Toward a Digital Resilience (with a Dash of Location Enlightenment)

Abstract:

The AGU Earth and Space Science Informatics Focus Group addresses a compelling array of research questions and projects. This year’s session topics range from large-scale data management within global cyberinfrastructures or virtual observatories, to intelligent systems theory, semantics, and handling of near-real-time data streams, to issues of “dark data,” data transparency, reproducibility, and more. The aim of this lecture is to build in part on these themes but to consider more broadly how we might push the boundaries of informatics knowledge more along the lines of use-inspired science (responsive to the needs and perspectives of society while still being fundamental and cutting edge). To wit, as we contend with human impacts on the biosphere recent innovations in computational and data science are now facilitating community resilience to climate change (e.g., helping communities to monitoring air quality or drought, find available drinking water, determine habitat vulnerability, etc.). But not often discussed is a path toward digital resilience. If digital tools are to continue helping communities, it stands to reason that they must engender some resilience themselves. The capacity to deal effectively with change and threats, to recover quickly from challenges or difficulties, even to withstand stress and catastrophe, can apply to data too. As investments in digital data continue to rise, we find ourselves in new “digital world order” comprised of ubiquitous technologies from satellites to wristwatches to human biochip implants. And a significant proportion of these are geospatial, given the incredible power of maps to communicate, persuade, inspire, understand, and elicit action. Therefore, the lecture reviews and recommends seven fundamental digital research and communication practices. The aim is ensuring not only a modicum of resilience for our nascent discipline, but in prototyping and delivering repeatable solutions that all can use to help guide the planet towards a more resilient future.