The iSamples (Internet of Samples in the Earth Sciences) Research Coordination Network is part of EarthCube and focuses on the integration of physical samples and collections into digital data infrastructure in the Earth sciences. This presentation summarizes the activities of the iSamples RCN and presents results from a major community survey about sharing and management of physical samples that was conducted as part of the RCN.

1. iSamples RCN
Survey Results & Kickoff Workshop
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2. Webinar Agenda
 iSamples RCN Overview (Kerstin Lehnert)
 iSamples Survey results (Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld)
 iSamples Kick-off Workshop Summary (Kerstin
Lehnert)
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the presenters

3. iSamplES Objective
 advance the use of innovative cyberinfrastructure to connect
physical samples and sample collections across the Earth
Sciences with digital data infrastructures as par of EarthCube
 to improve the discovery, access, sharing, analysis, and curation of physical
samples and the data generated by their study as needed by the science
community
iSamplES: The Internet of Samples in the Earth Sciences
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The Internet of Samples
in the Earth Sciences

4. iSamplES Goals
 develop a shared vision for an Internet of Samples in
the Earth Sciences.
 converge on and eventually build consensus for best
practices and standards for sample registration,
identification, citation, and metadata that can be
adopted across the diverse stakeholder community.
 enhance broad awareness of and access to existing
resources that will advance preservation, access, and
management of samples
iSamplES: The Internet of Samples in the Earth Sciences
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5. iSamplES Stakeholders
iSamplES: The Internet of Samples in the Earth Sciences
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Domain Scientists
working with samples in the
field, lab, or in data systems
Large-scale science programs,
observatories, and sampling
campaigns (IODP, ICDP, CZO, etc.)
Data Facilities
handling sample-based data
Computer and CI
Scientists
Curators
- core repositories
- museums
- sample repositories &
collections
- academic departments
Publishers and
Professional Societies
EarthCube Projects
Agencies
Software Engineers

6. iSamplES Activities
iSamplES: The Internet of Samples in the Earth Sciences
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Stakeholder Alignment
(lead: Joel Cutcher-
Gershenfeld)
• questionnaires & surveys
• workshops & outreach events
• ongoing working groups
isamplES Knowledge
Hub, semantic WiKi
(lead: Yolanda Gil)
CINERGI Catalog of Earth
Science Collections (lead:
Ilya Zaslavsky)
Transformation of Sample and
Data Practices by Early Career
Scientists (lead: Benjamin
Hallett)

7. Transformation of Sample and Data Practices by
Early Career Scientists
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iSamples Early Career Workshop
• lunch meeting at AGU FM 2014
• 60 participants (students, postdocs, junior faculty)
• recruit ECS for development of teaching modules
• 5 participants at iSamples Kickoff workshop

8. isamplES Knowledge Hub
 Semantic WiKi, under development (Yolanda Gil, USC)
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9. iSamples Survey
 Handing over to Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld …
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10. iSamples Kick-off Workshop
 UT Austin: Jan 28-30, 2015
 53 participants
 domain sciences (igneous, metam.,
& soil geochem; geochron;
tectonics; paleoclimate;
paleontology; geophysics)
 computer science
 library science
 data facilities
 sample facilities (core and sample
repositories, museums/Smithsonian,
NASA astromaterials)
 publishing
 petroleum industry
 1/3 early career scientists!!
iSamplES: The Internet of Samples in the Earth Sciences
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11. Social Scientist 11

12. Agenda
 Change of Plans!
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from Emily Hernandez Goldstein’s presentation

13. The “Virtual Field Trip” 13
by Emily
Hernandez
Goldstein

14. The Repository Trip 14
Thanks, Bob!

15. The CS Perspective 15

16. Other Perspectives
 the scientists
 senior level: Steve Goldstein (LDEO)
 early career: Michael Tuite (JPL), Jon Stelling (LeHigh), Amanda
Waite (U Florida), Emily Hernandez Goldstein (UT Austin)
 the curators: Ann Molineux (UT Austin), Betty Adrian
(USGS)
 related efforts
 scientific collections: Eileen Graham (SciColl, Smithsonian
Institution)
 bioinformatics: Ramona Walls (iPLant Collaborative)
 digital archiving: Chris Jordan (Digital Preservation Network, UT
Austin)
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17. Early Career Perspectives 17
Jon Stelling
Lehigh University

