Possible Unidata/THREDDS Components
of the Data Services track
of the DLESE RFP
Ben Domenico
Last Modified:
August 15, 2005
The quoted italicized sections below are taken from the data services track
of the DLESE RFP (in which THREDDS is explicitly mentioned.)
"The present solicitation will not support development of data discovery
tools or applications per se, but rather is aimed at supporting a service that
will ensure that existing activities are actively pursued and brought to DLESE
in an organized manner. Specifically, the activities of this service on behalf
of the DLESE community will include:
-
Ongoing support for and organization of the efforts of the DAtaset
Working Group in pursuit of the goals established at the DAWG workshop.
"
From the DLESE Web pages, we gathered the following informaiton about the
DAWG.
Participants representing;
- Dataset Providers,
- Technology Specialists,
- Educators
DAWG Goals
- Facilitate discovery across distributed data archives
- Facilitate the development of tools that help instructors and learners
parse, process, and visualize datasets
- Facilitate the integration of seemingly disparate datasets, and
- Facilitate the development and dissemination of educational content
that utilizes datasets and datastreams.
The DAWG goals are very much in line with THREDDS goals. The one clarification
we might make is in the "participants" list where THREDDS will work
directly with the developers of educational materials rather than with the
educators themselves. But it will be important for THREDDS to work with educators
and students via the materials development part of the community.
Outcome of the Initial DAWG Meeting
The outcome of the initial (and so far the only meeting of the DAWG is summarized
in:
<http://www.dlese.org/documents/reports/meeting/Feb_01/dawg20801_outcomes.html>
Here again many of the action items from the meeting are in line with THREDDS
objectives, but we need to team with others (mainly those who construct educational
modules involving data access) who will provide the liaison with the end user
educators and students.
-
"Close interaction with the THREDDS initiative--and other such
initiatives--to ensure full access via DLESE to the data discovery tools
developed."
Note that all but one of the DAWG objectives are also objectives of our THREDDS
Technical Task Force (T3F), so the THREDDS component of the proposal can be
stated as taking a leadership role in those aspects of the Data Services Workshops
that involve the overlapping goals of the T3F and the DAWG.
Because of item in the RFP, several organizations have contacted us about
participating or leading the RFP. A summary of the current status of the interactions
with these contacts can be found in:
<http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/projects/THREDDS/DLESEDataServices/Contacts.html>
-
"Use of the DLESE Resource Cataloger to compile information on
existing tools, Web resources, and projects involving integrated access
to Earth data for educational purposes and applications of such data in
exemplary educational modules."
The THREDDS role in this aspect of the proposal will focus on gathering input
as to how the catalogs THREDDS data providers create can be made more useful
to individuals developing educational materials that involve interactions
with datasets at the provider sites.
THREDDS tools for facilitation third party construction of catalogs will
play a role in these catalog entries in the long term.
-
"Organization of workshops and other meetings that bring together
data providers, interface providers, and developers of educational resources."
As it's shaping up now, this is really the meat of the proposal. These workshops
and meetings will bring together the T3F with DLESE community members developing
educational materials. THREDDS will take the lead in those parts of the workshops.
"In short, the intent of this service is to be a catalyst in advancing
the frontier of use of "real" data in Earth system science education."
