News from the Intertidal - May 2024
April flew by us with Strategy Sessions and the UN Decade Conference in Barcelona and some time outside (hiking and paddleboarding) because it’s vital to get out and be in nature, not just type about it. We’re back on the screens and here’s what’s on our minds this month.
How are you using AI now?
Everyone is talking about how to AI all the things right now. Since we’re data-minded, we tend to come in to AI conversations thinking about the data pipeline to train and verify models, and how good data governance can lay the foundation for future automation. We’ve heard colleagues talk about using ChatGPT to write code, as well as peer-reviewed manuscripts, and more scientific journals are requiring disclosure of AI-generated material (although AI can’t get an author credit -- yet).
We’re curious how you are using AI, specifically around information search, synthesis, and metadata management. Are you using tools like Colandr, Semantic Scholar, Consensus, Elicit, or something else to help you discover new papers and data and interpret them? Have you run a project with Zooniverse or DrivenData or another partner to help you develop a bespoke app or format data for a future AI program? Are you creating new knowledge graphs? What has been your experience and how much time do you spend checking the model’s work (it’s always good to count the fingers)?
Data Ethics
The Better Deal For Data project released eight human-centered principles for ethical data use. The principles highlight the need for consent and control over individual and community data and are applicable to consumer products, government agencies, and nonprofits. It’s timely to have them out now, as the nature data community is starting to mature from having ideas around data sharing into building out standards, platforms, programs, and data intermediaries. It’s great to see data governance and stewardship getting attention from this perspective; Shannon Dosemagen lays out a complementary view in this piece about people’s rights to access environmental data collected by others as well as steward data they collect about the world around them. We look forward to seeing more climate and ocean data efforts implement these principles.
We’ve got a few projects still under wraps that we’re excited to share with you soon (hint: check out our new logo up top). Please enjoy this glowing sea cucumber while you wait.
To close out, we want to take a page from our new friends at cecil.earth and offer our thanks to some of the people who have supported us with brainstorms, feedback, connections, and advice over the last two months:
Tom Quigley, Steve Francis, Allan Adams, Kiya Bibby, Taylor Campbell, Rebecca Martone, Naomi Boon, John Hansen, Johan Bergenas, John Wilbanks, Ciera Martinez, Anouk Ruhaak, Will Klajbor, Emelia Williams, Daniel Swid, Samichya Khadka, Alex Logan, Lea Shanley, Steve Formel