1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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 28:164-175 Culture

5. Infrastructure challenges Source: Yang & Maxwell (2011). Information-sharing in public organsations. Govt. Info Qtrly 28:164-175 Heterogeneous hardware, software and information systems Information security IT outsourcing IT capability Resource Constraints

6. Political/Policy Challenges Yang & Maxwell (2011). Information-sharing in public organsations. Govt. Info Qtrly 28:164-175 Legislations and Policies Information as power and authority Partisan dynamics in government agencies Public scrutiny and performance evaluation Rigidity Constraints

7. 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

8. 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 (http://tern.org.au/datalicence) ÆKOS Data Partnership Management Plan Principles - specific, short, agreed and timely engagement Diverse channels of structured engagement CRM tool “Apollo” to manage engagements

9. ÆKOS Data Publication Process with Government

10. Current Partnerships & Publication Progress

11. 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 Qrtly79,179-205 Data partnerships are an integral part of research cyberinfrastructure

12. Thank you Facility Contact Details Eco-informatics Coordinator - Craig Walker craig.walker@adelaide.edu.au Eco-informatics Data Facilitator -Dr Anita Smyth anita.smyth@adelaide.edu.au Eco-informatics Ecological SME - Dr David Turner d.turner@adelaide.edu.au Eco-informatics ICT PM – Martin Pullan martin.pullan@adelaide.edu.au Website www.aekos.org.auData Portal www.portal.aekos.org.au