Editorial

Dear GO FAIR community,

From its inception, the GO FAIR Community has been committed to working together to build components for an Internet of FAIR Data and Services (IFDS). The GO FAIR International Support and Coordination Office does just this, supporting and coordinating community initiatives on FAIR implementations. At the 2nd Annual GO FAIR Implementation Networks Meeting in Hamburg (January 23-24), this support and coordination role was made practical by the theme of “Convergence”. Convergence is when a critical mass of stakeholders voluntarily chooses for the same or compatible standards and technologies. Convergence is ultimately a bottom-up process involving complex decisions among multiple stakeholders. This makes convergence difficult to steer or even predict. Nonetheless, after decades of innovation, the growing weight of Big Data, and broad impact of the FAIR Principles, there is a sense that widespread and rapid convergence is possible for at least some elements of the IFDS. This possibility seems real, not only within INs, but also between them.

In an active attempt to accelerate convergence, the 27 topically diverse INs gathered in Hamburg took the opportunity to explore areas of existing and future cross-IN/cross-domain convergence. In a series of flash presentations, each IN identified the primary community interactions that could lead to the reuse of existing resources (standards and technology) for implementing FAIR and other aspects of FAIR best practices. Simple examples include the commitment within and between INs to reuse particular persistent identifiers like the use of ORCID for people, or the use of a particular ontology for describing soil types. More complex examples are decisions to reuse entire architectures like the distributed learning platforms of the Personal Health Train IN and the Farm Data Train for the Food Systems IN. In addition to the developing role of the FAIR Convergence Matrix and FAIR Implementation Profiles, a less formal survey of the cross-IN/cross-domain collaboration was compiled from the flash presentations.

The results of the survey show the beginnings of a network of interactions that rarely happen spontaneously and are almost impossible to track without FAIR approaches. The GFISCO will continue to track and showcase examples of Implementation Network convergence, providing targets for other INs to aim for in striving toward broader agreements on FAIR practices throughout the GO FAIR Community.

All the best,
Erik Schultes, International Science Coordinator GFISCO, Guest Editor

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Did you know… GO Read

In this section you will learn about Implementation Networks that have recently acquired “active” status, recent IN activities and opportunities. This way, we ensure that you always stay on top of things happening in the “GO FAIR” family.

New “active” GO FAIR Implementation Network:

FAIR Microbiome IN
The cross-cutting nature of microbiome research in environmental sciences, health, agriculture, energy, and natural and built environments requires the development of new solutions and community coordination to tackle grand challenges that will accelerate basic discovery and lead to transformative advances. The National Microbiome Data Collaborative (NMDC) aims to tackle infrastructure challenges in microbiome data science through developing a community-centric framework. The FAIR Microbiome Implementation Network seeks to align and synergize the efforts of the NMDC with that of the GO FAIR community. The NMDC believes that by fostering community support for FAIR data stewardship practices, they will greatly accelerate the discovery process and enable effective communication within the community. IN coordinator is Stanton Martin.

Marine Data Centres IN
The Marine Data Centres IN, launched by the SeaDataNet consortium, aims primarily at optimising machine-to-machine FAIRness of the harmonised marine data and data products held at the main marine data centres in Europe and beyond. The focus of activities is on improving the I(nteroperability) and R(eusability) of data. The IN is looking for synergies with other players in the same domain via EU and global initiatives. The SeaDataNet consortium is a community of more than 50 partners from 35 countries in and around Europe managing access to large collections of data derived in situ of the seas and oceans. SeaDataNet is defining and implementing standards for re-use of marine data and enables their uptake in regional, European and global products to support policy makers, science, and industry. IN Coordinators: Michele Fichaut, Dick Schaap.

GO NANOFAB IN
The GO NANOFAB IN aims to work towards improving capabilities for capturing, storing and making accessible data, parameters and workflows from nanofabrication (NF) process chains by using the FAIR approach. The IN will provide a forum for the Nanofabrication community to agree on metadata content rich enough to enable workflows or modular steps developed in any participating cleanroom to be exportable to the wider community. GO NANOFAB IN seeks to develop information systems for cleanroom machines able to process FAIR cleanroom data, reach an agreement on the standardisation of cleanroom process steps description and data sharing, promote best practices on data management, develop certified NF data management centers, identify accessibility conditions for NF data release, and encourage the dissemination of potential solutions towards the implementation of FAIR approaches in NF processes. IN Coordinator: Lorenza Ferrario.

Reports from internal events

• Read the report about the 2nd Annual GO FAIR Implementation Networks Meeting (23-24 January 2020): Accelerating Convergence in 2020.
• On 21-22 January 2020 a hackathon aiming at creating a prototype FAIR Digital Object for molecular structure took place in Hamburg.

Outputs

• The Data Intelligence Special Issue on emerging FAIR implementation choices and challenges has been published by MIT Press. All articles are open-access.
• “Invest 5% of research funds in ensuring data are reusable”: An opinion article by Barend Mons commenting on aspects of data stewardship and data re-use has been published in the Nature World View column.
• Check out our new webpage on FAIR Digital Framework, a novel approach guided by the FAIR Principles combining the features from both Digital Objects and Linked Data.
• Have a look at our updated webpage on the FAIR Convergence Matrix & FAIR Implementation Profile to dive into tools for accelerating convergence on FAIR implementations and to learn about the team of FAIR experts working on this.

