are ongoing with 40 submissions to date, that is 1.3 million records on >8000 taxa, covering all three of Canada ’ s oceans (Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific) and the Great Lakes (Table 1). It should be noted that the OBIS database contains many more records from other worldwide sources that were collected in the area of interest to Canada and are now accessible for reuse (Figure 1).
- OTN’s original 2008 data policy ( members.oceantrack.org/data/data-collection/otn-data-policy ) was modeled on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 2006 Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data. Much has changed since 2008, especially with regards to the evolution of national and international standards for data sharing. In 2011 the Canadian Research Data Summit resulted in a unified position of Canadian funding agencies—including OTN’s principal funding agencies Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and Social Sciences and Health Research Council (SSHRC) — to require that all data from publically funded research be made openly available in a timely manner. Meeting this standard will be a condition for all grantees to maintain funding from these agencies. However, it is also anticipated that there may be exceptions to the policy provided in some circumstances that permit investigators to restrict access to data for limited periods. Examples from the OTN context could include refraining from reporting location information on endangered species that network investigators are tracking, in order to protect the animals from illegal harvesting, and protecting thesis data for Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) who are in training. In anticipation of this, OTN has posted a revised policy at: members.oceantrack.org/data/data-collection/policyhighlights . The POST 2010 policy document can found at: http://www.postprogram.org/files/POST_Data_Access_Policy.pdf .
- Why would OBIS Canada wish to assume the role of mentoring new program data management teams? The move of OBIS to IODE resulted in internal reorganization and a review of various roles and responsibilities. During CoML data providers had the option to submit datasets directly to the project office. Currently iOBIS wishes all programs to fall under the wing of a node – this should result in a regional review of the data before it is submitted to iOBIS taking the burden off the portal technical team and keeping the QC close to the source. This requires closer contact between the node and the data holders and data flow will benefit from implementation of best practices at source. In the case of CHONe guiding data managers and researchers in the implementation of common structures and vocabularies is an ongoing issue. In the case of OTN their data management team has close ties with OBIS and already include many OBIS schema, standardized structure and vocabularies. More generally, during CoML the focus was on publishing datasets that contained presence information. This is still an important component of OBIS but OBIS Canada would like to encourage the submission of abundance and/or biomass records whenever possible. OTN and CHONe both contain types of datasets not previously published in OBIS Canada and will help fill gaps in the Canadian picture. The CHONe datasets address major gaps in the benthic area and OTN will provide individual specimen info in the form of tag release data. Both datasets would include links at the record level to additional information such as genetic barcodes (http://www.barcodeoflife.org/) and individual animal tracks. What is not OBIS Canada ’ s role? OBIS cannot fulfill the role of a long-term archive for sustainability purposes. Given this, OTN has entered into a joint project agreement with Fisheries and Ocean Canada whereby OTN is effectively acting as DFO ’ s national acoustic telemetry data assembly centre in exchange for creation of long-term archive within Canada ’ s National Oceanographic Data Centre. Perhaps a similar collaboration should be explored for CHONe using DFO ’ s national BioChem archive. … refer to the OBIS node guide book re roles and responsibilities & node tasks SG-OBIS-2 report: http://www.iode.org/index.php?option=com_oe&task=viewDocumentRecord&docID=10101 Roles for OBIS Canada Role of mentor re data management best practices (preparation of data and metadata) The OBIS Canada data management team has a long history working with biological data (on project, local, regional, national and global scales) and wishes to share its expertise with up and coming research projects such as OTN and CHONe. OBIS Canada would like to assume the role of mentor to these projects and assist with implementation of good data management at the source and to promote proper data flow from sample collection to the publishing of publicly accessible products. The strategy being to submit quality controlled standardized data to identified archives and then set into place queries that can be run on a regular basis on these archives which would produce content that could be used for products that would be released to the public in a timely manner. Following best practices, source data should be managed properly using standards and controlled vocabularies, and procedures to QC the data should be implemented. The two issues of prime concern to OBIS are getting the name of the taxa and the sample location positions correct. We are not implying that OBIS will assist with the correct identification of specimens nor of assigning the correct name but we can provide tools to resolve synonym and spelling variation issues. The level of expertise of the person doing the identification