Welcome to the LTER Data Co-op

What is the Data Co-op? The Data Co-op is where all the LTER data that is harvested gets stored. It works like a warehouse. The LTER Data Portal is the access point. La Montanita Co-op (here in Albuquerque) comes to mind. The farmers grow their produce and La Montanita serves as the warehouse and point-of-sale for that produce. Scientific data works in the LTER Data Co-op in a similar fashion.
Consumers (researchers, other scientists, graduate students, educators, the general public) go to the Data Portal to find the information they are looking for. Producers (scientists, and others) harvest their data into the Co-op for consumers to use. Publication of data is the end result and rather than dollar bills exchanging hands, recognition is the currency for the Data Co-op’s transactions. The more data in the warehouse, the more recognition its members receive.
Everyone involved with LTER is a shareholder in the LTER Data Co-op - look for your button at ASM. And don’t forget to stop by the kiosk on Sunday afternoon (9/10) to preview the E-Poster.
The important items covered by the working group session include how-tos on:

1. Data producers can evaluate their data package prior to harvesting into PASTA - covered in the electronic poster as “How can I contribute data to NIS?”

1. Data packages are discovered via browsing and/or search tools - covered in the electronic poster as “How do I find data in NIS?”

1. Derived data may be generated when a data package insert or update event occurs (synthesis activity) - covered in the poster as “How does the NIS enable Network synthesis?”

1. Provenance metadata can be generated for derived data packages - covered in the poster as “How will the NIS maintain data provenance for derived products?”
2. Data package use information is viewed by a contributor - covered in the poster by the question “How can I track who is using my data?”