A Researcher’s Guide to Automating Analysis of LTER Data

Recent years have seen the development of new software tools and services that expedite the efficient analysis of LTER data by automating routine tasks associated with the handling of tabular data. This workshop will provide information on how to access and use several of these tools to help automate the analysis of LTER data to facilitate cross-site data synthesis. For example, a single line of “R” code can be used to 1) generate an R program for reading a dataset, 2) download a copy of the data, and 3) run basic summary statistics on all the columns of data – all without additional user actions. The workshop is aimed at researchers who wish to efficiently exploit the growing number of datasets made available by LTER sites to expand our understanding of ecological systems. The workshop session will consist of presentations on several tools and technologies including: web services that enable analyses using MatLab and the R, SAS and SPSS statistical packages, the Kepler scientific workflow and the nascent PASTA architecture for providing access to data and managing fully-automated updates to data products. The workshop will conclude with a round-table session solicit feedback from workshop participants regarding improvements to the tools.

Organizer:

John Porter

Co-organizer(s):

Wade Sheldon

Co-organizer(s):

Corinna Gries

Co-organizer(s):

M Gastil-Buhl

Co-organizer(s):

Sheng-Shan Lu

Preferred date(s):

Sept 11