In a continuing effort to bring all of our datasets in line with NSF’s 2-year public accessibility guidelines, we have opened 6 new datasets to the public; currently 120 of 213 datasets are open to the public and the data management staff received nearly all of the closed datasets within the past three years. These datasets are available via our website at http://sgs.cnr.colostate.edu. We continue to contact principal investigators on a regular basis regarding the status of their datasets. Along with this effort, we have uncovered metadata for older datasets from the International Biome Project (IBP). To date we have located complete metadata for 20 of the 65 IBP datasets and partial metadata for all 65 IBP datasets.
One of the goals of the SGS data management program is to utilize our website as our
primary communication tool within our group and to the public. We are currently developing
an integrated information management system for linking personnel, publications and
datasets. This system, which is nearly two thirds complete, will allow a guest to our
website to move seamlessly between related information in any of these three data types.
In another effort to improve the effectiveness of our information, all of the species
present on the shortgrass steppe have been cataloged into a searchable index available via
our website.
In the coming year, we plan to focus on three aspects of our information management
system. First, we plan to complete the link between our publications and our datasets. In
addition, we plan to migrate our database management system out of Oracle and into MS
Access. This will allow us to utilize integrated software solutions for serving
information via the World Wide Web. It is hoped that this structure will reduce
development time for new applications. Along with new web software, we plan to redesign
and update our entire web site to provide a consistent look and feel throughout our site.
Ongoing activities include opening more datasets to public access, entering the abstracts
of older publications, and improving our website content and design.
In the past year a large emphasis has been placed on developing a system to georeference all of the study sites on the Shortgrass Steppe LTER site. We have identified many of these research sites and have begun to georeference them using a hand-held GPS unit. Ultimately we will incorporate these data into our Information Management System.
02/08/01