Common Information Management Framework: in Practice

EDA MELENDEZ-COLOM
Luquillo Long-term Ecological Research Program, Institute for Tropical Ecosystem Studies, Natural Science Faculty, University of Puerto Rico
San Juan, PR 00936-3682

KAREN S. BAKER
Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research Program, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093-0218

ABSTRACT: A common goal of information management systems (IMS) is to share information among its users and originators. These systems are usually implemented by project managers and sponsors. The design and implementation of an IMS in a research, organization, prompted by directives from sponsors and mediated by the vision of information managers, reflects the activities performed by a research team (science investigators, students, and field and laboratory technicians). The Long-Term Ecological Research program is presented as an example of a data sharing community whose distinctive goal, in addition to sharing, is to preserve information for future generations. A common Information Management Framework (CIMF) is the product of the LTER community interactions and the information tools to achieve their goals. At the same time, it provides and integrated platform to promote, facilitate, and guide the members of an LTER community in the management of the information they generate.

Keywords: management framework, community, information management, system design, LTER information system, data sharing and preservation.