Presented at UCSD Science Studies Program Colloquium Series,January 30, 2006San Diego, CA

Florence MillerandPost-doctoral FellowLaboratory of Comparative Human Cognition / Scripps Institution

of OceanographyphyUniversity of California, San Diego

Standardization in Ecology:Enacting the Ecological Metadata Language

Comparative Interoperability project NSF/Human and Social dynamics (2004-2007)

interoperability.ucsd.edu

Geoffrey C. BowkerCenter for Science, Technology & SocietySanta Clara University

Karen S. BakerScripps Institution of OceanographyUniversity of California, San Diego

Florence MillerandLCHC/Scripps Institution of OceanographyUniversity of California, San Diego

David RibesSociology/Science StudiesUniversity of California, San Diego

SSHRCCRSH

Outline :

1. A Research Community in Ecology:The Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER) The EML Standard

2. StorieS about a Standardization Process:“EML is a success” / “EML is not yet a success”

3. An Enactment Perspective:Trajectories alignment From the Standard Adoption to its Enactment

4. Conclusion

Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER)

Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER)

Palmer Station - PAL-Biome: Pelagic marine

Central Arizona - CAP- Biome: Urban/Desert

Jornada Basin - JRN-Biome: Hot desert

Luquillo - LUQ-Biome: Tropical rain forest

Arctic - ARC-Biome: Arctic tundra

Konza Prairie - KNZ

- Biome: Tall grass prairie

California Current Ecosystem (CCE)-Biome: Coastal upwelling

(located at Scripps Institution of Oceanography)

LTER: Diversity of disciplinesAgronomyAnimal BehaviorAnimal EcologyAnimal Physiological EcologyAnimal Population BiologyAnimal SystematicsAnthropologyEquatic EcologyAtmospheric ScienceBehavioral EcologyBiogeochemistryBiogeographyBiological DiversityBiologyBotanyChemical EcologyClimatologyCommunity EcologyComputer ScienceConservation BiologyDisturbance EcologyEcological ComplexityEcological Modeling

Ecosystem Ecology Entomology Environmental EducationEnvironmental LawEnvironmental PolicyEnvironmental/Ressource ManagementEpidemiologyEstuarine EcologyForest EcologyForestryGeographyGeologyGIS/Remote SensingHabitat preservation/RestorationHuman EcologyHydrologyInformaticsInformation TechnologyInvertebrate BiologyLandscape EcologyLimnologyMarine Ecology

Microbial EcologyMicrobiologyNutrient FluxesOceanographyPaleoclimatologyPaleoecologyPlant EcologyPlant Physiological EcologyPlant Population BiologyPlant SystematicsPlant-Animal InteractionsPopulation BiologyPopulation GeneticsRange/Grazing EcologySociologySoil ScienceStatistical EcologyStatisticsTheoretical Population BiologyTrace Gas FluxesVegetation EcologyWetlands EcologyWildlife BiologyZoology

Mission of the Long Term Ecological Research Network

• Understanding general ecological phenomena that occur over long temporal and broad spatial scales

• Conducting major synthesis and theoretical efforts

• Providing information for the identification and solution of societal problems

• Creating a legacy of well-designed and documented long-term experiments and observations for use by future generations

• Understanding general ecological phenomena that occur over long temporal and broad spatial scales

• Conducting major synthesis and theoretical efforts

• Providing information for the identification and solution of societal problems

• Creating a legacy of well-designed and documented long-term experiments and observations for use by future generations

Mission of the Long Term Ecological Research Network

PALEOECOLOGY & LIMNOLOGY

LTER

MOSTECOLOGY

RESEARCH SCALES

• Evolution ofSpecies

• Bog Succession• Forest Community

Migration• Species Invasion• Forest Succession

• CulturalEutrophication

• Hare Population• Prairie Population

• Annual Plants• Plankton

Succession

• Algal bloom• Diel Migration

YEARS PHYSICAL

RESET EVENTS BIOLOGICAL

PHENOMENA

105

104

103

102

101

100

10-1

10-2

10-3

100 MILLENNIA

10 MILLENNIA

MILLENNIUM

CENTURY

DECADE

YEAR

MONTH

DAY

HOUR

• ContinetalGlacition

• Climate Change

• Forest Fires• CO2 Climate

Warming• Sun Spot Cycle• El Nino

• Prairie Fires• Lake Turnover• Ocean Upwelling

• Storms• Diel Light Cycle• Tides

LTER research covers time scales from months to centuries

Research over broad spatial scales– Comparisons between ecosystems across regional, continental, and global gradients

