Content uploaded by Dawn J Wright
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Dawn J Wright on Jan 13, 2016
Content may be subject to copyright.
Many thanks to AGU and ESSI for establishing the lecture series and for
giving me the opportunity to speak on behalf of my colleagues at Esri and our
collaborators
I would have loved to have met Greg and appreciated learning about him by
way of Chris Lynnes inaugural lecture in 2012
not only building bridges between data and science, but between informatics
and Earth sciences (for many of us = betw pure computer science and
domain science)
1
Customary “wordle” consisting of the words in the titles of this year’s ESSI
sessions. Lots of amazing research being presented which I cannot hope to
capture or fully comment on in this lecture. But I seek to contribute a few ideas
that I hope you’ll find thought-provoking, stimulating, and helpful.
2
I want to start off with the “story of the fourth.”
Data and big data are leading to a new science paradigm, the new science of
“big data” (the inundation of data from satellites, sensors, and other measuring
systems and the issues associated with those large data sets), as heralded in
these special issues of Nature and then Science
And there is also the 2009 book The Fourth Paradigm, which posits a new
paradigm of scientific discovery beyond the existing 3 paradigms of
EMPIRICISM, ANALYSIS, and SIMULATION to a 4th where insight is
discovered through the manipulation and exploration of large data sets.
3
!"#"$%#&'%()(*$+,-#.%'%.#&/#012345!6#74648!924:#;),<#)(%#(%*&-,+=+,-#+,/&(;)>&,#
)?#"$%#@1A75B#C+..)(#&/#-&'%(,),*%#)?#D%?*(+E%D#?&#%.&FG%,".<#.)?"#,+-$"#)"#!HA#E<#
IJ#K)>.:#2$+%/#I)")#0*+%,>?":#A0#L$+"%#B&G?%#1M*%#&/#0*+%,*%:#5%*$,&.&-<#),D#K&.+*<#
NO+",%??#"&&#"$%#(%*%,":#P3K!7530!9#H%&?C)>).#I)")#!*"#+,"(&DG*%D#+,#"$%#A0#
0%,)"%Q#
4
What is resilience? The ability to !
R#
We often think in terms of using the power of informatics to help make our
communities more resilient to CLIMATE CHANGE
6
But what about the flip side of making informatics, the tools themselves and
the associatied approaches more resilient? I call this not community resilience
but digital reslience. As such, in the short amount of time that I have this
morning I’d just like to share some ideas about how we can move toward this
digitial resilience
(graphic refers to GIS as an example tool, also functioning as a system of
record)
7
8
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-stem-wont-make-us-
successful/2015/03/26/5f4604f2-d2a5-11e4-ab77-9646eea6a4c7_story.html
No matter how strong your math, science, and computers skills are, you
still need to know how to learn, think and write.
9
In “understanding our world” (Esri tag line), the ability to write code, especially
Python, is important, but we can’t lose sight of the need to be able read
deeply, write compellingly, think critically so that we can analyze ideas. The
liberal arts education is still important, even for technologists.
For example, the importance of being able to write good technical reports and
software documentation, as well as good code.#
10
3,D%%D:#E%+,-#)E.%#"&#&(-),+=%#<&G(#"$&G-$"?#O+..#$%.C#<&G#"&#&(-),+=%#<&G(#*&D%S#
TG&"%#+?#/(&;#)#B)(')(D#C(%?+D%,"S#
UU#
12
Includes scripts, a working toolbox, sample data, and step-by-step workflows
in Word and pdf form to help scientists work with a variety of multidimensional
datasets in GIS, including netCDF
13
14
Integrate With Your Other Systems and Data
Assets
Bringing in Data And Making Connections To Your Other Systems
15
Along these lines we certainly want to engender interoperability and
crosswalking among approaches, such as the examples here with the Python
Scientific Computing Environment, or simple integration with a host of
scientific tools and libraries. Collaborations that help us integrate and
interoperate are vitally important too. Listed on the slides are some of the most
critical collaborations that Esri is involved in.
16
Repeatability/reproducible
DOIs
Virtual, living journals
Ben Domenico’s idea at Digital Earth of
being able to run code or run analyses
with data as we read the journal article.
17
Containers is a technology to keep an
eye on for packaging and shipping
programs that might be included in
virtual journals. They are simpler and
more lightweight than Virtual
Machines, and allow a developer or
researcher to package up a collection
of integrated technologies –an
operating system, server, traditional
database, Hadoop or Spark (big) data
store, etc.—in a single executable file
that “just runs” for you.
18
The most popular platform for
containers at the moment appears to
be Docker. The 1.0 release came out
in June of this year. Our big data team
at Esri is experimenting a bit with it and
finding good results. The platform also
has one of the most whimsical logos
I’ve seen, which also reminds me of
my next Lego building project over
Christmas break.
19
But I digress!
