Disaster Risk Reduction

Disaster Risk Reduction Case study report (Deliverable 12.1)

| adelipalta

Bolland, Jill; Fakhruddin, Bapon; Reinen-Hamill, Richard

This report describes the types of data used for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and provides two country case studies, for Fiji and Sudan, with an in-depth look at the DRR datasets and associated metadata used by each country. These datasets were assessed against 15 FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data metrics to identify which elements of FAIR were met. The report also provides a broader context giving details on the national, regional, and global agencies providing or hosting DRR data as well as initiatives aiming to increase the FAIRness of DRR data. 

Both of our case study countries are using remote sensing data which were assessed as having the richest metadata and met most of the FAIR metrics used in the assessment. Strategies for exploiting this data are discussed as they have great potential to provide up to date information during an emergency and to fill gaps in DRR data.   

An essential task for any scientific discipline is the establishment of common standards and terminologies. Historically, standards have differed considerably with agencies creating standards and vocabularies based on their own use cases and priorities; consequently, there is currently no universal standard used by all DRR practitioners. We discuss the most widely used standard definitions and provide suggestions for harmonising standards. As both the United National Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) have been working toward improving the FAIRness and consistency of DRR data, we describe their efforts and outline their lessons learned and recommendations. Our next deliverable, which discusses metadata standards, controlled vocabularies, and ontologies, will add to this discussion. 

While the current report focuses entirely on the DRR research area, DRR research is interdisciplinary by nature, encompassing researchers from earth sciences, climate change and environmental sciences, social studies, cultural information, and others. A key recommendation from the UNDRR is that there should be interdisciplinary collaboration when setting standards and definitions; therefore, increasing FAIRness in DRR has the potential to increase FAIRness across many related disciplines. 

The study found that the data used by Fiji and Sudan for DRR is missing many key FAIR data elements. Hazard data tended to score highest for FAIRness, particularly hazard data originating from satellites. In contrast, vulnerability and exposure data were the least FAIR with little metadata and limited machine readability. However, there are some excellent regional and global initiatives aimed at increasing the level of FAIRness in DRR data. The UNDRR is currently reinventing its DRR database to provide a much more coherent and consistent view of the state of DRR both globally and nationally. We applaud this project and believe that significant effort should be made by the global and regional agencies to work together to provide standards, controlled vocabularies, data distribution platforms, resources and guidance for all people working to reduce the impact of disasters.

The report is available on Zenodo.

Privacy Policy

WorldFAIR Project webinar series announced

| adelipalta

The WorldFAIR Project is launching a webinar series aiming to promote and discuss all published and upcoming deliverables and project outputs.

The webinars will run from May 2023 to May 2024. They are free to attend.

Please note all webinars will be recorded and uploaded on the WorldFAIR YouTube channel and website.

The following webinars are currently confirmed – more dates will be added soon, so stay tuned!

TopicDate/timeDescriptionSpeakersRegistrationWebinar recording
WorldFAIR Project: Introduction to the WorldFAIR webinar series. 26 May, 13:00 – 14:00 UTCThis webinar ran by WP14 will present the WorldFAIR project and give an overview of the work carried out by the WPs in the context of EOSC and the international data landscape.Ari Asmi (RDA AISBL Director), Hilary Hanahoe (RDA Secretary General), Javier López Albacete (Policy Officer, EC)Register hereTBC
WorldFAIR Output Webinar Series: Overview of the projects first round of disciplinary reports: Updates from the Social Surveys and Cultural Heritage.14 June 2023,
08:00 – 09:00 UTC		This webinar will present the following deliverables completed by WP6 and WP13 respectively:

– Cross-national Social Sciences survey FAIR implementation case studies (6.1)
– Cultural Heritage Mapping Report (13.1)		Steven McEachern (WP6), Beth Knazook (WP13)Register hereTBC
WorldFAIR Output Webinar Series: WorldFAIR FAIR Implementation Profiles (FIPs), the Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework (CDIF) – and more. (v1)28 June 2023,
13:00 – 14:00 UTC		WP2 will provide an update on D2.1 and the FAIR Implementation Profiles as well as about the engagement with the Case Studies on their data, identification of ‘interoperability interfaces’ and the implications for the Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework (CDIF).  Simon Hodson, Arofan Gregory (WP1, WP2)Register hereTBC
WorldFAIR Output Webinar Series: Overview of the projects first round of disciplinary reports: Updates from Chemistry and Nanomaterials. 13 September 2023, 14:00 – 15:00 UTCThis webinar will present the following deliverables completed by WP3 and WP4 respectively:

