|
What is your current work program? I am currently working part-time in the Data Policy and Informatics section at Geoscience Australia (GA). My main work is managing the Data Archive Renewal project as part of the GA Digital Strategy 2019-22. My work previously included ensuring that GA met the full requirements of the National Archives of Australia’s (NAA) Digital Continuity Policy 2020 and other Australian Government Data Policies generally. The Data Archive Renewal project has been ongoing for about five years and started as an imperative to transition from an end-of-life data archive onto new infrastructure. I have also been working with the metadata standard used in our catalogue (for access to the data archive), to ensure compliance with agreed community and international standards and the business needs of the organisation.
What are your current work activities? The team I work with manages the Data and Publications catalogue and data storage, and maintains the science data governance and policies supporting data management at GA. This requires a working knowledge of science data governance and management, the required metadata standard and vocabularies used by the catalogue, and persistent identification of metadata, enabling where possible research data discovery best practice (e.g., FAIR data – Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable). And, to a certain extent, knowledge of the NAA’s Records Disposal Authority as it applies to our metadata and data. I have been managing the project to transition data from our old tape archive onto our new object store. This has led to a review of the metadata required for archiving data as well as the long term preservation requirements of the data types held at GA. At the same time, I have been undertaking the application for Core Trust Seal (for Trusted Repository Status of our archive data repository) with the support of the Australian Research Data Commons – which we have recently submitted. Even if one does not want to undertake the certification, I would recommend undertaking the process, as it really helps focus on what a data archive repository needs to work. Currently the only government entities that have CoreTrustSeal Certification are the Australian Antarctic Division and CSIRO.
What is your personal data background? I have learned on the job, initially working with some very experienced colleagues, and supplemented my knowledge with training where I could find it. I came into the APS via the Office of Spatial Data Management (OSDM) from a secondary mathematics teaching career in 2008. I was studying Geospatial Information Systems and Software Design at CIT to help make my statistics classes more relevant, where one of the CIT teachers asked if I knew anything about metadata. This led to my joining his team to work on delivery of a cross jurisdictional spatial metadata toolkit. At OSDM I worked with Australian Government Spatial Policy, a geospatial metadata standards toolkit and the Australian Spatial Data Directory. Our office moved with (the then) Secretary Drew Clarke through five agencies in five years via machinery of government changes until we finally landed at PM&C to set up the then Public Data Office. Across that time, I worked on public data policy through NationalMap, the data.gov.au toolkit, the publicly available geocoded national address file, addressing standards and many other APS data initiatives. During this time, I have also participated on many working groups for international data standards- with Standards Australia, the International Standardization Organization, the Open Geospatial Consortium, and the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management. It is fascinating work.
What have you learnt from your multi-agency collaborations? Whilst I may not have always enjoyed being moved across different agencies in a relatively short period of time, it increased my understanding of the differing levels of data literacy, systems, and capabilities across the APS. Much of my work required collaboration within government and across the state and territory governments, and clear communication was key to any success. It has also given me a strong network of ‘data colleagues’ that I can call on if I need support or advice about a project. I hope that I am also equally supportive of others.
Would you recommend secondments? I would highly recommend agencies supporting their officers to pursue work with external data standards bodies such as Standards Australia. It is not necessarily a huge time commitment but support, and sometimes travel, is necessary. I think data management secondments are difficult at the moment, as there seem to be so few specialist officers around, and an agency may not have the capacity to allow staff to undertake a secondment. Data analysts seem to be everywhere and want to use the data, but there seem to be fewer positions to manage the data so that it is re-useable. It doesn’t appear to be a highly valued or perhaps understood position. Until there is an issue with the data, it is not a visible component of the data lifecycle. Rather than secondment, a possible solution could be to undertake a short-term skills exchange. If agencies that are using data well could embed officers within their team(s) to undertake a defined data role, the officer could undertake that role and then return to their agency bringing the skills back with them, as well as acquiring a new support network.
What opportunities are there at Geoscience Australia? Geoscience Australia undertakes a lot of exciting geoscientific projects across Australia, under its oceans and into the Antarctic. Data underpins how we apply science and technology to describe and understand the Earth for the benefit of Australia. Data are specific to the science being applied but there are many data roles that support the science and technology, and these are advertised on www.ga.gov.au when they are needed. |