20
Hopefully you have seen this article in
Eos which talk about the related issue
of data provenance, another ingredient
of this category of resilience
How data citation is great but may not completely solve the provenance
problem
Provenance and Context Content Standard (PCCS) advocated by ESIP
Journals need to require that data become not just available but reusable
– container technologies can help with that
21
In the spirit of location enlightenment, this is actually a big thing in the
geospatial community, the GIS community
But for broader informatics I argue that apps can help to broaden the appeal of
our concepts, our approaches, our code to much wider audiences, both
speciaist and non-specialist
A great way to practice what we preach in terms of true interop with an app
that can work on any device
Students are embracing apps in droves. Great example is a course on
Computational ARTS at Santa Barbara High School that was highlighted last
week during Computer Science Education Week. Courses like this, with their
focus on app-building, are attracting more young women and young people of
color.
Indeed the trajectory of app building will likely rise, as some argue that the
education of geographers and GI scientists, and of data scientists today needs
to prepare students to be MAKERS, not just users, of software tools. A lot of
this can be accomplished through app building
22
“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to suffering.”
In the previous slide on apps there was an emphasis on EASY. Why?
Because, as Master Yoda says, “Ease leads to exposure. Exposure leads to
adoption.” We can’t be digitally resilient unless our intended audiences are
USING what we build.
23
An example of the great effort Esri has gone to with Landsat via a
collaboration with Amazon web services. Each night Esri downloads and
processes HUNDREDS of new Landsat scenes
This web app helps many more people to understand and USE this valuable
resource. Not just a pretty picture but the full information content. Not just
cached images but are dynamic, high-performance image services that
perform on-the-fly processing and dynamic mosaicking of Landsat’s multi-
spectral and multi-temporal imagery.
24
Exploring the different BANDS and then temporal and spectral profiles
25
Javascript appplication for which you can not only view but download the code
– easy way to see all 14,000+ satellites currently in space, including space
junk
Beyond just exploring the different orbits that satellites occupy, good for
estimating when the flyover will be over a natural disaster area
Track satellites by nation, by orbit, by type (weather)
26
Javascript library and ArcGIS for Javascript API
Javascript appplication for which you can not only view but download the code
– easy way to see all 14,000+ satellites currently in space, including space
junk
Beyond just exploring the different orbits that satellites occupy, good for
estimating when the flyover will be over a natural disaster area
Track satellites by nation, by orbit, by type (weather)
27
We may get maps, we very often don't get graphs, but we are absolutely
hardwired to understand stories. As such, scientists MUST tell their
STORY and understand the importance of story
Every single scientific success is perfect fodder for a narrative structure
“People are moved by emotion. The best way to emotionally connect
other people to our agenda begins with “Once upon a time!”
Science backs up the long-held belief that story is the most powerful means of
communicating a message. Over the last several decades psychology has
begun a serious study of how story affects the human mind. Results
repeatedly show that our attitudes, fears, hopes, and values are strongly
influenced by story. In fact, fiction seems to be more effective at changing
beliefs than writing that is specifically designed to persuade through argument
and evidence.”
http://www.fastcocreate.com/1680581/why-storytelling-is-the-ultimate-
weapon
0*+%,>?"?#)(%#&V%,#%,*&G()-%D#,&"#"&#CGE.+?$#"$%+(#O&(W#G,>.#+"#*&,?>"G"%?#)#
*&;C.%"%#?"&(<S#
L$<#,&"#*&;E+,%#P15B:#%?C%*+)..<#"&#")W%#)D'),")-%#&/#the power of maps and
geography to educate, inform, and inspire people to action as well?
28
Story map to go with the Landsat web app just shown to show and explain all
the band combinations in more details
29
Danish Sargasso Sea Story Map
Technical University of Denmark’s (DTU) research vessel Dana was on an
expedition in the Sargasso Sea in March and April 2014 to examine the role of
climate-induced changes in spawning zones in the violent decline of sole in
Europe.
30
Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife created this story map to explain their
field monitoring work but also to share a population dynamics model (based on
statistical code written in R), that can be run interactively inside the story map
31
Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife created this story map to explain their
field monitoring work but also to share a population dynamics model (based on
statistical code written in R), that can be run interactively inside the story map
32
We did this story map in collaboration with World Resources Institute to show
the results of GIS vulnerability analyses at varying scales
33
Focus on a societal issue – this is an atlas of the Anthropocene
34
Focus on a societal issue. This Atlas for a Changing Planet was prepared
expressly for COP21 in Paris and shows a broad range of climate change data
to help scientists communicate with policymakers, planners and activists.
35
@&*G?#&,#)#*&,?%(')>&,#+??G%:#C(%C)(%D#%XC(%??.<#/&(#0$)(W#L%%W#
YZ#
Y[#
Y\#
More conservation – Natural Resources Defense Council prepared this story
map
39
40
41
42
RETURNING to Chris Lynnes’ original Leptoukh lecture in which he
emphasized the bridging of informatics and EARTH SCIENCE !.
43
Preprints of a forthcoming peer-reviewed article in Elementa are available for
those interested.
44
45
