Aims
An important philosophy of Australia’s National Climate Change Adaptation Research Network for Marine Biodiversity and Resources is to encourage collaboration amongst researchers, stakeholders and policy makers and to encourage data sharing. To improve our capacity to adapt to climate change, we first need to know what knowledge already exists. The provision of metadata will facilitate this.
Why share your data?
Australian marine researchers collectively have large amounts of valuable marine ecological and socio-economic data. These data have often already been used to generate vast amounts of published research, but much value is yet to be tapped. The Network wants to encourage the further use of these data.
Data descriptions (metadata), formats, storage and permissions over access to the data, and ease of data availability and discoverability (In what format the data are stored, by whom and how they are accessed and how they are used) are key considerations in data re-use and maximising research opportunities.
Metadata in the AODN MEST, because it adheres to international standards, can be (and already is) incorporated into other metadata catalogues (nationally and internationally). The metadata can describe projects, researcher details and data (even at the planning stage), and this alone is a great way to discover other collaborative opportunities.
The provision of metadata and data will also minimise the time it takes to act on those research findings in order to be better placed to develop adaptation solutions.
• Advertising the data you are creating, as well as the projects you are embarking on, will allow researchers to identify collaboration opportunities.
• Making your data available through the MEST allows you to stipulate how the data may be re-used, including how your data are to be cited.
Where do I share my data?
For data sharing to be valuable, effective and controlled, we want to encourage the input of metadata into the Australian Ocean Data Network (AODN): a data storage and discovery network involving leading Australian marine research facilities.
Under an Agreement of Collaborative Heads, six Commonwealth agencies with high levels of research output contribute significant amounts of data to the AODN/Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) common storage system. The six Commonwealth agencies are:
• Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)
• Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
• Bureau of Meteorology (BOM)
• Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
• Geoscience Australia (GA), and
• Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
The AODN will provide the expertise, management and curation skills, and infrastructure to host Marine Adaptation Network members’ metadata and data. The AODN now incorporates the historical BlueNET data archive of marine ecological data, as well as IMOS data. The AODN will enhance access to, and re-use of, Australian marine science data and data products by ensuring standards-of-practice ( such as adoption of OGC and ISO data and metadata standards) across the marine science data and management community. It also provides a one-stop-shop for marine science metadata access, using the foundation architecture and services of the IMOS Ocean Portal and Metadata Entry and Search Tool (MEST).
How do I share my data? - Data or Metadata
The Network is not encouraging the reckless posting of streams of numbers on the internet. While we would encourage you to upload your data to this secure environment, we are primarily encouraging the provision of metadata, opening the doors for collaborative and interdisciplinary research. Production of metadata is rapidly becoming a common part of research culture.
Metadata describes data. Metadata identifies how data were collected, the rationale for their collection, who to contact about them, the sensor(s) used, sensor calibration information, the list continues… The importance of metadata in relation to data is often highlighted by the analogy of a can of soup and its labelling:
A can of soup has a label on it, the label contains information about the manufacturer, the use-by-date, and importantly the can’s contents, processing, component amounts and the nutritional breakdown. If the label is missing, the can of soup is potentially worthless; as you wouldn’t know whether it is safe to eat, or even what it is!
Maintaining a standard approach to metadata entry across a range of marine science disciplines ensures that online resources (data) are consistently described; and discoverable, and re-used for multiple purposes. The advantage of using a common international standard (such as that adopted by AODN) is that metadata records can then also be seamlessly integrated into other catalogue systems (such as an international catalogue dedicated to research on pollutants), and vice versa.
How do I share my data? – Sites and logins
To contribute data to the AODN, you will first need to become a ‘registered user’ of the AODN (click on the link at the bottom of this page).
To register, for uploading your data, follow this link:
http://mest.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/en/simplemetadata.registration
If you haven’t previously registered, enter your details, and under Profile, select Editor.
Click “next” and describe the data as best you can.
The webpage asks for details such as the dataset title, abstract, file format(s), approx. file size(s), and the dataset contact details, for enquiries regarding the data itself (rather than regarding the depositing of the data).
When you click ‘submit’, these details are emailed to the AODN helpdesk, who will alter your ‘registered user’ status to ‘Editor’, take the details that you’ve entered and create a ‘skeletal’ metadata record, then contact (phone or email) you to help you through the process of building a more complete metadata record, and uploading /archiving and sharing your data, with all the relevant copyright/licencing details that you might want for your data.
Once you’ve registered, and feel comfortable creating metadata and uploading files, you can create more metadata and upload files by logging on, and selecting the ‘New metadata’ tab. The AODN helpdesk is always there to answer questions.
How secure are my data once they are uploaded onto the AODN? Who can access these data, and what can they do with them?
Authors can stipulate end-user provisos, using an ‘enduser data licence’ e.g.
• Creative Commons (Use, re-Distribute and re-Publish downloaded data)
• UnDP (Use but not re-Distribute and re-Publish the downloaded data
• Other
Once you have uploaded your data to the AODN, you are able to then choose who you would like to have access to your metadata, and importantly also your data. It is possible to make the metadata publicly accessible, while limiting access to the attached data.
Example 1 - if you are working within a group at the CSIRO and want to make the data available to your group members only (for data analysis purposes) you can stipulate that only this group can see the data.
Example 2 – if you are still preparing a publication, and don’t want to release your data to the public arena before it is published, then you can upload your data and stipulate that you would like to make the data available after a certain date.
The management, storage and control of the original data remains with the researcher(s) who collected them. You can update your data at any time, to keep them current and without errors.
What guarantee or assurance of researcher data security can we provide once they have been uploaded to the AODN?
Data uploaded are stored and mirrored across two secure servers. Every effort is made to ensure security of the data. However the AODN cannot accept liability for breaches of security. Concerns about ‘highly confidential’ data should be discussed with the AODN helpdesk.
What training/help support will be provided?
The AODN support service is a triage service and queries are initially sent to the helpdesk. The AODN support service is for data-depositors and data users, and will assist in most aspects related to data discovery and access, data description, deposit, licensing, and re-use. The AODN provides a helpdesk, a FAQ webpage, as well as other support material.
Some data on the AODN can be freely accessed; however some data-depositors require “login” onto the AODN before their data can be accessed (this helps with collecting data download statistics, and manages data licensing).
AODN users can search and access ‘Data for Download’ (where they have permission from the data-owner) for their own use, observing standard citation conventions. Contact details for authors will be given, even where data are not yet accessible online.
Register, to upload your data