18. Workshop Discussions
 Identified commonalities
 “People are all facing similar problems.”
 “We are all in the same boat together.”
 Revealed consensus
 Focus on minimum critical solutions
 “simple is actually better than a Cadillac of software”
 “Encouraged that the sample information that is needed can be
relatively small”
 “Stop the bleeding first” (problem of legacy on back burner)
 Need for culture change
 “old mentality that this is my rock”
 need for education so that scientists document samples better
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19. Today’s most troubling and daunting problems have
common features: some of them arise from human
numbers and resource exploitation; they require
long-term commitments from separate sectors of
society and diverse disciplines to solve; simple,
unidimensional solutions are unlikely; and failure to
solve them can lead to disasters.
In some ways, the scales and complexities of our
current and future problems are unprecedented,
and it is likely that solutions will have to be iterative .
. .
Institutions can enable the ideas and energies of
individuals to have more impact and to sustain
efforts in ways that individuals cannot.
From “Science to Sustain Society,” by Ralph J. Cicerone, President,
National Academy of Sciences, 149th Annual Meeting of the Academy (2012)

20. Predictable Tensions in Governance
DecentralizationCentralization
Action
Inclusion/
Deliberation
Innovation/
Variation
Specification/
Standardization
MinoritiesMajorities
CompetitionCooperation

21. iSamples Governance
 Steering committee provides guidance to the PI and co-
PI, who then serves as the leadership for operations.
 SC is responsible for defining the vision and statement of
principles, with an invitation for individuals and organizations to
serve as signatories.
 Working groups focus on identified tasks.
 Specify goal, scope, deliverables, and periodic two-way input to
steering committee (with chairs or co-chairs added to steering
committee).
 Potential to be allied with or serving as working groups in ESIP,
RDA or others
 Plan additional workshop for early 2016 and assess need
for more structure at that time
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22. Working group topics
 Metadata standards
 Metadata standards for physical samples within and across disciplines / Sample-based
interoperability standards: unique identifiers, controlled vocabularies, RDF schemas, etc.
 Physical infrastructure
 Physical infrastructure for sample curation (preservation & access) and standards (attributes) for
repositories and collections
 Workflow support
 Workflow support (software) for investigators (field, lab, publication, grant proposals) /
Architecture of shared cyberinfrastructure for collection management and shared
interoperability tools
 “Use Cases”
 “Use cases” on the reuse of physical samples and policies for sample sharing / End user
perspectives / Sample collection scenarios / Work flow documentation / Research process
modeling / Scientific requirements
 Digital collections
 Digitization and cataloguing of collections, including image handling / Data and sample rescue
 Dynamic citation
 Dynamic citation of samples: Guidance to publishers and authors to link samples, data, and
publications
 Communication/education
 Communication, education, training, mentorship, ambassadors, engagement
Consolidate

