OceanTeacher: Building Capacity in Oceanographic Data and Information Management

Greg ReedIntergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

What is IODE ?

• The International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange– a program of IOC; established in 1961

• IODE objectives:– “The IODE system has been established to

enhance marine research, exploration, and development by facilitating the exchange of oceanographic data and information between participating Member States.”

What is IODE ?

• The IODE System is a global network of Data Centres.

• There are 4 different types of data centres, each with their own responsibilities:– World Data Centre (Oceanography) – Responsible National Oceanographic Data Centre – National Oceanographic Data Centre

– Designated National Agency

IODE Capacity Building

• Capacity building has always been an important component of the IODE program

• Assisting member states to acquire and build the necessary resources for ocean data and information management is an essential and critical part of all IODE activities

• Training courses, mostly hosted by National Oceanographic Data Centres, have been held annually with resource persons from the IODE community providing instruction.

IODE Capacity Building Model

• New capacity building Model:– BEFORE:

• occasional training courses at national or regional level, internships

• no follow-up

IODE Capacity Building Model

• New capacity building Model:– BEFORE:

• occasional training courses at national or regional level, internships

• no follow-up

– NOW:• Link: EQUIPMENT + TRAINING + OPERATIONAL

SUPPORT• Program of training workshops with intersessional goals

and follow up

IOC Regional Approach

• IOC activities are organized into regions:

IOC Regions in Africa

IOCEA IOCINCWIO

ODINAFRICA

• Urgent need to develop ocean data and information management capacity in Africa

• 20 African Member States:– Benin, Cameroon, Comores, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon,

Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia

ODINAFRICA

• Capacity Building– Assistance in development/operation of NODCs /

DNAs– Provision of Internet access– Training (+Follow-up)– Development of national/regional/African metadata

and data bases– Development of ocean data and information products– Provision of Information services– Linkages with other projects (e.g. GOOS-Africa)

ODINAFRICA

• First phase of ODINAFRICA– ODINEA 1998-2000– 7 East African countries– 3 Training workshops in ocean data management– Development of the IODE Resource Kit to support

capacity building

ODINAFRICA

• Second phase of ODINAFRICA– ODINAFRICA II – 11 West African countries + 1 Indian Ocean

country– First training workshop in ocean data management

held in April 2001– First training workshop in marine information

management to be held in November 2001– IODE Resource Kit expanded to include a training

manual and renamed “Ocean Teacher”

OceanTeacher

• OceanTeacher is the IOC/IODE capacity building system

• The objective is to provide training tools for Oceanographic Data and Information Management.

• These tools are used during IODE Training Courses but can also be used for self training and continuous professional development

OceanTeacher Structure

• The OceanTeacher system comprises two components:

– The IODE Resource Kit– The Resource Kit Training Manuals

The IODE Resource Kit

• The Resource Kit contains a range of marine data-management and information-management materials, including software, quality control and analysis strategies, training manuals, and relevant IOC documents. 

• The Kit provides a broad spectrum of background information on global data and information archiving activities, specifications for data storage in standard formats, and the software tools to perform many quality control, sub-setting, and analyses techniques. 

The IODE Resource Kit

• 3 major sections:

– The IODE Data Centre System (what is a data centre, global programmes, science plans, data policy, reference library);

– Data Management Systems (computer systems, database technology, metadata, data collection, quality control, the internet, GIS);

– Data Analysis & Products (formats, data, software, classroom, data products).

Training Manual

• The Training Manual is a collection of outlines, notes, examples, and miscellaneous documents used in conjunction with the Resource Kit to organise training programs in marine data and information training.

• These training programs are designed for the instruction of ocean data and information managers of newly established NODCs, DNAs and Marine Information Centres

Training Manual

• Two separate components:– Ocean Data Management Training Manual– Marine Information Management Training Manual

Training Manual

• Ocean Data Management Manual - Course 1– Introductory Materials – The IOC/IODE System– Introduction to Use of PC for Ocean Data Management – Basic Data Concepts – Data, Metadata & Information – IODE Data Centre Operations – Relational  Database Management Systems – Data Manipulation & Analysis – The Internet – Intersessional Goals

Training Manual

• Ocean Data Management Manual - Course 2– Introduction – National Data Collection – Adding National Data – National Hydrography CD – Data Management in ODV – Managing HDF Files – Gridding and Contouring Data – Managing Image Files – Data Synthesis in GIS – National Data Catalogues

Training Manual Structure

• Each section starts with a page containing the following headers:– GOAL: What will be learned from each chapter– CONTENTS: Topics included in each chapter– LINKS: Links to relevant pages in the Resource Kit– SUBTOPICS: sub-chapters in the Manual

Training Manual

• Marine Information Management Manual - Course 1– Information Concepts – Evaluating the need for an information centre– The Business Plan – Information Technology (including hardware, software,

storage, databases, knowledge management & thesaurus)

– Building and documenting a collection – Integrated Library Management System – The state of marine information today and the role of the

librarian/information manager

Training Manual

• Marine Information Management Manual - Course 2– Integrated Library Management System : Advanced

applications

– Implementing Research Support Services

– Information seeking in the electronic environment

– Electronic resources in the marine sciences

– Ocean Portal

– Intersessional Goals

Regional Data Collections

• The Ocean Data Management Training Manual is supplemented by regional data collections

• Contain a collection of marine and coastal data for use in environmental analyses

• The underlying goal of the collections is to provide the user with data that can be synthesized, particularly in Geographical Information System (GIS).

Regional Data Collections

Typically the regional data collections contain:

– AIR TEMPERATURE

– BATHYMETRY

– CHLOROPHYLL

– COASTLINE

– CURRENTS

– GEOPHYSICS

– LAND COVER

– NITRATE (NO3)

– NUTRIENTS

– PHOSPHATE (PO4)

– OCEAN STATION DATA

– OXYGEN (O2)

– PRECIPITATION

– SALINITY

– SEA TEMPERATURE

– SILICATE (SiO4)

– SOILS

– VEGETATION

– WAVES

– WINDS

Regional Data Collections

• Data collections have been completed for:

IOCINCWIO Region

Red Sea Africa Update (WOD01)

IOCEA Region ODINCARSA Region

Regional Training Courses• OceanTeacher curriculum has been used at:

– First ODINAFRICA-II Training Course in Marine Data Management, Casablanca, Morocco, April 2-13, 2001

– First ODINAFRICA-II Training Course in Marine Information Management, Cape Town, South Africa, 29 October-9 November, 2001

– Second ODINAFRICA II Training Course in Marine Data Management, Tunis, Tunisia, 29 April-10 May, 2002

– Second ODINAFRICA II Training Course in Marine Information Management, Tunis, Tunisia, 29 April-10 May, 2002

– First ODINCARSA Training Course in Marine Data Management, Guayaquil, Ecuador, 20-30 May 2002

– First ODINCARSA Training Course in Marine Information Management, Mazatlan, Mexico, 29 September-4 October 2002

– IODE Training Course in Ocean Data Management for the Caspian and Black Sea Regions, Tehran, Iran, 20-30 October 2002

CD-ROM Version

• OceanTeacher is also available on CD-ROM for off-line use

• Over 160 CD copies have been provided to requesters from 73 countries

Future of OceanTeacher

• Steering Group has been established to oversee the development of OceanTeacher

• Year 3 Training Manuals for Ocean Data Management and Information Management in progress

• Expand the scope to meet JCOMM training needs

• Contributions invited

More information

• The IODE OceanTeacher web site can be found at:

http://oceanteacher.org

• Also available on CD-ROM