A few months ago, I blogged about my experiences at the NSF Large Facilities Workshop. “Large Facilities” encompass things like NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network), IRIS PASSCAL Instrument Center (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology Program for Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere), and the NRAO (National Radio Astronomy Observatory). I found the event itself to be an eye-opening experience: much to my surprise, there was some resistance to data sharing in this community. I had always assumed that large, government-funded projects had strict data sharing requirements, but this is not the case. I had stimulating arguments with Large Facilities managers who considered their data too big and complex to share, and (more worrisome), that their researchers would be very resistant to opening up the data they generated at these large facilities.
Why all this talk about large facilities? Because I’m getting the chance to make my arguments again, to a group with overlapping interests to that of the Large Facilities community. I’m very excited to be speaking at Mountain Observatories: A Global Fair and Workshop this July in Reno, Nevada. Here’s a description from the organizers:
The event is focused on observation sites, networks, and systems that provide data on mountain regions as coupled human-natural systems. So the meeting is expected to bring together biophysical as well as socio-economic researchers to discuss how we can create a more comprehensive and quantitative mountain observing network using the sites, initiatives, and systems already established in various regions of the world.
I must admit, I’m ridiculously excited to geek out with this community. I’ll get to hear about the GLORIA Project (GLObal Robotic-telescopes Intelligent Array), something called “Mountain Ethnobotany“, and “Climate Change Adaptation Governance”. See a full list of the proposed sessions here. The conference is geared towards researchers and managers, which means I’ll have the opportunity to hear about data sharing proclivities straight from their mouths. The roster of speakers joining me include a hydroclimatologist (Mike Dettinger, USGS) and a researcher focused on socio-cultural systems (Courtney Flint, Utah State University), plus representatives from the NSF, a sensor networks company, and others. The conference should be a great one – abstract submission deadline was just extended, so there’s still time to join me and nerd out about science!
