USGS National BiologicalInformation Infrastructure Advancing Science in a Collaborative Web 2.0 World

Government 2.0 Boot Camp

Mike Frame

Session Outline

• Brief Organization Background• Why do we need such tools?• Our organizations current efforts• Where are we going

USGS Biological Informatics Office

• Headquartered in Reston, VA• Responsible for biological informatics activities within USGS• Programs Major focus:

– Supporting the management, delivery, and utilization of biological data & information regardless of where, what, and who.

• Approximately 60 staff in multiple locations throughout the US• Considerable work is done through partner grants or

cooperative agreements (i.e. content)

NBII Description and Overarching Goal

• Goal is to maximize the nation’s investment in research and monitoring through improved access to the results of those activities

• Made up of a large, distributed yet interconnected network of people, technologies, standards, data, and organizations that together form a federation

• Provides the enabling infrastructure for making biological data, information, tools and technologies accessible to customers, partners, and others for informed decision-making

Typical Content

• Metadata• Maps• Data sets• Information Products

– Scientific journal articles– Species profiles

• Monitoring protocols• Tools and software• Electronic Keys • Images• Databases • Web sites• Various other Portlets

Integrated View - Public NBII

Data Collection processMicro-level vs. Macro-level research“Virtual” collaborationUI Challenges for diverse audiences “generalized” vs. “one-off” toolsInformation Integration/scale/searchData qualityRequires multiple disciplinesGlobal scopeSustainability of tools, applications, databases

Community Challenges

What do I mean by Web 2.0

Definitions of Web 2.0 on the Web:My Definition (Key concepts): • Visualization, user interaction, infrastructure, collaboration,

services, enabling, involvement, user driven, distributed authorities, multi-device

Other definitions: • The second generation of the World Wide Web, especially the

movement away from static webpages to dynamic and shareable contenten.wiktionary.org/wiki/Web_2.0

• The use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to facilitate creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration ...www.anvilmediainc.com/search-engine-marketing-glossary.html

Need for Web 2.0 tools in science

Summary: • Distributed resources• Multi-organizational involvement

– Citizen involvement– Scientists– Educators

• Data quality is paramount• Improved tools needed• Input to policies, decision making• Future generations • Limited resources

Example efforts

• Data Visualizations via IBM Many Eyes • My NBII Collaboration areas• Ecoinformatics thesauri • NBII SAIN Mashups• Protected Areas & Specimen widget

Data Visualization Service

• Needed to support:

– Viewing

– Contributions

– Annotations– Reuse

– Integration

– Review

– Improvements

My NBII Portal (Partner “intranet)

Content Managers Toolkit

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C on ten t M ana ge rs To o lk it C om m un ity V is its

C om m un ity V is its

Federal Fish Passage Community

Ecoinformatics Thesauri

• Using Wiki’s, Blogs, etc. to support concept development and maintenance

EEA GEMETWho can use it

GEMETGEMETXML (R

DF + SKOS)

SOAP (RDF + SKOS)

XML/RPC

HTTP

display term definitions, translate terms

Web services building custom interfaces

translators

applications that need off-line data

browse GEMET on-line

Web applications using the API to implement searches, definitions, translations, etc.

EEA GEMETWiki environment

Results

• Limited success– Languages– Expertise– Small community– Users seem to prefer traditional products– SKOS/RDF version very popular

• Still ongoing

NBII SAIN Species Mashups

• Designed for

– One-stop-shop for species information in SE

– Integrate diverse sources

• Content Type

• UI Presentation

RSS – streaming of news, data, conferences, updates, etc.

Wildlife Disease, Mid-Atlantic, Butterflies feeds

NBII Data feeds

Overall Challenges

• Security• Web 121.x buzz word• Broad involvement• Ensuring Data quality• Performance • Supporting Infrastructure• Expertise/skill set • OMB Paperwork Reduction & Privacy Act• Funding

Where are we going?

• Deployment of new Search tools with web 2.0 features• Continued growth of My NBII

– Bridging public and private environments• Tool and infrastructure developments• Broader community involvement • Semantic concepts for species, keywords

Additional References and Contact Information

• http://www.nbii.gov• http://my.nbii.gov • http://search.nbii.gov • http://metadata.nbii.gov• http://geospatial.nbii.gov• http://thesaurus.nbii.gov • http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov

• http://botany.nbii.gov• http://invasivespecies.nbii.gov• http://sain.nbii.gov• http://main.nbii.gov• http://gapanlysis.nbii.gov• http://www.itis.gov

Questions / Comments / Advice / Opinions

Mike Frame: mike_frame@usgs.gov