Promoting Data Stewardship Through Best Practices

Abstract

The ecological and environmental sciences are comprised of many different disciplines, each with their own methods, theories, and culture. A characteristic that most of these different disciplines share, however, is a lack of culture for good stewardship of data. Characteristics of good data stewardship include understanding the importance of data management, using best practices for managing data, and recognizing the value of data sharing and data reuse for the future of ecology and the environmental sciences. The Data Observation Network for Earth (DataONE) is actively developing a community database of best practices that can be easily accessed and adopted by scientists to promote good data stewardship practices and lead to high quality data products. Here we introduce DataONE’s approach to developing the best practices database and provide a data management primer that contains examples relevant to all elements of the data life cycle.