Widening the Circle of Engagement Around Environmental Issues using Cloud-based Tools

Abstract

Environmental data are being generated and collected at unprecedented rates. However, the diversity in form and format of these environmental assets poses challenges for collaborative and reproducible science. Moreover, access constraints that surround environmental data lead to difficulty in use and interpretation of results. Cloud computing offers high potential to break down such barriers and engender collaboration, attribution, reuse, and reproducibility. In this article we review the design of the Environmental Virtual Observatory pilot (EVOp) that was conceived as a cloud-enabled virtual research space for different users interested in environmental science, ranging from domain specialists to the general public. We discuss the key technologies and processes used: a hybrid cloud infrastructure; standard service interfaces; a unified service delivery platform; and a test-driven development cycle. We also discuss the methodology by showcasing one of the exemplars developed in EVOp, stressing the importance of weaving stakeholder engagement from the beginning and throughout the process. We also briefly highlight some of the lessons learnt of working in an interdisciplinary team.

Fifty Shades of Grey

“…An opportunity to scrutinise data and models alongside improved supplementary information are therefore essential mechanisms to enhance scientific research, and even more so when considering the growing emphasis on multi-disciplinarity and hence the increase in non-domain experts and non-experts potentially searching for and using environmental data [44]. This is all the more important when we view data through a socio-technical lens [42].…”

“…Transdisciplinary research, transcending any one field or approach by synthesising different types of knowledge is a promising method for addressing complex, real-world environmental problems [72,103]. This includes not only 'experts' in the traditional sense, but also communities outside of academic institutions [7,44,89,97]. Interdisciplinary dialogue and practice is needed, but can be problematic and a site for 'science friction' [9,14,41].…”

“…There are various aims and goals for virtual environments, such as reproducibility and reusability [6,10,24,30,32,44,57,100]; crossdisciplinarity and collaboration [6,24,44,57,71,115,156]; accessibility and understanding [7,44]; transparency [30,32,44,71,115]; improved documentation and meta-data [158]; interactivity and usability [25,44,57]; interoperability and integration [6]; scalability [6,44]; and trust [7,32,71,115,141,156]. These are realised through various functional and socio-technical properties.…”

“…It is relatively simple to place all information pertaining to a particular dataset or model online, the challenge rests in ensuring that it is accessible, intelligible, and assessable [118]. In the co-creation of an environmental virtual observatory for flooding, Elkhatib et al [44] conducted workshops between various types of stakeholders (environmental scientists; policy makers; local communities directly involved such as farmers; and the general public) to understand what each different group required. Within their work, they opted to maintain a user experience that focused on the environmental questions asked, rather than the technical questions about how data was collected or how a model was calibrated, noting that access to these areas is available if the user wants to, but this is not immediately presented [44].…”

“…In the co-creation of an environmental virtual observatory for flooding, Elkhatib et al [44] conducted workshops between various types of stakeholders (environmental scientists; policy makers; local communities directly involved such as farmers; and the general public) to understand what each different group required. Within their work, they opted to maintain a user experience that focused on the environmental questions asked, rather than the technical questions about how data was collected or how a model was calibrated, noting that access to these areas is available if the user wants to, but this is not immediately presented [44]. DataLabs [71] also enables a range of abstractions, allowing users access to the same project but dependent on their ability, e.g.…”