23. Working Groups
 WG1: Identifiers & Metadata
 WG2: User stories & scientific requirements
 incl. policies for sample sharing
 WG3: Communication, Education, Training
 WG4: Architecture & Workflows
 WG5: Physical Infrastructure
 incl. digitization of collections, sample rescue
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24. WG1: Identifiers & Metadata
 Problem: Lack of standards for sample discovery & identification across
domains
 Goal: Define minimum metadata profiles required to facilitate
functional/meaningful discovery and interoperability across domains
 Try not to make metadata burdensome, but promote use and still make it rich
 Examine scope & integration of unique identifier types (IGSN, LSID, BCID, RRID, etc.)
 Build consensus for leading practices to make recommendations to community
 Co-chairs: David Arctur (UT Austin), Reyna Jenkyns (Ocean Networks Canada)
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25. WG1: Next Steps
 compile use cases for
metadata needs (work with
WG2, WG4)
 gather & evaluate existing
resources (metadata,
vocabularies, UIDs) – don’t
reinvent the wheel
 session at ESIP Summer Meeting
 identify key contacts
 EarthCube TAC
 CODATA Task Group, ESIP, RDA IG,
etc.
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26. WG2: User Stories & Science Requirements
 Problem:
 We do not have a full picture of how
people interact with samples.
 We don’t have good life cycle based
policies, don’t know when/where
different actors are needed (curators,
investigators, etc.)
 Goals:
 Collect user stories
 Articulate different life cycle practices
for different users
 Identify curatorial points of intervention,
develop policies/recommendations
 Co-chairs: Andrea Thomer (UIUC), Sarah
Ramdeen (UNC Chapel Hill)
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27. WG2: Next Steps
 generate flowcharts for research
processes
 establish protocol for further
interviews with people from
different roles and domains
 encourage RCN participants to
post institutional policies
 use EarthCube End-user
workshops
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28. WG3: Communication, Training, Education
 Problem: Insufficient
appreciation of benefits of digital
sample management
 Goal: Develop communication
plan to promulgate best practices
 specific for a variety of audiences
(students/ECS, late career scientists)
 identify ambassadors
 prepare training modules
 Co-chairs: Ben Hallett (U Wisconsin
Oshkosh), Ashlee Dere (U Nebraska
Omaha)
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29. WG3: Next Steps
 work toward communication
plan: create 3 slides about
iSamples as talking points
 build skeleton of list of
registries, listservs, etc.
 reach out to EarthCube
Engagement Team
 work closely with other WGs to
contribute materials
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30. WG4: Architecture & Workflows
(incl. citation of samples)
 Problem: Barriers to adoption of leading
practices such as IGSN assignment,
standard sample documentation, sample
citation in the literature
 Goals: Identify barriers and develop
solutions with maximum efficiency, e.g.
for integrating IGSNs into workflows
from collection to publishing
 gather data from people in the field and who work
with collections
 design of app to support metadata capture in the
field (with EC3?)
 recommend protocols for citation of samples to
NSF
 Co-Chairs: Unmil Karadkar (iSchool, UT Austin),
Emily Hernandez Goldstein (Jackson School, UT
Austin)
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31. WG4: Next Steps
 Evaluate IGSN registration process and tools and identify steps
to improve usability
 integrate SESAR user feedback
 talk with the use case group about what feedback they get
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 Propose solutions
 Software applications
(design & test applications
for digital data entry in the
field) (iSchool class project)
 Incentives
 Requirement of agencies
 DMPs to have IGSNs - reach out
to make reviewers require it
 Work with EarthCube RCNs EC3, C4P

32. WG5: Physical Infrastructure, Digitizing,
Cataloguing, & Sample Rescue
 Problem: Loss of physical samples
and the information
(data/metadata) about them
 Goals:
 Produce a vision for national archive
system for physical samples
 Produce proposal for funding streams
for a national archive system and
systematic digitization of samples (like
iDigBio?)
 Co-chairs: Leslie Hale (Smithsonian
Institution), Ramona Walls (iPlant)
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33. WG5: Next Steps
 use the DESC & iSamples survey
 to develop a set of criteria by which samples should be
preserved;
 to develop a set of criteria for which collections should
be digitized first;
 to develop leading practices for digital archiving of
sample data/metadata.
 represent WG at Marine Curators meeting in
April at College Station, TX
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34. iSamples: Next Steps
 Set up workspaces, forums, and listservs for WGs
 Complete development of iSamples semantic wiki as
prototype for community feedback
 iSamples session at EarthCube All-Hands Meeting
 isamples session at ESIP Summer Meeting
 Ensure that WGs move forward
 Development of educational modules
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35. Participate!
 Join the iSamples group
 go to http://earthcube.org/group/isamples
 Join a Working Group
 send email to mcarter@ldeo.columbia.edu
 To get alerts about upcoming webinar
 Join the iSamples group or check the EarthCube calendar
 For any questions
 contact mcarter@ldeo.columbia.edu or
lehnert@ldeo.columbia.edu
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