This document discusses the development of an agile governance model for EarthCube, a cyberinfrastructure project aimed at enabling data-driven geoscience research. It outlines EarthCube's vision and purpose, as well as the goals of the Test Enterprise Governance project to develop a community-driven governance system through stakeholder engagement. This will involve convening an Assembly in year 1 to gather input on governance ideas via workshops and crowdsourcing. In year 2, an experimental governance system will be demonstrated and evaluated to form the basis for long-term EarthCube governance.

1. An Agile Approach to
Development of
Cyberinfrastructure
Governance
Lee Allison, Genevieve Pearthree, and Kim Patten
EarthCube Test Enterprise Governance Project

2. EARTHCUBE PURPOSE & CALL TO ACTION
 Holistic
approach to understand more
deeply the planet and its interactions
 Explore
knowledge from all scientific and
engineering disciplines
CALL TO ACTION: ―Over the next decade, the
geosciences community commits to developing a
framework to understand and predict responses of
the Earth as a system—from the space-atmosphere
boundary to the core, including the influences of
humans and ecosystems.‖
NSF GEO Vision report, 2009

3. EARTHCUBE VISION
 Transform
Dynamic
Earth
Changing
Climate
the conduct of dataenabled geoscience-related
research
 Create
effective communitydriven cyberinfrastructure
 Allow
global data discovery and
knowledge management
Water:
Changing
Perspectives
Earth & Life
GeosphereBiospheric
Connection
 Achieve
interoperability and
data integration across
disciplines

4. EARTHCUBE IS…
 Building
on and leverage existing
science & cyberinfrastructure
 Community-driven

 All
> 2,500 participants and growing
geosciences domains represented
 New
round of awards made
September 2013

Test Enterprise Governance (1)

Research Coordination Networks (3)

Building Blocks (9)

Conceptual Designs (2)

5. EarthCube governance is a blank canvas
We are looking to you to draw the future

6. EARTHCUBE ENTERPRISE TEST GOVERNANCE
An agile approach to
design a system that
catalyzes the field and
works for you
How do we bring your
tools, standards, and
skills into EarthCube?

7. Governance timeline – Year 1
Stakeholders
(Assembly) –
governance
ideas, testing
Integrate
stakeholder
concepts crowdsource
Synthesize
and
recommend
to NSF
Governance timeline – Year 2
Establish Test
Governance
Facilitate
convergence on
system design,
data standards
Evaluate results:
basis for long
term governance

8. EARTHCUBE TEST GOVERNANCE: TARGET COMMUNITY
Broad Geosciences
Community
(> 300,000 people)
Assembly,
including NSF Awards
(150 - 200 people)
Governance
Project
Team
(30 people)

9. Figure 1: EarthCube Test Enterprise Governance Organization Chart Phase 1 –
Planning

10. EARTHCUBE TEST GOVERNANCE - A VIRTUAL TEAM

11. ―Executive
Branch‖
An unbiased,
objective
process to
get your
input and
propose a
solution
Test
Governance
Project
Secretariat
―Legislative
Body‖
Assembly
&
Assembly
Advisory
Council

12. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT (YEAR 1): EARTHCUBE ASSEMBLY
Industry & FOSS:
Instrumentation,
Software, and
Technology
Developers
EarthCube
Portfolio
Research
Science
Communities
End-User
Communities &
Workshop
Participants
Data
Facilities
& Users
IT/CS/
Information
Scientists
Professional
Societies
Assembly
Advisory
Council
(10-12 members)

13. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT (YEAR 1): CROWDSOURCING

14. DEMONSTRATION GOVERNANCE (YEAR 2)
To be
decided by
you in Year 1

15. Coming soon –
new website

16. A CALL FOR YOUR INVOLVEMENT
• Upcoming community workshops: Jan – March 2014
• Crowdsourcing:
• Virtual table-top gaming exercises
• Feedback on governance models
• Facebook
• Twitter
• www.earthcube.org
• Look for us at AGU, AMS, Ocean Sciences