U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological Survey

Scientific Information Management at the U.S. Geological Survey: Issues, Challenges, and a Collaborative Approach to Identifying and Applying Solutions

David L. Govoni and Thomas M. GuntherUSGS Geospatial Information Office

Geoinformatics 2006May 12, 2006

Geospatial Information Office (GIO)Science Information and Education Office

Responsibilities:- Publishing policy and coordination- Libraries and Information Centers- Web infrastructure and content policy- Product Warehouse and distribution- Education and outreach- Knowledge management services- Scientific information management

Geospatial Information Office (GIO)Science Information and Education Office

Accomplished in partnership with USGS science and administrative programs through a combination of:- Governance- Consultation- Facilitation- Collaborative development

Goal is to enable and support an “Integrated Information Environment” for the USGS

Integrated Information Environment (IIE)

Problems, problems … everywhere

Common issues identified from discussions with scientists and others across USGS disciplines:- Search and discovery (especially by place and topic)- Database access and integration- Interoperability of tools and processes- Advanced visualization, modeling, other tools- Archive and preservation

Compliance with mandates:- Security, science quality, publishing, records

management, accessibility, …

The solution? Good news … bad news

Lots of talent, innovation, and motivation, but:Widely scattered geographically and organizationallyMany local efforts unknown to others in USGSDuplicative or overlapping in purpose, capabilitiesBuilt on multiple platforms in multiple languagesSome good, some not so goodSome potentially scalable, some not“Costly” to organization as a whole

So how do we …

Increase awareness?Identify “best of breed”?Accelerate diffusion?Provide support?Institutionalize?One approach: Communities of Practice (CoPs)

What is a “Community of Practice”?

Communities of Practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better through the process of collective learning as they interact regularly. CoPs are:- Problem driven- Self-organizing, voluntary, and motivated- Not constrained by position in formal organizations- Not formally chartered or accountable through

management chains as for teams Modified afterEtienne Wenger

(www.ewenger.com)

USGS Scientific Information Management (SIM) Workshop

Three day Scientific Information Management Workshop, March 2006

150+ people representing all USGS regions and both science and administrative programs

Other DOI bureaus, other public and private-sector organizations also participated

Explicit focus on intersection of SIM and CoPs

SIM Workshop

Three parts:- Overviews of problems and approaches to SIM both

inside and outside of the USGS- Introduction to “Community of Practice” concept as a

framework for collective learning and collaborative problem solving

- Breakouts designed to simultaneously:Identify key issues and needsExplore and encourage the formation of CoPs to develop solutions

Potential communities

Data/information management- Field data for small research projects- Large time series data sets- Scientific data from monitoring programs

Classification and discovery- Metadata- Knowledge organization systems

Delivery- Digital libraries- Portals and frameworks

Potential communities

Interoperability and integration- Database networks

Preservation and long-term access- Archiving of scientific data and information- Preservation of physical collections

Knowledge management- Knowledge capture- Emerging workforce

Outcomes

At least 9 of 12 potential communities agreed to continue on as “formal” CoPsOther potential communities proposed, e.g.,- Open access- Open source software- Search- Program management

Management commitment to support creation of bureau-wide infrastructure to enable current and future CoPs

USGS Communities Network

Common gateway to all known USGS CoPsFramework of shared collaborative services and tools available to support interested communities:- Discussion forums- Document management- Digital library and bibliography management- News and Events calendar - Wikis and annotation- RSS feeds- …

Initially USGS-only but eventually available to external collaborators and partners

Workshop evaluation

Reviews positive:- Met or exceeded expectations: 89%- Change practices as result: 33%- Participate in communities: 72%- Learned new tools or approaches: 50%- Make valuable new contacts: 90%

Suggests broad interest and appeal of communities approach

(based on ~50% survey response)

What was learned

One size won’t always fit all, but …- Many issues are common to all USGS disciplines- Local approaches may be broadly applicable, scalable,

and cost-effective for the USGS as a whole

Those “in the trenches” know best:- Cannot implement top-down SIM

solutions- Solutions can come from (and be

managed from) anywhere

Perspectives on SIM … a digression

SIM needs to be considered from two distinct, but intimately related perspectives:

- “Information life-cycle” or Producer perspectiveCourse of data and information from initial acquisition to finaldisposition

- Consumer perspectiveHow data and information is used to accomplish tasks

Producer perspective

Fieldwork(in situ, in vitro,

in silico)

Analysis, synthesis& interpretation

Preparation & distribution

(via any medium)

Preservation & archiving

refers to

Direct & remote observation, monitoring &

recording

Laboratory experiments,

modeling, visualization

Publications, data, talks, seminars, models, libraries

refers to refers to refers to

includes includes includes

Records management,

data rescue, physical sample preservation

includes

Consumer perspective

“Metainformation” is critical to both

Broadly defined here to encompass both “classic metadata” and “contextual information” (rules, assumptions, ontologies, schema, documentation, etc.) that impart deeper understanding or facilitate use

Metainformation:- Critical to our ability to conduct integrated studies- Critical to maintaining long-term access- Should be, but very often is not, formally captured and

preserved all along the information life-cycle

Perspectives on SIM

End of digression

What was learned … SIM is not easy

Despite advances in technology, many tasks:- Remain time-consuming- Require significant involvement by scientists (sometimes

at the expense of their science)- Lack incentives to “do the right thing”

Volume outpacing resources

Legacy data may already be beyond saving

SIM is not an option

Good stewardship of data, information, physical artifacts, and associated metainformation is an obligation of the research community:

- As a matter of self interest (e.g., as precondition for being viewed as a “trusted source”)

- Data and information is of little value if it cannot be found or delivered in a timely or usable condition

- Reproducibility of results – a hallmark of the scientific method – may impaired or impossible without it

Meeting the challenges … There is hope!

Communities of practice, if encouraged and supported, offer several benefits:- Strength in numbers:

Multiple perspectives and insights are brought to bear on problemsYield better solutions, faster

- Organizational adaptability:Can coalesce rapidly around issues driven by changing technologies, research needs, or other challenges without time-consuming organizational realignments

There is hope!

- Cost-effectiveness:Fewer development “stovepipes”Less likely to “reinvent the wheel”Useful knowledge, tools, and techniques are rapidly distributed throughout the organizationStandardization, interoperability more likely

- Collective learning:Participation increases knowledge and skills of all participantsOverall organizational competence is enhancedKnowledge is more likely to be preserved for the next generation

Thank you. … Questions?

Dave Govoni(dgovoni@usgs.gov)

Tom Gunther(tgunther@usgs.gov)