Interesting reads from the INs

• FAIR in Axum: IN Africa goes back to the roots of civilisation (article by Mirjam van Reisen, IN Coordinator of the IN-Africa)
• National Coordination of Data Steward Education in Denmark: Final report to the National Forum for Research Data Management by Lorna Wildgaard, Evgenios Vlachos, Lars Nondal, Asger Væring Larsen, Michael Svendsen (recommended by the DSCC IN)

GO Meet

This section gives you an overview of conferences and workshops where you can meet up with fellow GO FAIR members if you happen to attend the same event or are in the same town. We think that it is always more pleasant to interact face-to-face rather than just virtually.

In order for this category to work we do need your help! Please drop us a line at go-fair@zbw.eu and tell us where you can be met in the future.

External events

Meet INs:

• 4-6 March 2020, Paris (France): Say hello to representatives of the Food Systems IN at the hackathon workshop at INRAE.

Meet GFISCO:

• 5 March 2020, Leipzig (Germany): Meet Anja at the 10th DINI/nestor-Workshop: “Zertifizierung von Forschungsdatenrepositorien – Wege, Praxiserfahrungen und Perspektiven“.
• 11-12 March 2020, Berlin (Germany): Meet Klaus and Anja at the International Open Science Conference 2020.
• 18-20 March 2020, Melbourne (Australia): Say hello to Luiz during the 15th RDA plenary.
• 22 April 2020, Stockholm (Sweden): Meet Erik during the FAIR evaluation workshop organised by EOSC-Nordic.

INternal events

• 9 March 2020, The Hague (The Netherlands): Lecture on FAIR Data and open Science Cloud, co-organized by the Ambassador IN, IN-Africa and the International Institute of Social Studies.
• 2 April 2020, Erfurt (Germany): Kick-off meeting of GO UNI, German chapter of the DSCC.

Meet GFISCO:

• Save the Date: 22-24 October 2020, Paris (France): International FAIR Convergence Symposium & CODATA General Assembly convened by GO FAIR and CODATA. More information will follow in due time.

People of GO FAIR

In this section we would like to introduce you to members of our GO FAIR family. In each newsletter we will provide you with a short profile of two GO FAIR members: one IN representative and one Steering Committee representative.

IN representatives:

Dr Anne-Sophie Archambeau, IN Coordinator of the BiodiFAIRse IN

Anne-Sophie Archambeau is the node manager of the French nodal point of GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), which is integrated in the UMS PatriNat (AFB-CNRS-MNHN) at the MNHN, National Museum of Natural History, in Paris. GBIF is an international network and research infrastructure, aimed at providing open access to data about all types of life on Earth. She is responsible for engaging French scientific and political communities to mobilise, share and valorise biodiversity data (specimens and observations) using the open tools and services developed by GBIF. She is involved in different EU projects (COST: Alien CSI and MOBILISE, DiSSCo) and international initiatives (TDWG – Biodiversity Information Standards, RDA, GEOBON) linked with open access and FAIR principles. Doctor in oceanography and research engineer at IRD (Institute of Research for Development), she also contributed to develop and organise curses on biodiversity data mobilization used for decision making for the programme BID – Biodiversity Information for Development, an EU programme led by GBIF with the aim of increasing the amount of biodiversity information available in the ‘ACP’ nations of sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Dr Yvan Le Bras, IN Coordinator of the BiodiFAIRse IN

Yvan Le Bras is project manager of the French research “Pole national de données de Biodiversité” e-infrastructure piloted by the French National Museum of Natural History. In this capacity he is responsible for implementing FAIR products and services, and is involved in several international initiatives associated with scientific data FAIRification in the ecology sector including GEO BON, EuroGEOSS, EOSC, RDA and GO FAIR. Initially a marine biologist focusing on population’s structure, Yvan received a PhD on quantitative genetics and genomics at Rennes University. After a one-year postdoc at INSERM dedicated to integrative genomics, he investigated an e-Science approach for Life Sciences during a five-year postdoc project at INRIA / IRISA Rennes. One of the outcomes of this project, called e-Biogenouest, is an innovative Virtual Research Environment (VRE) concept and the CeSGO e-Science center. Since 2016, Yvan came back to his first love – ecology, integrating the French National Museum of Natural History resources to develop a first proof of concept of collaborative web platform dedicated to citizen science biodiversity data analysis. Since 2018, Yvan is managing the French PNDB research e-infrastructure in strong link with international initiatives like RDA, Galaxy Project, Bioconda, EOSC, GEO BON, EuroGEOSS, and promoting the use of generic domains standards to create community-oriented products and services.

Steering Committee representative:

Prof Dr Jean-Pierre Vilotte, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP)

Jean-Pierre Vilotte is Professor at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), and Head of the High Performance Data and Computational Center (S-CAPAD) of IPGP. He is also the Scientific Deputy for intensive computing and information technology at the French CNRS-INSU. He has been actively involved in promoting inter- and transdisciplinary data sharing for many years within international fora including the Belmont Forum, and as a coordinator of European research collaborations in the Earth Sciences. His research interests include earthquake rupture dynamics, seismic wave propagation in heterogeneous media, computational physics and parallel computing. Current research projects of Prof Vilotte include statistical data analysis and Bayesian inference methods in seismology, tectonic and environmental seismic sources detection and restoration, statistical physics of debris flows and avalanches. He was awarded an American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fellowship in 2015.

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