The Intertidal Update - March 2024
What’s in a name? Is that which we call a data repository really a repository if it doesn’t host and preserve data? It’s been a bit of a Shakespearean month at Intertidal Agency, where we dug deep into conundrums like this and the meaning of words like “open” and “information.” As one of our legal advisors likes to say: contracts formalize relationships, they don’t make relationships work. That’s all down to people putting in the time and effort to ensure what you want to do actually gets done. And that’s easier when you all agree on what it means to “share” your data (among other words).
If you haven’t looked at Creative Commons’ guide to using CC licenses to share climate data, go check it out. It’s a great explainer of how different CC licenses can be used for individual datasets and how they work in combination when you “stack” multiple datasets and their licenses to create a new data product.
We like seeing AI applied to conservation, especially human-in-the-loop systems that cut out repetitive work to support scientists and local stewardship. One example of extremely human-in-the-loop design is Utrecht’s fish doorbell, where you watch a live cam of fish trying to get through the locks and press a big pink button to let the lock keepers know fish are waiting to get through.
Closing out this month’s language-themed newsletter: our friends at EPIC did a great job describing and illustrating the role of data intermediaries. Intertidal Agency was founded on the idea that there’s a tremendous need for ocean and climate data intermediaries, where data from a wide array of sources can converge to drive innovation and insight. Whether you want to call them intermediaries or collaboratives or sandboxes or data fusion centers they’re a powerful way to not just create a one-time analysis but also to preserve data to train the models (and AI) of the future. Are you looking to design a public-private data sharing program? We’re here to help.
- Kate & Rachael