should be described in the metadata document accompanying the dataset. Coordinate precision associated with these coordinates should be noted – was the position obtained from a GPS, from a chart or from a gazetteer? The name of the gazetteer used to obtain location/place name information should be included and OBIS Canada can provide assistance with generating appropriate discovery metadata so that the end user can judge fitness for use and access information required to properly interpret the data. Role of facilitating data submission (new and refreshed updated content) We know that data exists …. Now how can we make it easier for the data owner to submit… OBIS Canada has recently installed its own instance of a Global Biodiversity Information Facility Integrated Publishing Toolkit (GBIF IPT) ( http://webapps.marinebiodiversity.ca/ipt/ ) . The IPT was designed to facilitate the transfer of data to OBIS and to GBIF. Data providers will retain control of their data and their metadata submission and can easily revise content and request a new crawl. Data will not be orphaned…send off to OBIS and then forgotten. Relatively simple to recrawl and refresh on a regular basis and if proper views of the source data have been set up then adding new data/expanding the dataset extents be they temporal/spatial or taxonomic will be relatively simple. Initially data providers will need guidance but once data starts to flow the flood gates may open…. Proper data management will lead to easy submission to OBIS Canada using the new IPT. data submitted to OBIS can easily be refreshed with little or no effort after the initial queries have been set in place. Guides do exist re how to author metadata (GCMD guide, IPT guide) ( Directory Interchange Format (DIF) Writer's Guide, 2013. Global Change Master Directory. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. [http://gcmd.nasa.gov/add/difguide/]. ) ( Wieczorek, 2011) (http://code.google.com/p/gbif-providertoolkit/wiki/IPT2ManualNotes) but a best practices as to the content to fill in the boxes does not exist – hope to create this for Canadian datasets using OTN and CHONe as examples and to provide this to iOBIS. Role of promoting citation and use of data (proper metadata and terms of use) Data owners are often concerned that if their data is contributed to a huge global database that they and their funding organizations will not receive due credit and recognition. All OBIS datasets are associated with discovery metadata and it is incumbent on the data provider to included proper citation and project description information. All users of OBIS are reminded to properly cite not just the database but also the source data. (insert citation link). Role of providing public portal to access data (Canadian data and data in area of interest to Canada) OBIS provides a free public portal to its global dataset. Search options allow users to select records based on specific temporal, spatial or taxonomic criteria or users may choose to access specific datasets. This feature allows users to access datasets specific to projects such as OTN or CHONe. OBIS will bring increased global visibility to the very high standard of biodiversity research going on regionally and financial support will confirm an organization ’ s continuing commitment to this highly visible international ocean science project. Role of highlighting Canadian research and associated data Each OBIS dataset is associated with discovery metadata authored by the data provider. These documents can include references to associated data collected as part of the project and also provide links to more detailed information. Individual records may also include links to associated information such as bar codes, museum specimens, photographs or even species tracking information. Publishing data to OBIS can be a means to highlight research and direct users to the data provider if more info required. The OBIS product can be used to satisfy most requests for data - Divert traffic to a site to obtain standardized view of the data. (can direct to the IPT or to OBIS). This frees up the data collector to work on other research issues. Role of representing the OBIS community on Canadian network of data holders (Canadian GBIF network) Thru collaboration with OBIS Canada research projects obtain a voice on the network…promote mobilization of Canadian data either thru OBIS Canada or Canadensys or other routes. OBIS will not fulfill the role of long-term archive for sustainability, however, the OBIS team is part of the IODE community and has contacts with the Canadian national oceanographic data centre (NODC) and can provide advice and contacts related to storage of oceanographic datasets including profiles, water bottle samples, plankton, etc. Roles for OBIS Canada Role of mentor re data management best practices (preparation of data and metadata) The OBIS Canada data management team has a long history working with biological data (on project, local, regional, national and global scales) and wishes to share its expertise with up and coming research projects such as OTN and CHONe. OBIS Canada would like to assume the role of mentor to these projects and assist with implementation of good data management at the source and to promote proper data flow from sample collection to the publishing of publicly accessible products. The strategy being to submit quality controlled standardized data to identified archives and then set into place queries that can be run on a regular basis on these archives which would produce content that could be used for products that would be released to the public in a timely manner. Following best practices, source