Dataversity Progress Report and Plan

Dataversity is the TFBIS-funded project to form a community of practice of
biodata managers in NZ councils. The project was funded in June 2007. Here is a
brief update on progress so far, and the next steps for the project. Below is a
link to a more detailed report.

My first step in this project was to meet with as many biodata managers as I
could, to let them know about the project and get their feedback. As I
expected, most people could see the need for knowledge-sharing about biodata
management, and were keen to participate in conversations. I saw several
examples of successful biodata systems, but also heard many tales of struggles
to manage data without good systems. The biodata managers I spoke with wanted
to know what each other are doing. They wanted to share information about their
successes and problems, both with in-house systems and with national databases.
They also wanted to ensure that strong links were made between this project and
related groups.

I could see that the need to start facilitating conversations was urgent. It
seems there is a real opportunity to match biodata management problems with
existing solutions.

I therefore picked a name for the project, and set up a website, and opened two
online groups. The first is the "announcement" that I am sending this update
to. The second is a private discussion forum, restricted to core Dataversity
members, ie people who are hands-on managers of biodiversity data. With the
help of Tamsin Braisher, I contacted as many people as possible to invite them
to join one or these online groups, and to have input into the project. At this
stage, we have 36 biodata managers in the private discussion group.

I also started collecting success stories, and descriptions of required
systems, and compiling them in the Showcase
  http://dataversity.org.nz/resources/showcase
and Want Ads on the website.
  http://dataversity.org.nz/resources/wantads
With invaluable assistance from Tamsin, the website now has a comprehensive
list of National Databases
  http://dataversity.org.nz/resources/nationaldatabases/
and Related Groups.
  http://dataversity.org.nz/resources/relatedgroups/
There's also a full description of the project on the website.
  http://dataversity.org.nz/resources/dataversity/

In 2008, the plan is to increase the membership of Dataversity so that we have
one person from every NZ Council in the announcement group at least. We'll be
facilitating conversations in the private discussion group, and adding Showcase
items and Want Ads. We will continue to build links with the curators of
national databases, and with related groups. At some stage we will hold a face
to face workshop, hopefully in conjunction with an existing
biodiversity-related gathering. I also aim to have a steering team formed by
November 2008. The main goal, however, is to achieve some actual success with
solving biodata management problems for councils in NZ.

Here's how you can help.

December 2007: Spread the word. If you know people who should know about this,
please forward this email to them.

January 2008: Participate in the conversations. If you are in the private
discussion group, add your intro, reply to some of the topics that are already
in progress, or start one of your own. Whether you are in that group or not,
check the content on the website, and give us feedback.

If you have met her face to face, you'll know that Tamsin is expecting a baby
early in 2008. For that reason, we're not sure what involvement Tamsin will
have in Dataversity in future. Tamsin, Dataversity is already one baby you've
helped to bring into the world. A big thanks to you, for your contribution.

with Season's Greetings to all,

Dan

. . .

Dan Randow
Dataversity Facilitator
http://dataversity.org.nz/resources/contacts/
and Projects Director
OnlineGroups.Net
ph +64-3-377-5377 +64-27-431-4928
Kenton Chmbrs, 190 Hereford St
PO Box 739, Christchurch, 8140
Aotearoa (New Zealand)
http://onlinegroups.net
http://groupserver.org
skype: vonrandow