Baker Karen S, Millerand Florence
Department of Information Sciences University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Urbana Illinois USA.
Département de Communication Sociale et Publique Montréal Quebec Université du Québec à Montréal Latin Quarter Montreal Canada.
Ecol Evol. 2024 Dec 10;14(12):e70444. doi: 10.1002/ece3.70444. eCollection 2024 Dec.
After decades of growth, a research community's network information system and data repository were transformed to become a national data management office and a major element of data infrastructure for ecology and the environmental sciences. Developing functional data infrastructures is key to the support of ongoing Open Science and Open Data efforts. This example of data infrastructure growth contrasts with the top-down development typical of many digital initiatives. The trajectory of this network information system evolved within a collaborative, long-term ecological research community. This particular community is funded to conduct ecological research while collective data management is also carried out across its geographically dispersed study sites. From this longitudinal ethnography, we describe an Incremental Growth Model that includes a sequence of six relatively stable phases where each phase is initiated by a rapid response to a major pivotal event. Exploring these phases and the roles of data workers provides insight into major characteristics of digital growth. Further, a transformation in assumptions about data management is reported for each phase. Investigating the growth of a community information system over four decades as it becomes data infrastructure reveals details of its social, technical, and institutional dynamics. In addition to addressing how digital data infrastructure characteristics change, this study also considers when the growth of data infrastructure begins.
经过数十年的发展，一个研究社区的网络信息系统和数据存储库转变为一个国家数据管理办公室，并成为生态与环境科学数据基础设施的一个主要组成部分。开发功能性数据基础设施是支持当前开放科学和开放数据工作的关键。这个数据基础设施发展的例子与许多数字倡议典型的自上而下的发展形成对比。这个网络信息系统的发展轨迹是在一个协作性的长期生态研究社区内演变而来的。这个特定的社区获得资助以开展生态研究，同时也在其地理上分散的研究地点进行集体数据管理。通过这个纵向民族志研究，我们描述了一个增量增长模型，该模型包括六个相对稳定的阶段序列，每个阶段由对一个重大关键事件的快速响应启动。探索这些阶段以及数据工作者的角色，能深入了解数字增长的主要特征。此外，还报告了每个阶段数据管理假设的转变。调查一个社区信息系统在四十年间发展成为数据基础设施的过程，揭示了其社会、技术和制度动态的细节。除了探讨数字数据基础设施特征如何变化，本研究还考虑了数据基础设施增长何时开始。
