Summer 2013 panel discussion
A Panel Discussion on Survey Scope
It has been suggested that at the summer ESIP meeting we convene a panel discussion on the topic of scope for a data decadal survey. It would include members from agencies and organizations such as NASA, NOAA, USGS, NSF, ESIP, CODATA, RDA, etc. The goal would be to hear their perspectives on scope and use that to help identify possible statements of task.
Please add thoughts, comments here.
03.21.13: We are moving forward with this idea. Carol and Erin may place this as a plenary session in the meeting.
All that follows is a straw man for the sake of discussion. Please chime in.
We are thinking of two parts: 1) visionary, 2) panel discussion
Panel discussion
We seek a visionary perspective, in additional to agency and organizational perspectives.
We think 5 panelists would be a maximum.
Potential panel members (note: order is irrelevant, and only some affiliations/associations are listed)
- John Wilbanks
- Stan Aholt, RENCI
- Steven Friend (from genetics)
- Berrien Moore, College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences, University of Oklahoma
- Chris Greer, Associate Director for Progrma Implemention in Information Technology Laboratory, NIST
- Piers Sellers, astronaut, meteorology, computer modeling
- The (2 hour) video "Earth from Space", Earth from Space has comments from visionary-types:
- (From Netflix website) cast: Waleed Abdalati, David Adamec, Charlie Bristow, Carl Feldman, Holly Gilbert, Jeffrey B. Halverson, Jay O. Sanders, Piers Sellers, Emily Shuckburgh
- Martha Maiden, Program executive for Earth Science Data Systems, NASA
- Jeff Newmark, Executive Secretary, NASA Heliophysics Subcommittee
- Dan Baker, Director Laboratory for Amospheric and Space Physics (LASP), Chair of Heliophysics Decadal Survey
- "Lessons Learned in Decadal Planning in Space Science, A Workshop", Report from Nov 12, 2012 workshop, includes names of workshop presenters and moderators, including several we mentioned today
- Thomas Karl, Director, National Climatic Data Center
- Mark Parsons, RDA
- Fran Berman, RDA, BRDI
- Peter Fox, RPI, Ambassador at Large
- Cliff Jacobs, EarthCube (retired?)
- Bob Chen, Director CIESIN, mmanager SEDAC, prior secretary-general CODATA
- Chris Mentzel, Program Officer, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Sara Graves, BRDI, CODATA Executive Committee member, Director of IT and Systems Center, UAH
- Peter Colohan, Senior Policy Analyst, White House OSTP
Panel discussion abstract
(Again, a straw man. Please contribute.)
At the behest of government agencies and other organizations, the National Research Council (NRC) conducts studies that provide community consensus on key science questions. One of the broadest types of surveys conducted by the NRC is the Decadal Survey, which asks the questions around a particular topic of, where does the community want to be in ten years and how do we get there? The decadal survey process has been shown to be a robust method for developing goals and objectives in pursuit of high priority science questions.
The ESIP Data Decadal Survey cluster has adopted the mission to "Outline the need for a data decadal Survey, develop a set of options defining its scope, and assess potential Survey constituencies." cluster mission statement
We invite agency and organization representatives to participate in a panel discussion regarding questions such as:
- What should a DDS accomplish?
- What should be scope of the survey?
- Earth science only, or beyond?
- Data only? What about software? Sharing of methodologies?
- What data challenges must be addressed?
Outcome, deliverable
Based on the ideas from the panel discussion, develop a short white paper to describe a potential workshop to be held in the fall of 2013, which would include representatives from beyond ESIP, and which would provide options for the nature, scope, tasks, and constituencies for a Data Decadal Survey.
Discussion, ideas, thoughts, brainstorming
Some cluster members are uncomfortable expanding the scope of the survey beyond Earth sciences. Does it make sense to start "small", with Earth sciences, and then generalize? Or, as data management problems across domains are all basically similar, start with the more general and go into greater detail later?
