NISAC Activities Report

1. NISAC Activities Report Briefing to the LTER IM Committee26-Jul-2010 Wade SheldonNISAC Co-Chair

2. Briefing Outline • Current Committee Membership • Fall 2009 – Spring 2010 NISAC Activities • Current Priorities • NISAC Feedback on IMC Activities • Discussion • IMC Representative Rotation, Terms, Timing • Other Issues

3. Current Committee Membership • Current members (IMC reps in bold) • Will Pockman (SEV) Co-Chair • Wade Sheldon (GCE) Co-Chair • Karen Baker (CCE/PAL) • Barbara Bond (AND) • James Brunt (LNO) • Chuck Hopkinson (PIE) • John Porter (VCR) • Mark Servilla (LNO) Ex-Officio • John Vande Castle (LNO) • Kristin Vanderbilt (SEV) • Bob Waide (LNO) • Libe Washburn (SBC) • 2010 Rotations • John Briggs (KNZ) – withdrew, not replaced • Wade Sheldon, Kristin Vanderbilt, John Porter

4. Fall 2009 – Spring 2010 Activities • Nov-Jan 2010: Review of LNO Operational Plan • Identified six areas of concern • Approach to NIS development unidirectional and insular • NIS development isolated from LTER science activities • Importance of standardization not emphasized • Utility of NIS for LTER site operations not emphasized • Minimal level of site support and service • Software development approach/timelines too long • EB + NISAC + IM-Exec reps met with LNO and external review team in Jan 2010 • Changes to OP in response to review • Communication plan • Earlier releases of NIS software with incremental additions • Tiger Teams for community engagement during development

5. Fall 2009 – Spring 2010 Activities • Jan-Feb 2010: Review of LNO NIS progress • EB set formal review metrics for LNO in mid-2009 • NISAC asked to review progress on seven NIS mile-stones • No major issues identified, but somewhat pro-forma because tasks dictated by OP, LNO CA • NISAC asked EB for opportunity to review future metrics beforehand (granted)

6. Fall 2009 – Spring 2010 Activities • Mar 2010: NISAC Spring Meeting • Reviewed 2010 NIS milestones for Jan 2011 review of LNO progress by EB/NISAC • Briefings and discussion of IMC working groups • Unit registry, Controlled keyword vocabulary, Web Services • Discussion of final OP • Communication plans to engage IM and domain scientists in PASTA development • Utilization, planning, recruitment strategies for Tiger Teams (incl. feedback on NIS website text) • Discussion of CI Implementation Plan • Updated plan to reflect recent developments (OP) • Discussed final document needs, plans

7. Fall 2009 – Spring 2010 Activities • Mar 2010: NISAC Spring Meeting (cont.) • Reviewed committee membership policies • Recommend increasing to 6 domain science reps with 3-4 year terms, approval by EB/SC) • Harder to schedule • Represent broader constituency • Need more time to get up to speed on CI concepts • Recommend 4 IMC reps with 2 year terms, with automatic extension to 4 years for IMC Co-chair • Recommend 3 LNO reps (ED, CIO, NIS) with indefinite terms • Reviewed potential COI issues • Recommend greater transparency regarding discussions, votes with potential COI • Deal with COI by abstaining from votes or not participating in discussions (ala NSF panels, as did during NISAC OP review)

8. Fall 2009 – Spring 2010 Activities • Apr-May 2010: Science Council • Discussed need to return to domain science reps to represent NISAC at SC • Recognize Mark Harmon had more impact when promoting tiered trajectory and EML than IMs • Barbara Bond selected to co-present NIS report (with James Brunt, Mark Servilla) • Put out call to get involved, join Tiger Teams • NISAC working with LNO to “wordsmith” CI announcements, briefings for domain scientists (e.g. recent Tiger Team recruitment email)

9. Current Priorities • Wrapping up CI Implementation Plan • Wrinkles: • Most ideas now incorporated into ongoing concerns (OP, IMC planning, legacy data/data synthesis prospectus) • ISSE on uncertain ground at NSF (i.e. latest panels???) • Will focus on short document to continue to serve as road-map (Wade Sheldon) • Continuing to help craft OP communication plan, identify/recruit Tiger Teams • Major role for NISAC in evaluation OP progress

10. NISAC Feedback on IMC Activities • Unit registry (Karen Baker et al.) • Support continued development, integration into PASTA to support conversions • Controlled keyword vocabulary (John Porter) • Recommend moving forward with candidate list of 640 words (endorse IM-Exec’s recommendation as product to EB) • Recommend periodic (but not too frequent) review by working group incl. domain scientists, and auditing of search metrics • Recommend shifting attention to controlled attribute vocab. • Web services working group (Wade Sheldon et al.) • Recommend immediate support from LNO as part of database/web redesigns currently planned • View as critical for network CI implementation • Recommend IMC request resources as product-oriented working group • ChemDB (Don Henshaw) • Effort currently funded independently • Long-term strategy to generate metadata, integrate with PASTA, ongoing support should be considered • Good case-study for NIS products resulting from efforts outside LNO NIS

11. Discussion • IMC Representation on NISAC • How should IMC co-chair be selected? • Most committees select on chairs from elected members • NISAC tentatively proposing to have IMC select co-chair • NISAC IMC Rep Terms • 2 year terms proposed to allow more rotation (vs 3-4 for domain scientists) • But many projects longer-term, argues for 3-4 year terms • Need to balance • Timing of IMC meeting vs NISAC meeting • NISAC meets in March prior to SC, but IMC meets in Fall – only newest IMC rep sure to be on committee long enough to be co-chair, but least experienced • Should IMC elect NISAC reps in Feb/Mar, or elect in fall but start terms in Feb/Mar, or ? • Other Issues (feedback to NISAC)