Building the LTER Network Information System

NIS History, Then and NowYear Milestone

1993 – 1996 NIS vision formed by Information Managers (IMs) and LTER Network Office (LNO)

1997 – 2003 Network databases developed and populated by LNO and IMs

1999 – 2002 Metacat and Ecological Metadata Language (EML) developed by community, including LNO and IMs

2003 EML adopted by LTER Network; NIS Advisory Committee (NISAC) appointed by LTER Coordinating Committee

2004 NIS lead scientist hired by LNO; LTER Data Catalog developed at LNO

2005 NIS Strategic Plan completed by NISAC and LNO

2007 Cyberinfrastructure Strategic Plan completed by IMs and LNO

2008 LNO develops Provenance Aware Synthesis Tracking Architecture (PASTA) out of EcoTrends technical development

2009 LNO awarded American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for core NIS development

2010 NIS project and development plans outlined in LNO Operational Plan

NIS Mission Statement“… to promote advances in collaborative and syntheticecological science at multiple temporal and spatialscales by providing the information management andtechnology infrastructure to increase:

• availability and quality of data from LTER sites• timeliness and number of LTER derived data products• knowledge generated from the synthesis of LTER data”

Bottom line:

1. Make LTER data available in a consistent format through a single web portal

2. Provide derived and value-added data for community use

3. Provide tools for data discovery and evaluation

NIS Ingredients

• Site collected data and metadata• Middleware (software) developed at LNO or

integrated from other sources (e.g., sites, open source projects)• Internal value-adding applications leading to derived

data and metadata products• Data modules from other LTER science initiatives (e.g.,

ClimDB/HydroDB, EcoTrends)

• External value-adding applications

NIS middleware (PASTA)

Sitedataand

metadata

External value

addingapplications

LTER Network Information System

LTER Network Information System

Middleware (PASTA)

LNO Operational Plan

• Spells out operational steps to develop NIS• Formalizes multiple pathways for communication

and feedback• Establishes a timeline involving multiple

development cycles with frequent releases• Emphasizes engagement by LTER scientists

NIS Development Timeline

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

ProductionDeployment

•Full features

OperationalPrototype

• Complete prototype but only partial functionality

Start ofDevelopment

Incremental release

Transition to maintenance

• Development will be both iterative and incremental

Completing the NIS requires involvement from a broad cross-

section of LTER members• Tiger Teams – to provide community dialogue and rapid feedback

as part of specific component development teams

• Requests for Comments – to receive thoughtful written comments from individuals or groups in the stakeholder community

• Focus Groups - to get focused feedback on specific components

• Surveys – to assess bi-directional communication effectiveness

• IM Working Groups – will provide design, specification, and development on specific tasks and sub-components

• Research Working Groups – will provide design and specification on derived data products

• NISAC – will provide advise and evaluation on the NIS

• LTER Executive Board – will provide endorsement and evaluation

www.maxim.art.prv.pl

Tiger Teams

Roles & Responsibilities• 2-3 individuals

• Information Managers• Scientists• Graduate Students

• Scope of work• Direct input to requirements and

design• Intermediate and final acceptance

testing of software

• Commitment• 4-8 months• A couple of hours per week • Rapid feedback

“Referring to a team set up solely in response to a specific situation or problem,without considering any wider or longer-term issues.” - Wikipedia