Atlas of Living Australia Newsletter 2 (14 July 2008)
Many thanks to all those who responded positively to the first ALA newsletter and particularly to those who have already provided input to the ALA user needs analysis. All information in these newsletters is included in the ALA website at http://www.ala.org.au/ and past newsletters can be found at http://www.ala.org.au/news.htm.
Please send an email to Wolf Wanjura (Wolf.Wanjura@csiro.au) if you wish to be added to the mailing list for this newsletter, or if you wish to be removed from the list.
ALA business plan 2008-2009
The ALA has developed its Business Plan for the coming year and would value input from any interested parties on the approach taken and the developments planned. This plan describes the key components which have been identified as priorities for the Atlas.
For more information on the business plan, see http://www.ala.org.au/businessplan2008-2009.htm.
The ALA and other networks
The ALA is fortunate to be able to build upon the work of existing biodiversity data networks, in particular the Australian Virtual Herbarium (AVH) and the Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums (OZCAM). The AVH and OZCAM each bring together data from collections throughout Australia and offer public interfaces for searching these data. The ALA will work with these and with similar networks to develop compatible tools and data standards, e.g. with the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), the Australian Microbial Resource Information Network (AMRIN), and the Australian Plant Pest Database (APPD). The ALA aims to contribute to the further development of these networks and to assist them in delivering information products targeted to their specific audiences.
For more information on the ALA’s plans to support data sharing networks, see http://www.ala.org.au/dataprovision.htm.
ALA staff
The ALA recently has recruited a few key staff to join the core team based in Canberra. Dr Lynette Woodburn has taken up the role of Metadata Curator and will be responsible for developing relationships with data providers around Australia and for managing the ALA Metadata Repository (see http://www.ala.org.au/metadatarepository.htm). Dr Nick dos Remedios has started work as a Java Developer and will initially be focusing on tools to harvest geospatial data (see http://www.ala.org.au/geospatialharvesting.htm). A Technical Architect has also been appointed and will start work later in the year.
For more information on ALA staff, see http://www.ala.org.au/contact.htm.
Data Integration and Annotation Services for Biodiversity
Data Integration and Annotation Services for Biodiversity (DIAS-B) is a project funded by the NCRIS National e-Research Architecture Taskforce (NeAT). This project provides additional support for the ALA to develop its Metadata Repository (http://www.ala.org.au/metadatarepository.htm) and Data Annotation Services (http://www.ala.org.au/dataannotation.htm) components. The project will enable the ALA to recruit four developers to work on these components (two based at the CSIRO ICT Centre and two at the University of Queensland). Additional support for these activities has been committed from CSIRO’s Information Management and Technology group.
For more information on DIAS-B, see http://www.pfc.org.au/pub/Main/NeATdiasb/DIAS-B_ARCS_BP.pdf.
Other activity
Over the last month the ALA team has been working on the following tasks:
- Recruiting the ALA Architect, Metadata Curator and Java Developer
- Developing the ALA’s 2008-2009 Business Plan
- Working with the NCRIS NeAT programme to plan the development of the ALA’s Metadata Repository and Data Annotation Services
- Initiation of the ALA user needs analysis
- Meetings to explore possible collaborations with related organisations and projects, including contacts with representatives from Canberra Ornithologists Group, EarthWatch, SA Department of Environment and Heritage, the Murray Darling Basin Commission, the Department of Defence, IdentifyLife, the Encyclopedia of Life, Birds Australia, NCRIS Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network and the Australian National Data Service
