Information Management Overview

The Harvard Forest Information Management System (IMS) is designed to store and deliver digital information (data and metadata) resulting from scientific research at the Harvard Forest. In its current form it includes most data collected over the last 20 years as well as selected data from earlier studies recorded in the HF Archives. Datasets include both long-term and short-term field measurements as well as historical, paleoecological, and modeling studies. As a general rule, datasets are included in the IMS if they support a publication or are deemed to have long-term scientific value, regardless of the source of funding.

The online Data Archive provides direct links to data and metadata for each project. Datasets can be browsed or searched using metadata encoded in EML (Ecological Metadata Language) and managed with eXist (an open source native XML database). Tabular data are stored as comma-delimited text files. Spatial data are stored as ArcView or Idrisi files. Large files may be stored in a standard compressed format (zip).

The Information Management Policy web page outlines currently policies for submission and use of Harvard Forest data. A Research Project Application must be submitted annually for every new and continuing research project at the Forest. Individual scientists prepare their own data and metadata files, which are checked, reformatted, and posted by the Information Manager. Primary responsibility for quality control rests with the individual scientist. A systematic update of the Data Archive is performed each spring in conjunction with the Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium.

The Data Archive contains information on completed and ongoing projects at Harvard Forest. For information on current and upcoming projects, as well as publications, the HF Archives, and the HF Library, see the Information Resources web page.