– Digital recommendations for Chemistry FAIR data policy and practice (3.1)
– Nanomaterials domain-specific FAIRification mapping (4.1)		Leah Rae McEwen, Fatima Mustafa, Ian Bruno, Stuart Chalk (WP3); Iseult Lynch (WP4), more speakers TBCRegister hereTBC
WorldFAIR Output Webinar Series: Overview of the projects first round of disciplinary reports: Updates from Biodiversity and Agriculture 20 September 2023, 13:00 – 14:00 UTCThis webinar will present the following deliverables completed by WP9 and WP10 respectively:

– Data standard for sharing ecological and environmental monitoring data documented
for community review (9.1)
– Agriculture-related pollinator data standards use cases report (10.1)		Joe Miller (WP9); Debora Pignatari Drucker, Maarten Trekels, Quentin Groom (WP10)Register hereTBC
WorldFAIR Output Webinar Series: Overview of the projects first round of disciplinary reports: Updates from Population Health and Urban HealthOctober 2023, date TBCThis webinar will present the following deliverables completed by WP7 and WP8 respectively:

Population Health Data Implementation Guide (7.1)
Urban Health Data – Guidelines and Recommendations (8.1)		Jim Todd (WP7); Ana Ortigoza (WP8)TBCTBC
WorldFAIR Output Webinar Series: Overview of the projects first round of disciplinary reports: Disaster Risk Reduction Updates15 November 2023, 20:00 – 21:00 UTCThis webinar will present the following deliverables completed by WP12:
– Disaster Risk Reduction Case study report (12.1)
– Disaster Risk Reduction Domain-specific FAIR vocabularies (12.2)
Jill Bolland, Bapon Fakhruddin T+T (WP12)Register hereTBC
WorldFAIR Output Webinar Series: Overview of the projects first round of disciplinary reports: Cultural Heritage and Social Surveys updates v2This webinar will present the following deliverables completed by WP13 and WP6 respectively: Cultural Heritage Recommendations (13.2) Cross-national Social Sciences survey best practice guidelines (6.2)Steven McEachern (WP6), Beth Knazook (WP13)TBCTBC

Privacy Policy

WorldFAIR: Global cooperation on FAIR data policy and practice – workshops introduce wide range of research domains to FAIR Implementation Profiles

| adelipalta

The WorldFAIR project held a series of successful workshops between July and October 2022 to introduce and complete FAIR Implementation Profiles (FIPs) with eleven case study work packages.  This process culminated in a plenary meeting of the WorldFAIR case studies, “FIPs in WorldFAIR: What have we learnt?” which took place as part of the FAIR Convergence Symposium in Leiden on 25 October 2022.
 
The WorldFAIR project is a major global collaboration between partners from thirteen countries across Africa, Australasia, Europe, and North and South America.  WorldFAIR advances implementation of the FAIR data principles, in particular those for Interoperability, by developing a cross-domain interoperability framework and recommendations for FAIR assessment in a set of eleven disciplines or cross-disciplinary research areas.
 
The WorldFAIR case studies have been carefully chosen to provide maximum impact. The objective of each case study is to develop an interoperability framework for their discipline or interdisciplinary research area. They are clustered in connected groups in order to maximise scope while retaining a critical mass of activity and allowing learning and cross-fertilisation of ideas. Collected from CODATA and RDA activities and partnerships, the case studies include leading organisations in a range of research areas, supporting the creation of outputs with global impact.
 
The FIPs approach consists of a set of questions about practice in relation to each of the FAIR principles.  It is supported by an online tool, the FIPs Wizard. One of the potential benefits of this approach is the creation, as ‘nanopublications’ of a set of FIPs and FAIR Enabling Resources, coded in RDF, which can be read by machines, visualised, and analysed. With use, the creation of more FIPs and FERs will furnish a resource which can potentially give great insights into FAIR practices.
 
