Data Best Practices

Project Description

Resource managers and decision makers in the Pacific Northwest base many of their decisions on monitoring data. High quality and accessible data is key to timely and efficient decision making. In order to achieve high quality and accessible data, the practices applied to each step of the data life cycle must be up-to-date. PNAMP supports the Data Best Practices as an ongoing project to coordinate and conduct activities that will help define and disseminate best data management and sharing practices. It is supported by the standing Data Management Leadership Team that meets quarterly. Currently the project is conducting these tasks:

  • The Roadmap: Developing a roadmap document identifying best practices for data management and sharing for aquatic monitoring in the Pacific Northwest
  • Metadata support: Providing guidance on metadata standards, supporting the development of metadata, and providing tools to aid in metadata creation and dissemination
  • Data steward community of practice: Providing support to data professionals working with aquatic monitoring data through online community forums and making available expert advice, trainings and educational presentations

Project Team

The Data Best Practices project is headed by the PNAMP Information Management Liaison (Kathryn Thomas). The Data Management Leadership Team provides guidance. PNAMP partners and the community of data stewards for aquatic monitoring participate in the tasks related to this project.

Highlights

Look for the PNAMP and NOAA co-sponsored symposium at AFS
May 26, 2011 - 9:57am

We have 28 speakers lined up to present on all sorts of cutting-edge topics on data management at the annual American Fisheries Society meeting. The symposium 'Advances in Data Management and Dissemination: The View from the Edge of a New Frontier' will take place on September 7th, 2011. For a preview of speakers and the symposium abstract go to http://www.pnamp.org/document/3294

Related Resources

See all documents related to this project.

Northwest Environmental Data Network Resources

The Northwest Environment Data Network (NED) was established to work cooperatively on actions and joint activities to improve the collection, management and sharing of environmental data and information. For example, NED goals included supporting and coordinating production of a regional data dictionary, the common use of query tools to metadata and the development of a data networking plan with funding support.

NED supported work to develop agreements, standards and protocols and the technology necessary to improve data sharing and discovery across multiple regional partners. NED also worked to identify and promote administrative, organizational and funding arrangements needed to support regional data management. NED did not intend to be a provider or a manager of data.

NED's MOU expired in October 2007. Since that time the PNAMP Data Management group has continued the efforts that NED started.

A subset of NED documents is listed below. If you cannot find what you’re looking for, please contact Jacque Schei (jschei@usgs.gov).