What a Difference a Year Makes: GRIIDC 2017 Year In Review

2017 is almost over, which means a time for reflection. The GRIIDC team was very busy this year participating in meetings, releasing new software, evacuating for a hurricane, and adding new members to our team. Let’s take a look at some of GRIIDC’s accomplishments in 2017.

One of our most significant accomplishments was the growth of the GRIIDC collection: Over 400 additional datasets were identified in the system and over 400 datasets were completed and made publicly available. Datasets in the GRIIDC system were downloaded over 1,200 times. GRIIDC hopes that in 2018 the collection and use of our system continue to grow.

January: GRIIDC became DataONE’s 38th member node allowing more access to GoMRI datasets. BP’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) data became available for download on the GRIIDC website.

February: Software was released that greatly simplified the data submission workflow. Users no longer have to submit a separate metadata file as the submission form collects the information that describes the contents of the dataset. A new guidance document was created on how to submit data via an external hard drive to GRIIDC.

March: The GRIIDC team participated in the State of the Gulf of Mexico Summit and Gulf of Mexico Alliance All Hands Meeting March 26-30 in Houston, Texas.

June: Software was released that automatically assigns a DOI when a dataset is submitted to GRIIDC and displays the DOI on the dataset landing page, dataset submission confirmation page, and data discovery page. The new software provided the ability to add multiple dataset points of contact during dataset submission. The GRIIDC team participated in the Deepwater Horizon Long Term Data Management Coordination Workshop June 7-8 in Mobile, Alabama.

July: The GRIIDC team participated in the DataONE Users Group (DUG) and Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) meetings July 25-28 in Bloomington, Indiana.

August: GRIIDC implemented the Hurricane Response Plan due to Hurricane Harvey. One week later the GRIIDC system was fully online and operational.

September: GRIIDC was recognized in Dr. Peter Brewer, Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) Research Board Data Committee Co-Chair and Eos Editor’s Vox editorial “Do You Expect Me to Just Give Away My Data?”

October: Two new software developers were hired: Son Nguyen and Praneeth Pondicherry Ravendernath.

November: GRIIDC added the ability to search for a dataset using the DOI of the associated publication in the data discovery portal. The number of times a dataset has been downloaded was added to dataset landing pages and a link to the GRIIDC ERDDAP server was added to the main menu bar under "Search Data."

December: GRIIDC hosted four training webinars. GRIIDC presented a poster at the 2018 Fall American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Although 2017 was quite a year for GRIIDC, we are looking forward to 2018 and hope to achieve even more to help researchers manage and share their data. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!