The 2009 SalDAWG meeting was part of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation's 20th Biennial Conference in Portland, Oregon; held on November 1–5 at the Oregon Convention Center. The SalDAWG-Informatics session ran November 4–6 and included a great lineup of presentations, including speakers from Science Commons, HUBzero, the Open Source Lab, FishTrax, NCEAS, Periscopic, among others.
Hosting the 2009 meeting in Portland and coincident with a large research conference afforded us with the unique chance to explore an array of relevant topics and meet a cadre of forward-thinking specialists working at the advanced edge of research science, communication, information management, and computer science. As a result, we were able to convene for a closed working meeting to explore the topic of ontologies in the biological sciences.
The full CERF agenda is available here
WEDNESDAY, November 4, 2009
8:00-9:45 am Open Spaces
8:00-8:25 The push for open source governance and its implications for natural resource management agencies: Deborah Bryant [684937]
8:25-8:50 Open Science and Data Sharing: Kaitlin Thaney [683998]
8:50-9:15 Developing Information Systems for Salmon Science, Management and Marketing: Peter Lawson [683991]
9:15-9:45 Discussion panel: Open Access and Data Publication
9:45-10:15 BREAK
10:15-10:45 The Semantic Web
10:15-10:30 The Semantic Web, Linked Data and How It Can Help: Peter DeVries [652663]
10:30-10:45 The Scientific Observations Network and semantic tools for ecological data management: Mark Schildhauer [684947]
10:45-Noon E-science or Cyberinfrastructure
10:45-11:00 The HUBzero Platform for Scientific Collaboration: Michael McLennan [684927]
11:00-11:15 Data Conservancy: A Library-Based Data Cyberinfrastructure Paradigm: Melissa Cragin [696919]
11:15-11:30 Information Solutions for Watersheds: III. A service-oriented solution for managing and analyzing data across the Mississippi Atchafalaya River Basin and Northern Gulf of Mexico: Amanda Parker [652224]
11:30-noon Discussion panel: Web 3.0
Noon-2:00 pm LUNCH
2:00-3:30 Models for Data Aggregation & Delivery
2:00-2:15 The Chesapeake Bay Program’s Chesapeake Information Management System (CIMS): Gary Shenk [648197]
2:15-2:30 National Environmental Information Exchange Network: Sharing data for better watershed management: Mitch West [753660]
2:30-2:45 The Washington State Salmonid Stock Inventory: aggregation, standardization, and dissemination of sensitive, potentially contentious data: Dayv Lowry [683994]
2:45-3:00 Information Management in LTER: Moving beyond site-based approaches to accommodate network-scale interdisciplinary research: Don Henshaw [696975]
3:00-3:30 Discussion panel: Data access
3:30-4:00 BREAK
4:00-5:30 Visualizing Information
4:00-4:20 Capitalizing on Data Visualization Technologies: An introduction to Tableau software: Josh Vitello [683981]
4:20-4:40 Behind the Scenes of the Sockeye IUCN Visualization: Kim Rees [684929]
4:40-5:00 A Web-based Data Serving and Visualization Tool for Oregon Coastal Coho Salmon and Aquatic Habitat Information: Jeff Rodgers [683997]
5:00-5:30 Discussion panel: Turning data into information
THURSDAY, November 5, 2009
8:30-9:45 am Approaches to Data Integration & Analysis
8:30-8:45 Kepler: A scientific work flow support tool: Mark Schildhauer [684930]
8:45-9:00 Dynamic Mapping and Data Access to Salmonid Data: Jeff Cowen [683980]
9:00-9:15 Informatic Tools to Assess Habitat Restoration in the Pacific Northwest: David Hamm [683977]
9:15-9:30 Use of a Non-Supervised Neural Network and Hierarchical Clustering To Study Spatial Patterns of Fish Assemblages in Southeast Alaska: Katharine Miller [652719]
9:30-9:45 Ecosystem Informatics for Natural History Data – Developing an integrated framework for biological and geographic data: Deborah Reusser [652206]
9:45-10:15 BREAK
10:15-Noon Making Data Reusable
10:15-10:30 …
10:30-10:45 The Utility of Data Dictionaries in Reconciling and Analyzing Salmon Management Action Data: Katie Barnas [683985]
10:45-11:00 The Aquatic Resources Schema: Steve Rentmeester [683957]
11:00-11:15 The realist approach to building ontologies for science: Alan Ruttenberg [697484]
11:15-11:45 Discussion panel: Data use & reuse
11:45-Noon – Closing remarks and prep for the afternoon meeting
Noon-2:00 pm LUNCH
2:00-3:30 SalDAWG Ontology Discussion [Not a formal part of the CERF event. Requires separate registration at http://saldawg2009.eventbrite.com]
3:30-4:00 BREAK
4:00-5:30 SalDAWG Ontology Discussion, cont’d
FRIDAY, November 6, 2009
All-day field trip to the Oregon Coast for the Salmon Data Access Working Group and friends. Not a formal part of the CERF event.
We're working with the ODFW Research Lab in Corvallis to create the ODFW Salmon & Steelhead Recovery Tracker, a database and web site designed to:
• Make it easier for ODFW staff to report on their progress towards meeting salmon conservation goals.
• Provide public access to frequently requested data and information on salmon and aquatic habitat.
While the site is currently focused on coastal Coho, there is strong interest in expanding the site’s geographic and taxonomic scope to reach statewide.
SoS is partnered with PNAMP to create an online forum for capturing and reviewing best available methods for monitoring aquatic habitat and species. We are developing a user friendly web-based tool that reflects the unique environs driving the formulation, testing, and endorsement of field techniques. We expect this work to accelerate agency adoption of standards and improve the power of resulting observational data to tell dependable stories about the health of our environment.
We have initiated a novel partnership between the WDFW and the NCEAS at UC Santa Barbara that’s designed to significantly advance the management community’s handling of salmon population data by bringing in techniques and expertise from the pioneering field of ecoinformatics.
We're working with DFO staff at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo to develop a summarized catch and escapement data set by Conservation Unit (CU) to:
• Ensure DFO researchers have ready access to standard, core information needed to assess biological status of CUs.
• Establish the groundwork for eventual public access to escapement, catch rate, and CU status information in BC and Yukon.
ADFG’s Copper River and Prince William Sound Commercial Fisheries office is working with us to develop databases and web applications to:
• Make it easier for ADF&G area managers to enter, edit, retrieve, and analyze escapement and biological data.
• Provide public access to frequently requested data and information.