Governance
Information management at the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES) is run by the Information Oversight Committee (IOC), which meets two times a year. One meeting is held during the summer at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest around the time of the annual HBES cooperators' meeting. The other meeting is timed to coincide with the winter HBES Committee of Scientists meeting in January, usually at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY. Occasionally, additional ad hoc information management meetings are necessarily and are scheduled accordingly.
Data Use
The Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study adheres to the LTER network data use policy that was approved by the LTER Coordinating Committee on April 6, 2005. A complete copy of the policy can be downloaded from the LTER website (http://www.lternet.edu/data/netpolicy.html) and is summarized below:
Conditions of UseThe re-use of scientific data has the potential to greatly increase communication, collaboration and synthesis within and among disciplines, and thus is fostered, supported and encouraged. Permission to use this dataset is granted to the Data User free of charge subject to the following terms:
1) Acceptable use. Use of the dataset will be restricted to academic, research, educational, government, recreational, or other not-for-profit professional purposes. The Data User is permitted to produce and distribute derived works from this dataset provided that they are released under the same license terms as those accompanying this Data Set. Any other uses for the Data Set or its derived products will require explicit permission from the dataset owner.
2) Redistribution. The data are provided for use by the Data User. The metadata and this license must accompany all copies made and be available to all users of this Data Set. The Data User will not redistribute the original Data Set beyond this collaboration sphere.
3) Citation. It is considered a matter of professional ethics to acknowledge the work of other scientists. Thus, the Data User will properly cite the Data Set in any publications or in the metadata of any derived data products that were produced using the Data Set. Citation should take the following general form: Creator, Year of Data Publication, Title of Dataset, Publisher, Dataset identifier. For example:
McKee, W. 2001. Vascular plant list on the Andrews Experimental Forest and nearby Research Natural Areas: Long-Term Ecological Research. Corvallis, OR: Forest Science Data Bank: SA002. [Database]. http://www.fsl.orst.edu/lter/data/abstract.cfm?dbcode=SA002. (21 October 2004)
4) Acknowledgement. The Data User should acknowledge any institutional support or specific funding awards referenced in the metadata accompanying this dataset in any publications where the Data Set contributed significantly to its content. Acknowledgements should identify the supporting party, the party that received the support, and any identifying information such as grant numbers. For example:
Data sets were provided by the Forest Science Data Bank, a partnership between the Department of Forest Science, Oregon State University, and the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, Corvallis, Oregon. Significant funding for collection of these data was provided by the National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research program (NSF Grant numbers BSR-90-11663 and DEB-96-32921).
5) Notification. The Data User will notify the Data Set Contact when any derivative work or publication based on or derived from the Data Set is distributed. The Data User will provide the data contact with two reprints of any publications resulting from use of the Data Set and will provide copies, or on-line access to, any derived digital products. Notification will include an explanation of how the Data Set was used to produce the derived work.
6) Collaboration. The Data Set has been released in the spirit of open scientific collaboration. Data Users are thus strongly encouraged to consider consultation, collaboration and/or co-authorship with the Data Set Creator. By accepting this Data Set, the Data User agrees to abide by the terms of this agreement. The Data Owner shall have the right to terminate this agreement immediately by written notice upon the Data User's breach of, or non-compliance with, any of its terms. The Data User may be held responsible for any misuse that is caused or encouraged by the Data User's failure to abide by the terms of this agreement.
Disclaimer
While substantial efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of data and documentation contained in this Data Set, complete accuracy of data and metadata cannot be guaranteed. All data and metadata are made available "as is". The Data User holds all parties involved in the production or distribution of the Data Set harmless for damages resulting from its use or interpretation.
Data Backup
At the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study, individual scientists are responsible for backing up their own data. Data on the HBES website are backed up regularly by the HBES information manager. Beyond that, we strongly recommend that scientists follow the backup guidelines listed below to ensure that valuable HBES data are not lost. We also offer the option of storing backups (tapes, CDs, etc.) in a temperature-controlled, fire-resistant vault at the US Forest Service office in Durham, NH. The vault remains locked and the backups will not be made available to others. If you have questions about storing your backups at the Forest Service, please contact John Campbell, the HBES information manager.
Disks or tapes can be submitted to:
John Campbell
U.S. Forest Service
271 Mast Road
Durham, NH 03801
Tel.: (603)868-7643
Email: jlcampbell@fs.fed.us
Data Backup Guidelines
Check with your computer support staff to see what backup options may be available to you through your institution.
Develop a written backup plan that lists who is responsible for backups, what is being backed up, the number of backup copies made, and where the backups are stored. We encourage you to send your written plan to the HBES Information Manager at the address above for storage at the Forest Service vault in Durham. This information will enable us to recover Hubbard Brook data in the event that something happens to a researcher or facility.
Set a schedule for backing up data and stick to it.
Maintain a written backup log of what was backed up, when the backup occurred, and who conducted the backup.
Do not always overwrite the same disk or tape. Archive disks or tapes periodically (e.g., monthly) so that you can go back and determine if and when errors occurred.
Properly label disks or tapes with permanent marker.
Test your backups before you need them. Perform trial restorations periodically to verify that your files were properly backed up.
Keep at least one copy of the backup offsite in a properly controlled environment in case of site-specific disasters such as fire or flood. Make sure other people know where that backup is stored.
Select the correct backup medium for the job. (e.g., floppy disks can hold only a small amount of data and are prone to failure; CDs can hold up to around 800Mb, but can degrade over time; USB sticks with built-in backup software are coming down in price and are available in large capacity form ; some companies are offering on-line web server data backup; a technology called RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks), copies all files to a second hard drive as they are created.
There are many backup device options. Choose the one that is right for you and use it.
Physical Sample Archive
An archive facility was built at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest to store samples permanently so that they will be available for future research. The building now houses approximately 40,000 samples of soil, water, plant tissue, and other materials. See the Archived Samples page for more information.
Document Archive
The Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY maintains a document archives of Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study materials, including publications, theses, correspondence and photos. Copies of publications and theses are also available at Pleasant View Farm for student use.
To ensure that these materials are available to others, researchers are required to submit ten copies of all Hubbard Brook publications to:
Phyllis C. Likens
Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Box AB
Millbrook, NY 12545
Phone: (914) 677-5343
FAX: (914) 677-5976
e-mail: LikensP@ecostudies.org