Recommendations and Ongoing Efforts within the NASA Data Quality Working Group

Abstract:

Since its inception in March 2014, the NASA Data Quality Working Group (DQWG) has procured a set of 12 high level recommendations which had been sifted from and aggregated from a prioritized subset of nearly 100 unique recommendations spanning four unique data quality management phases and distributed between two actionable categories. The four data quality management phases as identified by the DQWG are: 1. Capturing (i.e., deriving, collecting and organizing the information), 2. Describing (i.e., documenting and procuring the information for public consumption), 3. Facilitating Discovery (i.e., publishing and providing access to the information), and 4. Enabling Use (i.e., enhancing the utility of the information). Mapping each of our recommendations to one or more of the above management phases is intended to enable improved assessment of cost, feasibility, and relevancy to the entities responsible for implementing such recommendations. The DQWG further defined two distinct actionable categories: 1) Data Systems and 2) Science. The purpose of these actionable categories is to define specifically who is responsible for the implementation and adherence toward these recommendations; we refer to the responsible entities as the “actionees”. Here we will summarize each of the high level recommendations along with their corresponding management phases and actionees. We will present what has recently been identified as our set of “low-hanging fruit” recommendations, which are intended for near-term implementation. Finally, we will present the status and motivation for continuing and future planned activities, which include but are not limited to: engaging inter-agency and international communities, more direct feedback from Earth observation missions, and mapping of “low-hanging fruit” recommendations to existing solutions.