Envisioning and Enacting a Coherent Organization-Wide View of Data

Baker, Karen S.; Mayernik, Matthew S.; Thompson, Cheryl A.; Nienhouse, Eric; Williams, Steve; Worley, Steve

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/73150 Copy

Description

Title

Envisioning and Enacting a Coherent Organization-Wide View of Data

Author(s)

• Baker, Karen S.
• Mayernik, Matthew S.
• Thompson, Cheryl A.
• Nienhouse, Eric
• Williams, Steve
• Worley, Steve

Issue Date

2015-02

Keyword(s)

• data management
• data curation

Geographic Coverage

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado

Abstract

Amidst the contemporary focus on open data and national coordination, there is a need for organization-centric discussions about scientific data and data management. Data collections at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and its parent organization the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) began in the mid-1960s, and have grown continuously, encompassing long-term reference data sets, field project data sets, and climate simulation results, among other data types. In addition, multiple NCAR and UCAR groups provide data tools and services. These wide-ranging efforts have largely been addressed as independent projects. While this has resulted in a large set of valuable services, it has also created challenges for coordinating efforts, sharing expertise, and presenting these services in a coherent fashion to potential users. Further, data services are not uniformly distributed around the organization, resulting in a spectrum of practices that varies among organizational units. As notions of ‘data access’ and ‘data integration’ develop, the work with data at NCAR and UCAR provides a case example of community-building activities and intra-organizational coordination over time. In this poster, we discuss four collective endeavors over the past 20 years to increase coordination and develop more coherence across UCAR and NCAR data services. Two of the recent efforts are ongoing. These undertakings are embedded within an evolving IT infrastructure so each is constrained by very different technologies. Though they differ in scope and outcomes, they share the overarching goal of increasing intra-organization coordination. We present lessons learned, including how prior efforts informed the creation of the current Data Stewardship Engineering Team activities within NCAR. This study will inform current open access and data sharing efforts by highlighting the importance of internal alignment and coordination within individual organizations. Evolution of an intra-organization view of data is a critical enabler of increased inter-organization data integration and discovery, and requires a continuing process of envisioning and re-envisioning.

Series/Report Name or Number

Proceedings of the International Digital Curation Conference

Type of Resource

other

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/73150

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

Data Curation Education in Research Centers (DCERC), IMLS Award# RE-02-10-0004-10

Copyright and License Information

Karen S. Baker

Owning Collections