Partnerships as critical research infrastructure The ÆKOS Experience Anita Smyth Partnerships, Licensing, Communications Eco-informatics Facility TERN Symposium, 18 Feb 2013 Logos used with consent. Content of this presentation except logos is released under TERN Attribution Licence v1.0

Dataset Compatibility Eco-informatics Cyberinfrastructure Data Extracted for Reuse Data Store Research Ecological Datasets (Many, Mbytes with localised coverage) Government agency Ecological Databases (Few, state- and national-scaled) Data Submission User Access via Portal Data Store Yes No

Navigating Data Partnerships in Government Operational Levels Middle Levels Executive Levels Operational Levels Middle Levels Executive Levels Departments External Service Providers, Bureaus, CSIRO External Service Providers Departments National Level State Level Eco-informatics & other TERN Facilities

Challenge of Organisational Culture Entrenched business processes Bureaucratic ‘red tape’ Inexperience about data publication & licensing Wary of new ideas Losing competitive advantage Losing control Perceived information misuse Competing interests/self preservation Diverse origins, values and cultures Trust Source: Yang & Maxwell (2011). Information-sharing in public organisations. Govt. Info Qtrly 28: Culture

Infrastructure challenges Source: Yang & Maxwell (2011). Information-sharing in public organsations. Govt. Info Qtrly 28: Heterogeneous hardware, software and information systems Information security IT outsourcing IT capability Resource Constraints

Political/Policy Challenges Yang & Maxwell (2011). Information-sharing in public organsations. Govt. Info Qtrly 28: Legislations and Policies Information as power and authority Partisan dynamics in government agencies Public scrutiny and performance evaluation Rigidity Constraints

Influential Factors Acknowledgement of complementary objectives ÆKOS can enhance agency business Sponsorship from the executive of the agency Partnership sustainability enabled by formal arrangements and action planning Well-defined process outlining the full spectrum of the ÆKOS partnership management

Eco-informatics’ approach Representatives within government Data Custodian Reference Group ‘Terms of Reference’ Charter Middle to Executive Level Partnerships Partnership Agreements Statement of Mutual Intent (SMI) Collaborative Partners Agreement (CPA) TERN’s Data Licensing Policy ( ÆKOS Data Partnership Management Plan Principles - specific, short, agreed and timely engagement Diverse channels of structured engagement CRM tool “Apollo” to manage engagements

ÆKOS Data Publication Process with Government

Current Partnerships & Publication Progress

Benefits Engenders open dialogue, transparency and trust Savings through in-kind by governments in addition to delivering data to ÆKOS Governments have greater flexibility to enable reuse of massive databases of ecological data via ÆKOS Government remains the “point of truth” for data Open source technology of ÆKOS available to partners Significant opportunity exists to deepen these partnerships Lasker et al. (2001).Partnership synergy, Millbank Qrtly79, Data partnerships are an integral part of research cyberinfrastructure

Thank you Facility Contact Details Eco-informatics Coordinator - Craig Walker Eco-informatics Data Facilitator -Dr Anita Smyth Eco-informatics Ecological SME - Dr David Turner Eco-informatics ICT PM – Martin Pullan Website Portal