MANAGING DATA AND CONFRONTING CHALLENGES IN A MULTI-ORGANIZATIONAL EFFORT: AN EXAMPLE FROM ANTARCTIC METEORITES

A challenge facing a connected scientific community is locating all relevant data on a geologic specimen, one heightened when specimens or data are distributed among multiple organizations. Each organization likely operates with a separate data platform, perhaps in response to different data sets, and responds to a different user community, whether internal, the scientific community, or the public. Apart from the technical challenges of data integration, the conceptual challenges of building a single database to respond to multiple agency and constituency agendas can be the greatest obstacle. We illustrate these challenges by examining the samples and data held collectively by the U.S. Antarctic Meteorite Program, a joint venture of NSF, NASA and the Smithsonian Institution.

NSF is responsible for the collection of Antarctic meteorites through a grant to CWRU. Field photographs of each meteorite are not databased, while field locales are mapped using ArcGIS. The ArcGIS mapping project primarily benefits field expeditions, allowing quick visualization of productive field locales to plan future expeditions, and meteorite classifiers, allowing visualization of potential pairing groups.

NASA is responsible for short-term curation of Antarctic meteorites at Johnson Space Center. In addition to specimens, JSC holds data on current samples and allocation histories in a FoxPro database primarily for use by curators and an allocation committee. JSC also hosts a web-based search engine on the current availability of samples and meteorite descriptions. This database, although publicly accessible, is primarily used by the scientific community.

The Smithsonian is responsible for classification and long-term curation. In addition to specimens, data is held in EMu with a subset available through a web-based search engine. EMu, a relational database primarily used internally by museums, is designed to integrate collections information across disciplines. As such, it is not tailored to the geologic community and the primary audience for the search engine is the public, not the scientific community.

Although long-term integration of Antarctic meteorite data is desirable, it presents both a logistical challenge and, more importantly, a distinct set of audiences which no single database structure is likely to satisfy.