Taxonomy Research & Information Network (TRIN): seeking biodiversity data standards
E. Margaret Cawsey, Jim Croft, Garry Jolley-Rogers
Abstract
The Australian Commonwealth Environmental Research Facilities (CERF) supported Taxonomy Research & Information Network is a four year project to use contemporary technology and information management standards to enhance the effectiveness, quality and rate of taxonomic research. The network includes a small informatics team to parallel the taxonomy projects, involving a multidisciplinary systems analysis of the practice and processes of taxonomy using comparative analyses, interviews, and structured workshops with taxonomists to understand the complexity and diversity of modern taxonomy.
A major goal of TRIN is to promote the use and development of robust data and information management frameworks and standards in the taxonomy task chain. A major impediment appears to be that those who know and care about biodiversity data standards are not necessarily those who produce the biodiversity data content e.g. the taxonomists themselves. Bridging this gap is a social as well as a technical issue.
The TRIN informatics group is investigating deployment of contemporary internet tools and protocols that may enhance the process and productivity of taxonomy and collaborative taxonomic research.
Early progress in documenting current and potential future models of informatics frameworks reveals consistent patterns suggesting that the costs and benefits of complying with information management standards are unevenly distributed: the imposed overheads and costs tend to fall upon individual research programmes and the benefits accrue at the institutional level. At all levels, compliance depends on the perception of immediate relevance of the data standards and ease of compliance. Institutional and external policies and protocols have the capacity to change these perceptions of relevance. Targeted application of information technology has the capacity to reduce compliance costs. Policy unsupported by technology and technology in the absence of sound institutional polices are both unlikely to be effective.
Perceptions of limited relevance and lack of technological capability at each stage of the taxonomic process limit the retention of multimedia and other digital data. Data lost this way can not be harvested for use in other unforeseen applications.
The process of taxonomy is very long term and many products and benefits are not realised until many decades after the initial research. Biodiversity information management and biodiversity data standards need to be applied in similar time frames.
A major goal of TRIN is to promote the use and development of robust data and information management frameworks and standards in the taxonomy task chain. A major impediment appears to be that those who know and care about biodiversity data standards are not necessarily those who produce the biodiversity data content e.g. the taxonomists themselves. Bridging this gap is a social as well as a technical issue.
The TRIN informatics group is investigating deployment of contemporary internet tools and protocols that may enhance the process and productivity of taxonomy and collaborative taxonomic research.
Early progress in documenting current and potential future models of informatics frameworks reveals consistent patterns suggesting that the costs and benefits of complying with information management standards are unevenly distributed: the imposed overheads and costs tend to fall upon individual research programmes and the benefits accrue at the institutional level. At all levels, compliance depends on the perception of immediate relevance of the data standards and ease of compliance. Institutional and external policies and protocols have the capacity to change these perceptions of relevance. Targeted application of information technology has the capacity to reduce compliance costs. Policy unsupported by technology and technology in the absence of sound institutional polices are both unlikely to be effective.
Perceptions of limited relevance and lack of technological capability at each stage of the taxonomic process limit the retention of multimedia and other digital data. Data lost this way can not be harvested for use in other unforeseen applications.
The process of taxonomy is very long term and many products and benefits are not realised until many decades after the initial research. Biodiversity information management and biodiversity data standards need to be applied in similar time frames.