Sidebar 2:

Coming to Terms with Vocabulary

Metadata: text describing data, e.g. location, methods, units

Raw data: data as recorded directly in the laboratory or field

Calibrated data: data transformed to have relevant units

Intercomparable data: data put into an agreed upon format in order to be compatible with other related data sets

Data management: system for keeping, handling and making available data

Information management: system making available data pertinent to a selected topic, often derived from intercomparable data

Knowledge management: system making available interrelated information

Module: an independent piece of an information system with a specific function

Prototype: test module

Extensible: able to be modified or augmented

Filter: program code that reads data and converts to data which has a different form

In-reach: process of providing information and knowledge within your immediate scientific community

Out-reach: process of providing information and knowledge to a broader community