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GSN students learn about the benefits of good data management
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The second SAEON Graduate Student Network (GSN) Indibano was held in Port Elizabeth from 22 to 25 March. The Indibano was attended by 16 students whose attendance was sponsored by SAEON.
The Indibano provided a forum for students to present and discuss their research and to network with other students in the environmental research field. Students presented their current research on the first day of the Indibano.
On Day 2 the students were shown how to present their research effectively to a scientific audience. On the third day an informative session on GIS analysis was held at the Botany Department of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
The Indibano concluded with a half-day session - presented by Fynbos Node Data Scientist, Victoria Goodall - concentrating on Data Management and the SAEON Data Portal. The course introduced Data Management concepts to the students and made them aware of the many broad applications of Data Management, not only in scientific research but across industry as well.
Victoria emphasized the importance of good metadata - the data about data - to enable scientists to discover and use stored data in the future. Without a comprehensive summary of what is in a dataset, how data were collected, the sampling techniques used, the units of measurement and place and time of collection, it is almost impossible to use old data effectively or to repeat surveys in a similar fashion.
Different metadata standards were introduced and the students had to create metadata for one of their own datasets. Metadata elements grouped into sets for a specific purpose are known as metadata schemes and those schemes which are maintained and developed by a standards organisation are known as metadata standards. Examples of metadata standards are EML, ISO, Darwin Core and Dublin Core.
SAEON Data Portal is growing daily
An important section of the course was to introduce the students to the SAEON Data Portal (http://data.saeon.ac.za). The portal, which already contains a number of metadata records, is growing daily. It aims to become an important resource for scientists and students alike, who can archive and make their data publicly available through the portal, and search for data which could be useful for their current research.
Victoria gave an overview of the portal, and then the focus was on how to search and download data and metadata within the Portal. The aim was to show the students how the portal can benefit them in their current research and how their own research can provide valuable data for future research if it is accurately preserved and made available.
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