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Enhancing Collaboration Between LTER Information Managers and Network Staff

Explore challenges, goals, and ways to improve communication and collaboration between LTER Information Managers (IM) and the LTER Network Office (LNO) staff. Address the mismatch in time allocation, information needs, communication inefficiencies, and project development. Propose strategies to bridge the gap and enhance productivity.

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Enhancing Collaboration Between LTER Information Managers and Network Staff

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  1. Looking for ways to enhance collaboration between LTER Information Managers (IM) and the LTER Network Office (LNO)’ staff LNO/IM Collaboration and Communication Work Group By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  2. Motivation and Mission Challenges Ideas Goals Products History LNO/IM Collaboration and Communication Work Group By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  3. Motivation and Mission LNO/IM Collaboration • Needs from both groups that have to be met by their counterpart and are not being accomplished • IM and LNO’s developers different perspective about the LTER sites’ problems and their solutions. • LTER IM community have heterogeneous academic backgrounds and preparations • Collaboration between members of different disciplines has been acknowledged to need an understanding the process involved in that collaboration.(*) (*) McOwiti O. Thomas. 2007. Unique LNO virtual training launches in cyberspace. The LTER Network News 20(1):1,3 By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  4. Motivation and Mission LNO/IM Collaboration • Find possible ways to structure collaborations • Become aware of the process we follow as we collaborate By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  5. Challenges (Time and Personnel) LNO/IM Collaboration • There is a mismatch ofallocation of time to do Network level projects and commitments (goals) between both communities • IM time not allocated for Network projects at site translate to: • extra personal time put into IM Network projects OR • little or no participation of site in IM Network projects • Sites are shorthanded for Network level projects needing more personnel staff By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  6. Challenges (Needs for info and products) LNO/IM Collaboration • LNO needs initiatives from the sites to get information or scientific-based solutions • E.g., a protocol to define custom units at a network level; IM annual meetings are not a good venue • LNO awaits for next step definitions or actions' from the IM • E.g., Ontology/Vocabulary group next step • IM individuals or groups await for certain promisedLNO products • E.g., Web forms to populate metadata • LNO uncertainty to say if project can be completed By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  7. Challenges (Communication) LNO/IM Collaboration • Communication of projects and needs between two communities is sometimes inefficient • E.g., • an IM idea: “LNO should create a tracking database of the actions, status and priority assigned to the IM site–related projects with open tickets that have to be responded to” • in the LNO’s very own PASTA (Provenance Aware Synthetic Tracking Architecture)... ... “project tasks are tracked in an open source, web-based application called dotProject. Our version resides at http://fire.lternet.edu/dotproject “ By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  8. Ideas LNO/IM Collaboration • IMExec should have the initiative to bring up special network science related consultation E.g., a protocol to define custom units at a network level By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  9. Ideas LNO/IM Collaboration Proposed LNO’s project affecting the IM community should go through a consulting process with the IM community: • Recruit IM with necessary skills to collaborate in the development of specs and design process • Assign a moderator for project • Move forward only those projects that go through this collaboration process • Maintain motivation by separating project in stages By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  10. Ideas LNO/IM Collaboration Proposed LNO’s project affecting the IM community should go through a consulting process with the IM community (continues): • Look for ways to compensate sites for the time their IM spend in Network-related projects with money to get more personnel, rewards, or else... • Involve IM in the definition of LNO’s goals and projects • Open channels for people to collaborate e.g. UTF of the Unit work group By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  11. Ideas LNO/IM Collaboration • LNO should Implement a timeline module • Use API web services to enhance the inefficient way we use web forms e.g,. to access NIS databases By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  12. Ideas LNO/IM Collaboration • Become aware of the IM role within the LTER community: • IM are users • IM are designers and developers at their site • IM implement projects Metadata standard elements. • IM know the technology • IM are aware of their site’s scientific needs • SO make them co-designers of the network-wise products e.g., EML, TRENDS By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  13. Ideas LNO/IM Collaboration • Recruit a database manager person at the LNO that: • will take care of the NIS databases (Climdb, SiteDB. ...) • develop online query capabilities to pull out subsets of data • Allow network-projects’ working groups of IM to visit the LNO and get some products done By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  14. Ideas LNO/IM Collaboration • Make Site Bytes a venue to get list of potential Network-level projects • Use surveys to show what IM do at their site to the LNO and see that: • Sites’ IM resources for the LNO Projects • LNO staff  resources for the sites IM By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  15. Goals LNO/IM Collaboration • Create a structured mechanism for collaborations such that: • IM community actively participate in the sites’ information management activities related decisions made by the LNO • LNO staff receive the feedback they need from the IM community in a timely manner • both communities work together in creating network-level science-facilitating projects • collaborations between LNO and IMC coordinate in an appropriate, effective way with the activities of the Network Information System Advisory Committee (NISAC) By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  16. Products LNO/IM Collaboration • effective mechanism to facilitate the interaction between the IM and the LNO personnel • in the LNO’s projects designing process • providing feedback to LNO with in a timely manner • list of possible IM-LNO projects in the near future to facilitate the information management activities at the sites and at the Network level, and • general description of the different processes we have observed when this collaboration has taken place along with its outcome. By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  17. Products LNO/IM Collaboration Subsidiary Products: a list of past and present (up to August 2007) IM-LNO collaborations By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  18. History LNO/IM Collaboration By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  19. History LNO/IM Collaboration By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  20. History LNO/IM Collaboration By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

  21. History LNO/IM Collaboration By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting By Eda Melendez-2007 IM Annual Meeting

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