Project Goals :

1. EIA0131958: “BDEI: Designing an Infrastructure for Heterogeneity of Ecosystem Data, Collaborators and Organizations” University of California, San Diego Investigators: Geoffrey C. Bowker, Karen Baker, Helena Karasti Project Goals: We examine issues of managing data for very long-term use within a widely distributed, loosely connected network of scientists: the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network. We develop tools to address the wide gap in the field of ecosystem informatics between what is being produced by information specialists and what is actually useful to working scientists. Outcomes: Ideas Databases can be viewed as communication tools which are partly performative of (they enact) their organizational and scientific milieux. Tools Analyzing databases and related practices in this way permits incorporation of participatory design principles into the field of long term data management. People We have sensitized the environmental science community to communities of practice working in issues significant for long-term data management (see figure 1) and initiated a dialogue among social, environmental and information scientists.

2. EIA0131958: “BDEI: Designing an Infrastructure for Heterogeneity of Ecosystem Data, Collaborators and Organizations” University of California, San Diego Investigators: Geoffrey C. Bowker, Karen Baker, Helena Karasti Impact: Our main impact to date has been the fostering of cross-disciplinary networks. This has led us to challenge a simple model of long-term data management in terms of technical issues, and provide a second-level language for the community of data managers to talk precisely about the coeval operation of technical, social and organizational constraints on long-term data reuse. We have had success with the ethnographic fieldwork and prompting of community reflection. We have not been able to have the full impact we would wish because we have not had sufficient funds to run a workshop for information managers or hire a programmer for a prototype implementation. Barriers & Opportunities: The central barriers have been the lack of support for and articulation of the complexities of long-term data management issues. Many data managers within the LTER (and this is true in many fields of scientific endeavor) do not have either training in the social and organizational aspects of information management or the career pathways for developing that training – they are merely seen as technicians. There is a general failure to recognize the multi-varied aspects of their work required to facilitate data collection, archive and use in support of collaborative science. The lack of government funding for infrastructure maintenance is a root problem here. The great opportunity for us has been to find a highly motivated community (LTER information managers) who are willing to help us explore and hopefully transform their work practice. Website: http://pal.lternet.edu/projects/02dgo/