Documents — Databits

A full slate for the Summer 2019 Databits! Site Bytes makes a triumphant return after a long absence. There is also plenty of information on new initiatives, including upgrades to PASTA, Best Practices for using Zotero to manage bibliographic data, development of a core metabase for metadata management, a chance to catch up on a... Read more »

The spring issue of the newly-revived DataBits is out, thanks to a reinvigorated editorial team. The full issue is available as a pdf and individual stories will also make their way onto the Network website over the next few weeks. Table of Contents Spring 2018 DataBits Featured Articles The International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) Global... Read more »

The theme of this issue is Updating Legacy Websites, and several feature articles describe recent upgrades to LTER web sites and supporting technology. Linda Powell describes a major redesign of the FCE web site, Wade Sheldon describes the development of a web-based document and imagery archive at GCE, Hung Nguyen and Corinna Gries describe a novel approach to enhancing the effectiveness of metadata keyword searching in the CAP data catalog, and James Connors and Mason Kortz describe Application Program Interfaces designed by PAL and CCE to support web development projects.

This issue features an article on career development in the field of Information Management by Karen Baker, a longtime LTER Information Manager who also conducts theoretical research in this field. We also hear critical opinions on the pros and cons and progress of networking in LTER, and learn of the status of a new and welcomed network project. The Editorial section has been renamed Commentary in order to capture the experience of community participants and to suggest that observations and opinions presented are open to dialogue.

Featured in this issue: Welcome to the Spring 2007 issue of Databits! Twenty-two authors or coauthors submitted articles for this issue, which is a testament to the committment of Information Managers to sharing information. The articles represent the diversity of interests within the LTER IM community and highlight a number of current topics. Most notably, there is a discussion about proposed changes in the organizational structure of the IM committee that would better integrate the GIS working group and the Technology Committee.

Featured in this issue: This issue of Databits follows the September, 2006 LTER Information Managers’ Meeting in Estes Park, Colorado. The IM meeting was held in conjunction with the LTER All Scientists’ Meeting and included a number of Information Managers from around the world. In recent years, there has been an emphasis on establishing relationships among members of the International LTER community. This issue of Databits reflects this initiative with contributions from several ILTER participants.

Featured in this issue: Welcome to a robust issue of the Spring 2006 DataBits’!!! We had many submittals this issue and the articles really show the diversity of this group. We hope you have as much fun reading this issue as we did putting it together. As many of the LTER sites have EML documents being generated, the focus of the IM community has shifted from generating EML to working with EML. There is a series of four articles in this issue of DataBits’ that explore multiple approaches with differing timeframes that IM’s are developing that will lead to better data discovery within EML.

Featured in this issue: After most of the LTER sites have produced their Ecological Metadata Language (EML) packages up to Level 3, the subject still occupies a main line in our agendas. Not only do we want to share our methods to achieve this task with other communities, but we want to study the lessons that have we learned in the process.

Featured in this issue: Following years of efforts in developing a Network Information System (NIS), LTER information managers report on two of its completed components: CLIMDB/HYDRODB and Network All-Site Bibliography. More recently, the LTER sites started the process of exporting their metadata databases into Ecological Metadata Language (EML), a metadata specification developed by the ecology discipline and for the ecology discipline (http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/software/eml/).

Linda Powell describes new IM System tools at FCE LTER. Dan Higgins and Matt Jones explain the Kepler system for scientific workflows. Teresa Valentine introduces the Watershed DB. Also, EML in Latin America and new forest service database.

John Porter talks about the latest regarding the National Environmental Observatory Network (NEON) program. Jonathan Walsh shares his experience at the Web Services Workshop (February 2-5, 2004). Karen Baker, Shaun Haber, and Marshall White discuss the Postnuke Portal Software.

Featured in this issue: Theresa Valentine and Don Henshaw discuss their approach to the marriage of tabular and spatial data at the Andrews LTER. Barrie Collins gives his take on ArcIMS, ESRI, and his management philosophy. We are exposed to adding internet spatial visualization to environmental projects when Peter McCartney discusses three internet map applications produced by The Center for Environmental Studies, Arizona State University. Also in this issue a move towards maximizing the spatial aspect of the LTER Network is taken with a new Network-wide survey.

Featured in this issue: Matt Jones explains the grid computing concept and describes a major new grid computing initiative for ecologists; Bill Michener fleshes out the context of that initiative with a sketch of SEEK, a wide-reaching grant for information technology in ecology. Peter Arzberger and others give us an insider’s look at an international grid computing effort for environmental science. Chad Berkley and Peter McCartney bring us up to date on the latest tools for doing ecology on the grid.

Featured in this issue are two articles about wireless technology, a description of a minimalist approach to creating dynamic web pages to display database content, and a discussion about the implementation of ArcIMS by a seasoned ArcIMS user. Other articles describe the innovative GCE Matlab Toolbox and the future of the All-Site Bibliography.

Ecological Metadata Language (EML): Augmenting Research Tools and Capabilities, a quick introduction to Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT), a review of software tools for working with Extensible Markup Language (XML), an article on metadata management and what role Morpho and Metacat could play in an overall information management strategy at a LTER site, a review of several Email client applications, and an article about using the LTER LDAP Server.

DataBits: An electronic newsletter for Information Managers. Spring 2001 Featured in this issue: A Custom data management system, International LTER Information Management Workshop, The NASA Scientific Data Purchase Program, and Web-based data entry for dummies.

LTER Databits – Information Management Newsletter of the LTER Network – Spring 2001- Featured in this issue: A Custom data management system, International LTER Information Management Workshop, The NASA Scientific Data Purchase Program, and Web-based data entry for dummies.

LTER Databits – Information Management Newsletter of the LTER Network – Fall 2000 – Featured in this issue: According to most of the plenary addresses of the 2000 All Scientists Meeting in Snowbird, Utah, ecological researchers must think outside the box. Sociologists, modelers, climatologists, paleoecologists, remote sensing specialists, and science administrators all emphasized the need of ecological scientists to become comfortable with multiple disciplines and define questions that are significant in each of these fields simultaneously.

LTER Databits – Information Management Newsletter of the LTER Network – Spring 2000

LTER Databits – Information Management Newsletter of the LTER Network – Fall 1999 – Featured in this issue: an overview of the recently funded NSF/KDI Biodiversity partnership plans in addition to a variety of approaches to metadata, conferencing, visualization and training. DataBits continues as a semi-annual electronic publication of the Long Term Ecological Research Network. It is designed to provide a timely, online resource for research information managers and to incorporate rotating co-editorship. Availability is through web browsing as well as hardcopy output.

LTER Databits – Information Management Newsletter of the LTER Network – Spring 1999

LTER Databits – Information Management Newsletter of the LTER Network – Spring 1994

LTER Databits – Information Management Newsletter of the LTER Network – Summer 1993

This issue has a good balance of technical and non-technical features. There are reports on the use of interactive data access and data management policies within the LTER network. There are also plenty of hints on how to better use the computers at your site, including software reviews and technical hints. Finally, there are articles on conducting GPS campaigns and some solutions to common problems in scientific information management. There have also been some superficial format changes to DATABITS. Its now created using Framemaker software on a Sun Workstation.