AREA (m2) RESEARCH PROGRAMS

1014 GLOBAL

1012 CONTINET

1010 REGION

108 LANDSCAPE

106 LANDSCAPE

104 PLOT, PATCH

102 PLOT, PATCH

100 SAMPLE POINTS

GLOBAL SCIENCES (IGBP) LTER

MOSTECOLOGY

CONTINENT LTER

• Understanding general ecological phenomena that occur over long temporal and broad spatial scales

• Conducting major synthesis and theoretical efforts

• Providing information for the identification and solution of societal problems

• Creating a legacy of well-designed and documented long-term experiments and observations for use by future generations

Mission of the Long Term Ecological Research Network

• Understanding general ecological phenomena that occur over long temporal and broad spatial scales

• Conducting major synthesis and theoretical efforts

• Providing information for the identification and solution of societal problems

• Creating a legacy of well-designed and documented long-term experiments and observations for use by future generations

Mission of the Long Term Ecological Research Network

Data Managemen

t

LTER Science Trajectory

• 1980-1990 Decade of long-term research

• 1990-2000 Decade of large scale research

• 2000-2010 Decade of synthesis

LTER Science Trajectory

LTER Science Trajectory

The importance of cross-site synthesis:

“The power of the network approach of the LTER program rests in the ability to compare similar processes (e.g., primary production or decomposition of organic matter) under different ecological conditions. As a result, LTER scientists should be able to understand how fundamental ecological processes operate at different rates and in different ways under different environmental conditions”

(Risser Report, 1993).

• 1980-1990 Decade of long-term research

• 1990-2000 Decade of large scale research

• 2000-2010 Decade of synthesis

LTER Science Trajectory

The importance of cross-site synthesis:

“The power of the network approach of the LTER program rests in the ability to compare similar processes (e.g., primary production or decomposition of organic matter) under different ecological conditions. As a result, LTER scientists should be able to understand how fundamental ecological processes operate at different rates and in different ways under different environmental conditions”

(Risser Report, 1993).

• 1980-1990 Decade of long-term research

• 1990-2000 Decade of large scale research

• 2000-2010 Decade of synthesis

The need for a Network Information System:

“Modern ecology requires increased access to data and metadata distributed across multiple sites for synthesis and integration across broad spatial and temporal scales.”

Trajectory refers to:

“(1) the course of any phenomenon as it evolves over time and (2) the actions and interactions contributing to its evolution. That is, phenomenon do not automatically unfold nor are they straightforwardly determined by economic, political, cultural, or other circumstances, they are in part shaped by the interactions of concerned actors.”

(Strauss, 1993, 53-54)

The development of information infrastructure at the intersection of ‘social worlds’ (Strauss)

From EML adoption to its implementation

When implementing EML means more than doing ‘implementation’ work

ENACTM

ENT

To implement EML doesn’t only consist in upgrading a preexisting technical system; it also and mostly consists in redefining the sociotechnical infrastructure that upholds this tangle of technical, social and scientific practices. Yet these redefinitions have important consequences at the social and organization level.

Because the technologies are intimately tied to the local structures of work, because the EML standard works in a specific configuration (technical, social and organizational), its enactment requires changes of infrastructural kind.

- Millerand, F., and Bowker, G.C. (forthcoming). Metadata Standards. Trajectories and Enactment in the Life of an Ontology. In S.L.Star and M.Lampland (Eds), Formalizing Practices: Reckoning with Standards, Numbers and Models in Science and Everyday Life

- Millerand, F. and Bowker, G.C. (forthcoming). Metdata Trajectoires et <<enaction >>. In C. Rosental (Ed.), Sciences socials et cognition. Paris: Editions de l”EHESS, Coll. Enquete.