Message from Julie about WG4 database

Dear Everyone

Following our York meeting I have been developing a draft framework for industry contact information and data audit. During the meeting Vince highlighted a report he had produced 'Marine Data Sources for 3D Seismics' which was relevant for this area of work. I have read through the report and it has helped focus on data types, relevance and sources, I've attached a copy of the report to this email - many thanks to Vince for supplying.

In terms of fulfilling one of the key aims of our WG we discussed the need to identify the key sources of industry data and undertake an audit of this data in relation to SPLASHCOS and future research. During the process of developing this framework I have been thinking it would be best to try to create a central data source for our WG that could hold information on industry contacts and brief notes on actions that may be required as well as the data that may be held by industry. With this in mind I have drafted the attached potential data fields. These fields should allow entry of information from basic initial contacts or information added from personal knowledge through to more detailed information on data held by companies that has been gathered specifically for the project. As one of our WGs outputs from the project MoU is to: Produce a guide to contacts with industry and availability of archived data produced by commercial operations I have tried to target the data fields to tease out information that could be used to demonstrate the 'availability of archived data produced by commercial operations'.

As already mentioned these data fields are in draft format and any feedback or additions would be appreciated.

Once we have agreed the framework for the industry contacts and data audit we then need to decide the best mechanism for both populating the database and managing the data.

In relation to data management I have experience of using on-line survey software in a similar situation. The software used was called Survey Monkey - http://www.surveymonkey.com. This could allow anyone to input data which is collated by the program into excel spreadsheets, the spreadsheet can be regularly reviewed for progress and/or made available via our secure area of the SPLASHCOS website. Another approach is that we could email a spreadsheet the person/s who will be collating contacts and data from a particular country (or countries) and then pull them together after email submission. The circulation of individual excel files would make progress more difficult to track than if we use the online software option. If you are happy to consider the online survey software option then let me know and I can set up a draft version that we can test.

Due to our current limitations on geographical spread we are likely to have to recruit other WG members to assist with data and contacts. In order to target individuals for countries or areas could you please let me know which countries you are willing/ able to provide initial data for (I am assuming that we are able to cover our registered countries for SPLASHCOS, but that also you may be familiar with working in other countries as well). I can then create a list of where we are able to cover and where the gaps are.

We also need to be aware that WG2 is developing regional summaries of geomorphological, environmental, and oceanographic parameters and sources of data relevant to that sea area. The WG2 summaries may contain references to industry data and/or contacts that could be useful for feeding into our data audit. Although WG1s work in developing a digital archive of early prehistoric sites and finds is unlikely to overlap with our data review, it would be worth copying our framework for data audit and contacts development to them for information and to make sure there is no duplication of effort.

So in summary, could you please:

1. Review the draft contacts & data audit framework outline (attached below in word doc) and let me know if you have any comments and/ or suggestions;
2. Let me know whether you are happy to use online survey software for data input and collation; 3. Let me know which countries you are willing/ able to provide contacts or data information for.

Apologies for the long email!

Best Regards

Julie

Downloads

• Draft structure - Industry Contacts & Data Audit (Word DOC file)
• NSPP variation Bham Report (PDF file)