data should be managed properly using standards and controlled vocabularies, and procedures to QC the data should be implemented. The two issues of prime concern to OBIS are getting the name of the taxa and the sample location positions correct. We are not implying that OBIS will assist with the correct identification of specimens nor of assigning the correct name but we can provide tools to resolve synonym and spelling variation issues. The level of expertise of the person doing the identification should be described in the metadata document accompanying the dataset. Coordinate precision associated with these coordinates should be noted – was the position obtained from a GPS, from a chart or from a gazetteer? The name of the gazetteer used to obtain location/place name information should be included and OBIS Canada can provide assistance with generating appropriate discovery metadata so that the end user can judge fitness for use and access information required to properly interpret the data. Role of facilitating data submission (new and refreshed updated content) We know that data exists …. Now how can we make it easier for the data owner to submit… OBIS Canada has recently installed its own instance of a Global Biodiversity Information Facility Integrated Publishing Toolkit (GBIF IPT) ( http://webapps.marinebiodiversity.ca/ipt/ ) . The IPT was designed to facilitate the transfer of data to OBIS and to GBIF. Data providers will retain control of their data and their metadata submission and can easily revise content and request a new crawl. Data will not be orphaned…send off to OBIS and then forgotten. Relatively simple to recrawl and refresh on a regular basis and if proper views of the source data have been set up then adding new data/expanding the dataset extents be they temporal/spatial or taxonomic will be relatively simple. Initially data providers will need guidance but once data starts to flow the flood gates may open…. Proper data management will lead to easy submission to OBIS Canada using the new IPT. data submitted to OBIS can easily be refreshed with little or no effort after the initial queries have been set in place. Guides do exist re how to author metadata (GCMD guide, IPT guide) ( Directory Interchange Format (DIF) Writer's Guide, 2013. Global Change Master Directory. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. [http://gcmd.nasa.gov/add/difguide/]. ) ( Wieczorek, 2011) (http://code.google.com/p/gbif-providertoolkit/wiki/IPT2ManualNotes) but a best practices as to the content to fill in the boxes does not exist – hope to create this for Canadian datasets using OTN and CHONe as examples and to provide this to iOBIS. Role of promoting citation and use of data (proper metadata and terms of use) Data owners are often concerned that if their data is contributed to a huge global database that they and their funding organizations will not receive due credit and recognition. All OBIS datasets are associated with discovery metadata and it is incumbent on the data provider to included proper citation and project description information. All users of OBIS are reminded to properly cite not just the database but also the source data. (insert citation link). Role of providing public portal to access data (Canadian data and data in area of interest to Canada) OBIS provides a free public portal to its global dataset. Search options allow users to select records based on specific temporal, spatial or taxonomic criteria or users may choose to access specific datasets. This feature allows users to access datasets specific to projects such as OTN or CHONe. OBIS will bring increased global visibility to the very high standard of biodiversity research going on regionally and financial support will confirm an organization ’ s continuing commitment to this highly visible international ocean science project. Role of highlighting Canadian research and associated data Each OBIS dataset is associated with discovery metadata authored by the data provider. These documents can include references to associated data collected as part of the project and also provide links to more detailed information. Individual records may also include links to associated information such as bar codes, museum specimens, photographs or even species tracking information. Publishing data to OBIS can be a means to highlight research and direct users to the data provider if more info required. The OBIS product can be used to satisfy most requests for data - Divert traffic to a site to obtain standardized view of the data. (can direct to the IPT or to OBIS). This frees up the data collector to work on other research issues. Role of representing the OBIS community on Canadian network of data holders (Canadian GBIF network) Thru collaboration with OBIS Canada research projects obtain a voice on the network…promote mobilization of Canadian data either thru OBIS Canada or Canadensys or other routes. OBIS will not fulfill the role of long-term archive for sustainability, however, the OBIS team is part of the IODE community and has contacts with the Canadian national oceanographic data centre (NODC) and can provide advice and contacts related to storage of oceanographic datasets including profiles, water bottle samples, plankton, etc. -Receive or harvest marine biodiversity data (and metadata) from national, regional and international programs, and the scientific community at large -Perform data validation (using standards, tools and best practices) -Report the results of QC directly to data providers as part of the quality assurance activity -Provide data (and metadata) to OBIS using agreed upon standards and formats. -Ensure the long-term