•         advanced

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."

Contact Us   •   Site Map   •   Search   •   Terms and Conditions   •   Privacy Policy   •   Participation Policy

Unidata is a member of the UCAR Office of Programs, is managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, and is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. P.O. Box 3000   •   Boulder, CO 80307-3000 USA   •   Tel: 303-497-8643   •   Fax: 303-497-8690