Antarctic data management gets Kool 13 October 2020

Australian Antarctic Division

Antarctic data specialist, Dr Johnathan Kool, is on a mission to make data ‘FAIR’ – findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.

Success is now a step closer with his recent appointment as Chair of the Standing Committee on Antarctic Data Management (SCADM), which is part of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research.

The four-year appointment will see Dr Kool – who is Manager of the Australian Antarctic Division’s Data Centre – work with representatives from other national Antarctic programs to enhance the interoperable and reusable aspects of FAIR data.

“The committee aims to develop common standards and approaches to data collection that means the data can be used by anyone in any country,” Dr Kool said.

“Representatives then work within the relevant organisations in their countries to ensure the approach is adopted.”

An important part of this work will be helping to improve the collection and recording of “data about the data” – or ‘metadata’. This tells users where the data was collected, what it is, who collected it and how it was collected.

Dr Kool is excited about the opportunities his new role presents for data management and the research community.

“Better information leads to better decisions, which leads to better outcomes,” he said.

Read more about Dr Kool’s work in the Australian Antarctic Data Centre

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