preservation of the data, metadata and associated information required for correct interpretation of the data (including version-control) -Participate as a member of the IODE steering group for OBIS, attend the SG-OBIS annual meeting and report on node activities; Provide indicators on up-time, responsiveness and data processed by nodes and present a report to SG-OBIS -Engage in stakeholder groups -Provide customer support (data queries, analyses, feedback). -Participate in outreach and capacity building (i.e., providing expertise, training and support in data management, technologies, standards and best practices). -Build customized data portals -Control data access, terms of use and comply with the IOC/OBIS data policy for using/sharing OBIS data. -Contribute to the development of standards and best practices in OBIS -Contribute to the development of open-source tools in OBIS
- Why collaborate with OBIS and OBIS Canada? In 2011, in response to a paper discussing the fact that Canadian biodiversity data is not easily accessible (Hyde et al. 2010) a network of Canadian biological data holders was set up with the objective to mobilize Canadian data. Members of this network work together so it doesn ’ t matter which route one takes to publish the data – the objective is to get it published! In our opinion though, publishing marine data through OBIS Canada will result in a better quality controlled product. http://www.natureserve.org/publications/natureserve_canada_SOBI_2010.pdf Why collaborate with OBIS and OBIS Canada? OBIS Canada assists data management teams, such as CHONe and OTN, to utilize available public tools to standardize their data records as part of their own QC procedures. The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) (Appletans et al. , 2012) and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (http://www.itis.gov/) are recognized taxonomic name standards. WoRMS is recognized as the best source for marine species and their taxon match tool (http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=match) should be included in QC procedures. The authoritative source of geographical place names is the Canadian Geographical Names Data Base (CGNDB, http://www4.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/geography-boundary/geographical-name/search/name.php) and MarineRegions.org (http://www.marineregions.org/) for marine regions. Conclusion OBIS Canada has assumed a role as mentor and collaborator to the individual research network data management teams to facilitate data management and data flow to OBIS thereby fulfilling the mandate to make the data publicly discoverable and accessible. OBIS is a working reality that Canadian ocean researchers must use. Given this OBIS Canada is actively working with OTN and CHONe to devise a strategy whereby the core biodiversity results from these two research networks would routinely be made publicly accessible via the international OBIS portal. In other words, the research data hook has been firmly set and it is OBIS Canada ’ s job to firmly but gently reel the data in, one collection at time. By making data public, data providers contribute to the wealth of data for use in understanding species and ecosystems as well as monitoring, evaluating and forecasting change in our oceans. Even small datasets can contribute to the regional, global and taxonomic picture! On the international side--- The Research Data Alliance is an organisation that aims to accelerate and facilitate research data sharing and exchange. First plenary meeting was held in March 2013. The purpose of the Research Data Alliance is to accelerate international data-driven innovation and discovery by facilitating research data sharing and exchange, use and re-use, standards harmonization, and discoverability. This will be achieved through the development and adoption of infrastructure, policy, practice, standards, and other deliverables. A suggested best practice is - make biological distribution data publicly accessible thru submissions to OBIS.
- OBIS Canada has assumed a role as mentor and collaborator to the individual network data management teams to facilitate the publication of these datasets via submission to OBIS. Routine CHONe and OTN data submissions to OBIS would clearly fulfill such a requirement. Underlying this would be implementation of best practices, whereby these data are inventoried, archived, and described so that the datasets are discoverable, accessible and reusable. Train data providers to do the work and submit ‘ processed ’ data. If good data management procedures implemented at source then all that is required is a view of existing info. This can be updated on a regular basis to update any edits and to expand the content extents (temporal, spatial and taxonomic). Set up IPT and give control of data submission to data provider; they will hjave the burden of data processing but this should be part of their data management procedures. Coordinate and standardize data and create canadian records that can easily be integrated with other programs and terrestrial data. Share lessons learned and document cases. Our historical expertise is with fish and plankton and EBSAs but basic principles hoold – just need to develop a few new vocabularies and/or enhance definitions. Compile list of FAQ to addresses common issues. Plus need documentation cause what may be obvious to one group may need to be clarified for another. Re-use of data requires that it be well codumented and it is common for a data provider to assume that others understand the basic components of their sampling/analysis methods. These need to be references and defenitions need to be accessible.