Data Interoperability: Infrastructure, Historical Artifact, or Science Meme? Examples from the Geosciences

This poster provides an overview of an initial effort to examine the development of data interoperability from an infrastructural perspective applied to two geoscience examples, the International Geosample Number (IGSN) and EarthCube. Both activities represent efforts to develop data interoperability as part of computer supported cooperative work. In the case of the IGSN, the data interoperability provided by the cyberinfrastructure is arguably reaching the point of becoming a substrate for scientists. In the case of EarthCube, data interoperability through the envisaged cyberinfrastructure remains elusive. Recent themes in CSCW literature examine questions of infrastructure and infrastructuring [17]. A goal of this poster is to illustrate the potential to use analysis of geoscience infrastructure to add to these discussions. The relevance of data interoperability is significant given the large amounts of funding and effort being put towards this goal and the potential for data interoperability to foster new scientific insights. Finally, examining this topic is even more salient given the recent emphasis on "FAIR data."