[Go-essp-tech] requirements for scientific workspace

[Cecelia DeLuca]

All,
Here's a little more background ...
On a recent Curator call, we reviewed several collaborative scientific 
sites that include "social" aspects and there was a strong negative 
response (the phrase "social networking" is a killer).  Unless there is 
some unanticipated demand, Curator was not planning to head down this 
path in the near future.  However, there are aspects of how people 
interact with a gateway and each other that may be important, especially 
in the context of collaborative analysis, for example:
- can a user modify or supplement existing metadata
- can a user create a personal or project workspace and add metadata, 
links to artifacts (e.g. saved searches, links to datasets) or comments 
to it
- can a user upload their own metadata (e.g. output graphics) to the 
metadata associated with a simulation
- can a user upload analysis scripts that can be shared by others
We discussed these user-interaction/collaboration topics with a few 
scientists on another Curator call and got a laundry list of 
capabilities that the scientists thought would be useful.  So if we 
ended up with a go-essp call on this at some point I think the idea 
would be to focus on that list and propose what a workspace appropriate 
for ESGF might look like.  For an idea of some of the topics covered, a 
rough version of the laundry list is below.
- Cecelia

***
Output data
- need a template-driven way to post results

Visualization
- after posting model runs, enable workshop participants to visualize them
-- link the visualizations to private or group workspaces
-- post the visualizations to analysis blogs
-- attach the visualizations as metadata to simulations
- enable visualizations to be applied to multiple simulations at the same
time, as an extension of the comparison table
- visualization tools linked to analysis capabilities for intercomparison
- collection of figures or atlas - might be as part of the shared project
workspace or higher up

Grids
- post a figure that describes the model grid in metadata section of the 
model,
in simulation results for a model run, as a contribution to model 
documentation

Scripts
- Ability for user to write a python script, save it, and then share it

Table comparison
- finish implementation of attribute text comparison as a general tool,
link to visualization and potentially other capabilities

Place to post rules of the MIP
- For example, specifies whether output data needs to be on a
particular grid

Test specifications
- **Archive test descriptions, associate them with intercomparison
projects, and show which results are available at a given time**

User annotation and metadata:
Where -
- project workspace (e.g. for a MIP), metadata to describe a single model,
metadata for a specific simulation, personal workspace
What -
- visualization
- links to references and user manuals
- small writeups about particular model runs
How -
- if free text gets too long, a blog would be useful
- for unstructured communications may just link to a wiki
- how do users update metadata?  Policy discussion required.  Dealing
with annotation - free text comments, tagging





On 6/18/2010 6:24 AM, Cinquini, Luca (3880) wrote:
> Hi all,
> 	as you might know, the Earth System Curator project is looking into building a scientific workspace functionality to be integrated as part of the services provided by the Earth System Grid Federation.
> This project is still in the early phases of gathering requirements, and in particular we are discussing wether the workspace should include some limited "social" functionality to the purpose of facilitating
> the scientific discussion among members of the community.
>
> We were wondering if there is any interest in discussing the importance, or lack thereof, of this kind of functionality within a scientific workspace, maybe as one of the agenda topics in a future GO-ESSP call.
>
> For example, requirements that might be worth discussing are:
>
> o Should ESGF provide blogging capabilities, for users to discuss scientifically relevant matters ?
> o Should ESGF provide the capability for a user to create a personal (limited) profile, with the intent of establishing his/her scientific credibility ?
> o Should any user be able to create a group and allow other users of his/her choice into the group ?
>
> If you are interested in having such discussion, please reply to the list. We are especially interested in feedback from the GO-ESSP PIs...
>
> thanks a lot,
> Luca for the ESC project
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>    


-- 
===================================================================
Cecelia DeLuca
NESII/CIRES/NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
325 Broadway, Boulder 80305-337
Email: cecelia.deluca at noaa.gov
Phone: 303-497-3604