Herding Cats: Geocuration Practices Employed for Field Research Data Collection Activities and Visualization by Blueprint Earth

Abstract:

Researchers investigating interdisciplinary topics must work to understand the barriers created by information siloes in order to productively collaborate on complex Earth science questions. These barriers create acute challenges when research is driven by observations rather than hypotheses, as communication between collaborators hinges on data synthesis techniques that often vary greatly between disciplines. Field data collection across disciplines creates even more challenges, and employing student researchers of varying abilities demands an approach that is structured, and yet still flexible enough to accommodate inherent differences in the subjective portions of student data collection. Blueprint Earth is performing system-level environmental observations in the broad areas of geology, biology, hydrology, and atmospheric science. Traditional field data collection methodologies are employed for ease of reproducibility, but must translate across disciplinary information siloes. Information collected must be readily useable in the formulation of hypotheses based on field observations, which necessitates an understanding of key metrics by all investigators involved in data analysis. Blueprint Earth demonstrates the ability to create clear data standards across several disciplines while incorporating a quality control process and this allows for conversion of data into functional visualizations. Additionally, geocuration is organized such that data will be ready for public dissemination upon completion of field research.