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PAGES Databoard meeting
Bern, Switzerland, 20 - 21 May 2006


Left to right at back: Thorsten Kiefer (PAGES IPO) and Stefan Rothe (IMAGES); At front: Dave Anderson (WDC-Paleoclimatology), Isabelle Larocque, Anne-Marie Lézine (African Pollen Database), Michel Hoepffner (Medias-France), Christian Telepksi (PAGES IPO) and Michael Diepenbroek (PANGAEA). Taking the photo: Christoph Kull (PAGES IPO).

The paleocommunity has developed an impressive mix of databases of various sizes and concepts. This mix includes the large data centers, mostly organized in the World Data Center (WDC) network, which provide nearly inexhaustible storage capacities and long-term constancy. It also includes the smaller national and regional, proxy- or archive-specific databases, which offer close contact with the specialist communities. The challenge for the paleoscience community is to ensure the flow of data, information and technology between this mix of databases.

A core of nine representatives of the PAGES Databoard (see photo) met in May 2006 at the PAGES Office in Bern. This second meeting of the Databoard aimed to identify the most pressing data issues, to exchange information on the state of the art in database technology, concepts and policies, and to review progress made since the last Databoard meeting in 2002.

Two main issues were discussed:

1. Contributing data

Challenge: Data acquisition is a continuous struggle for database curators. Compared to the generation, interpretation and publishing of data, contributing data has a subordinate priority for most scientists. This attitude contradicts the widespread acknowledgment of the importance of data availability. The amount of relevant, high-quality paleo data that is not internet-accessible is growing rapidly.

Response: The Databoard discussed strategies for increasing data contribution. Rigorous measures, as are increasingly being implemented by funding organizations and publishers, were agreed to be beyond the immediate scope of the Databoard. Within the scope of the Databoard is a push for data centers to recognize datasets as a form of official publication, through assigning them a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). With a DOI, a dataset becomes citable like a published article, can aim for a citation index and can be included in CVs and assessment records of individuals and groups. PANGAEA has already implemented the use of DOIs.

2. Data access

Challenge: In an era when internet search tools provide users with an expansive overview of the information available on the web, it is still surprisingly difficult to find specific paleodata. This deficit reduces the value of stored data and the motivation to contribute to databases.

Response: New technologies provide exciting opportunities to link databases and to improve access to data stored in different locations. The Databoard discussed the idea of setting up a data portal on the PAGES website that would provide a single, coordinated data search engine to guide users to the relevant databases. The individual databases would maintain their identity, concept of data processing and presentation, and credit. A major benefit would be to reduce the need for users to visit multiple sites to conduct searches. It is hoped that eventually all paleodata databases worldwide would be accessible through this one neutral portal.

Click here to download the Minutes from this meeting.