GRIIDC Participates in Meetings Hosted by DataONE and ESIP

More than 250 earth scientists, data managers, librarians, administrators, and educators convened in Bloomington, Indiana during concurrent meetings hosted by the DataONE Users Group (DUG) and Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP).

As the leading events for the earth science data communities, the meetings included nearly 400 in-person and remote participants to discuss common challenges and innovative solutions for earth science data management — from data acquisition to long term data use and preservation.

“The sessions at these meetings are unique since they provide a forum for discussion for all attendees, rather than focusing on presentations by a few authorities,” said Felimon Gayanilo, Harte Research Institute Systems Architect and outgoing DUG co-chair. He added that “the networking and collaborative opportunities available through these meetings are second-to-none.”

DUG was created to provide input to DataONE and help DataONE achieve its mission of enabling new scientific and knowledge creation through access to data about life on earth and the environment that sustains it. The mission of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) is to improve society’s ability to understand, respond to, and mitigate the impact of petroleum pollution and related stressors of marine and coastal ecosystems, with an emphasis on the Gulf of Mexico. The commitment to data sharing adopted by GoMRI in its data sharing policy aligns with the mission of DataONE. The complimentary missions of DataONE and GoMRI were a driving force in the decision for the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information & Data Cooperative (GRIIDC) to become a DataONE member node. Since January 2017, GRIIDC has been a member node in the DataONE network to increase the visibility and impact of Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative datasets. Datasets submitted to GRIIDC are searchable through the DataONE catalog.

Felimon welcomed attendees and started the meeting with the business of electing new co-chairs and steering committee members. Discoverability, reproducibility, and sustainability of data were the major themes addressed in presentations and breakout sessions over the course of the DUG meeting.

The 19th annual ESIP meeting featured over 200 contributions focusing on the theme “Strengthening Ties between Observations and User Communities,” ranging from technical sessions on cloud computing for experts to science communication for beginners. Included among the 86 first time participants was Sandra Ellis, GRIIDC Program Manager, who participated in sessions about trusted data repositories, tools for metadata creation and curation, and data management return on investment. By learning more about the data repository landscape and data management best practices such as those discussed at ESIP, GRIIDC can ensure that GoMRI datasets are documented, preserved, and accessible well into the future as part of the GoMRI legacy.

“The meeting was an excellent opportunity to learn from the experience of other data management organizations,” Ellis said. “It inspired me with a number of ideas for how to improve the GRIIDC system.”

The busy week included the popular “Research as Art” event that encouraged participants to use visual media to communicate data and research. Hosted at WonderLab Museum of Science, Health, and Technology, the highlight of the evening was a group photo captured by a drone in the Lester P. Bushnell WonderGarden.

The 20th annual ESIP summer meeting will be held next year, and both Sandra and Felimon are looking forward to continuing participation in another energizing event.

More information about the DUG and ESIP can be found at www.dataone.org/dataone-users-group and www.esipfed.org, respectively.