At our plenary workshop during the FAIR Convergence Symposium, six of the case studies presented and reflected on the process of constructing their FIP, specifically what they learned from the process; whether using FIPs helped describe practices around FAIR; whether the FIP helped identify any gaps or areas which would benefit from further attention; ways in which the FIPs methodology and the tools around it can be improved; and the identification of next steps.  Arofan Gregory (CODATA) then reflected on the implications of these observations for our work on the Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework, a major output of WorldFAIR.

We are grateful to Leah McEwan, Ian Bruno and Stuart Chalk (Chemistry); Iseult Lynch and Thomas Exner (Nanomaterials); Steve McEachern and Hilde Orten (Social Surveys); Maarten Trekels and Debora Drucker (Agricultural Biodiversity); Bapon Fakhruddin and Jill Bolland (Disaster Risk Reduction) and Beth Knazook (Cultural Heritage) for their insights.
 
WorldFAIR forms the core of CODATA’s contribution to the International Science Council (ISC) Action Plan Project 2.1, Making Data Work For Cross-Domain Grand Challenges.  WorldFAIR runs for 24 months from 1 June 2022 and is funded by the European Commission through its Horizon Europe Framework Programme, project call HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ERA-01-01, grant agreement 101058393. Project website: https://worldfair-project.eu.  

‘Global cooperation on FAIR data policy and practice’ (WorldFAIR) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe project call HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ERA-01-01, grant agreement 101058393. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. 
Privacy Policy

Dagstuhl Workshop “Interoperability for Cross-Domain Research: Machine-Actionability & Scalability”

| asha

The “Interoperability for Cross-Domain Research: Machine-Actionability & Scalability” workshop was held at Schloss Dagstuhl from August 28 to September 2, 2022 (https://www.dagstuhl.de/22353). The workshop was the fourth in a series, starting in 2018, exploring the role of metadata standards and the issues around interoperability in the cross-domain sharing and reuse of research data. It was jointly supported by CODATA, the DDI Alliance, Schloss Dagstuhl, the Leibniz Center for Informatics, and the EU-funded WorldFAIR project, of which CODATA is the coordinator. With the current interest in the FAIR principles and their application to interdisciplinary research data, the focus of the workshop was on specific approaches which could be employed within large-scale infrastructures spanning domain boundaries.

The workshop involved 23 participants from 10 countries, and included experts from many disciplines and organisations, including infectious disease, the social, behavioural, and economic sciences, environmental science, disaster risk reduction, geographic information science, and others. The work was divided into three groups, looking at different aspects of interoperability: integration of primary and reference data; access to sensitive data; and common approaches to large-scale oceans and disaster data. Several WorldFAIR case studies contributed to these groups. A fourth group looked at how the findings in each area could be combined in a cross-domain interoperability framework, and a fifth looked at the RDF expression of some core data and metadata models. Further information on the workshop themes and the groups’ activity can be found on the workshop wiki.

The workshop was very successful in meeting its agreed goals. One was the production of an initial draft of a cross-domain interoperability framework (CDIF), which is central to the work of the WorldFAIR project and other fora looking at cross-domain interoperability. CDIF is a proposed set of recommended best practices for using a coordinated set of domain-agnostic standards – most often as specific subsets or profiles of those standards – to support a core set of functions for cross-domain FAIR reuse. The group work on specific topics has resulted in a number of planned publications, and one or more collaborative projects between some of the participating institutions. 

The workshop showed that Schloss Dagstuhl’s reputation as a venue for intensive collaborative work is well-deserved. Over the course of this series of workshops, solutions to the problem of cross-domain interoperability have gained a sharper focus, leading to the concrete outputs which will serve as a basis for ongoing work. A fifth workshop in the series, ‘Defining a core metadata framework for cross-domain data sharing and reuse’, is planned for the fall of 2023, as well as a workshop on the application of DDI’s Cross-Domain Integration standard.  

Privacy Policy