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The process of sampling, observing and analyzing physical samples is not unique to the geosciences. Physical sampling (taking specimens) is a fundamental strategy in many natural sciences, typically to support ex-situ observations in laboratories with the goal of characterizing real-world entities or populations. Observations and measurements are made on individual specimens and their derived samples in various ways, with results reported in research publications. Research on an individual sample is often published in numerous articles, based on multiple, potentially unrelated research programs conducted over many years. Even high-volume Earth observation datasets are proxies of real world phenomena and require calibration by measurements made on position located, well described physical samples. Unique, persistent web-compatible identifiers for physical objects and related sampling features are required to ensure their unambiguous citation and connection to related datasets through web identifiers. Identifier systems have been established within specific domains (e.g., bio, geo, hydro) or different sectors (e.g., museums, government agencies, universities), including the International Geo Sample Number (IGSN) in the geosciences, which has been used for rock, fossil, mineral, soil, regolith, fluid, plant and synthetic materials. IGSNs are issued through a governance system that ensures they are globally unique. Each IGSN directs to a digital representation of the physical object via the Handle.net global resolver system, the same system used for resolving DOI. To enable the unique identification of all samples on Planet Earth and of data derived from them, the next step is to ensure IGSNs can either be integrated with comparable identifier systems in other domains/sectors, or introduced into domains that do not have a viable system. A registry of persistent identifier systems for physical samples would allow users to choose which system best suits their needs. Such a registry may also facilitate unifying best practice in these multiple systems to enable consistent referencing of physical samples and of methods used to link digital data to its sources. IGSNs could be extended into other domains, but additional methodologies of sample collection, curation and processing may need to be considered.

With the foundation of DataCite in 2009 and the technical infrastructure installed in the last six years it has become very easy to create citable dataset DOIs. Nowadays, dataset DOIs are increasingly accepted and required by journals in reference lists of manuscripts. In addition, DataCite provides usage statistics [1] of assigned DOIs and offers a public search API to make research data count. By linking related information to the data, they become more useful for future generations of scientists. For this purpose, several identifier systems, as ISBN for books, ISSN for journals, DOI for articles or related data, Orcid for authors, and IGSN for physical samples can be attached to DOIs using the DataCite metadata schema [2]. While these are good preconditions to publish data, free and open solutions that help with the curation of data, the publication of research data, and the assignment of DOIs in one software seem to be rare. At GFZ Potsdam we built a modular software stack that is made of several free and open software solutions and we established 'GFZ Data Services'. 'GFZ Data Services' provides storage, a metadata editor for publication and a facility to moderate minted DOIs. All software solutions are connected through web APIs, which makes it possible to reuse and integrate established software. Core component of 'GFZ Data Services' is an eSciDoc [3] middleware that is used as central storage, and has been designed along the OAIS reference model for digital preservation. Thus, data are stored in self-contained packages that are made of binary file-based data and XML-based metadata. The eSciDoc infrastructure provides access control to data and it is able to handle half-open datasets, which is useful in embargo situations when a subset of the research data are released after an adequate period. The data exchange platform panMetaDocs [4] makes use of eSciDoc's REST API to upload file-based data into eSciDoc and uses a metadata editor [5] to annotate the files with metadata. The metadata editor has a user-friendly interface with nominal lists, extensive explanations, and an interactive mapping tool to provide assistance to scientists describing the data. It is possible to deposit metadata templates to fill certain fields with default values. The metadata editor generates metadata in the schemas ISO19139, NASA GCMD DIF, and DataCite and could be extended for other schemas. panMetaDocs is able to mint dataset DOIs through DOIDB, which is our component to moderate dataset DOIs issued through 'GFZ Data Services'. DOIDB accepts metadata in the schemas ISO19139, DIF, and DataCite. In addition, DOIDB provides an OAI-PMH interface to disseminate all deposited metadata to data portals. The presentation of datasets on DOI landing pages is done though XSLT stylesheet transformation of the XML-based metadata. The landing pages have been designed to meet needs of scientists. We are able to render the metadata to different layouts. Furthermore, additional information about datasets and publications is assembled into the webpage by querying public databases on the internet. The work presented here will focus on technical details of the software stack. [1] http://stats.datacite.org [2] http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january11/starr/01starr.html [3] http://www.escidoc.org [4] http://panmetadocs.sf.net [5] http://github.com/ulbricht

Open Science is a broad movement looking beyond Open Access to publish openly and share scientific research immediately. Accessibility is addressed on all levels for everyone, without fees. Open Science not only deals with Open Access papers but scientific research results in general, including figures, data, models, algorithms, software, tools, notebooks, laboratory designs, recipes, samples and much more. Furthermore, it covers the communication, review, and discussion of research results and considers changing needs regarding incentives, quality assessment, metrics, impact, reputation, grants and funding. Thus Open Science encompasses licensing, policy-making, infrastructures and scientific heritage while safeguarding the dynamic nature of science and its evolving forms. However, this short course is meant not to carry too far with Open Science. Rather, it looks at what is possible nowadays and what is ready for application in geosciences. The speakers present open data solutions and introduce networks. It is aimed to create an idea on how researchers benefit from Open Science regarding research data. Both the drawbacks and opportunities of open data are outlined. This short course is the first part of the Short Course series 'Open Science goes Geo'. Part I covers research data and its role in the scientific work. The possibilities for publishing research data leveraging Open Science in geosciences are addressed, together with related opportunities and stumbling blocks. Moreover, the ways in which networks can support scientific collaboration on shared datasets are introduced.

Scientific software has become an indispensable commodity for the production, processing and analysis of empirical data but also for modelling and simulation of complex processes. Software has a significant influence on the quality of research results. For strengthening the recognition of the academic performance of scientific software development, for increasing its visibility and for promoting the reproducibility of research results, concepts for the publication of scientific software have to be developed, tested, evaluated, and then transferred into operations. For this, the publication and citability of scientific software have to fulfil scientific criteria by means of defined processes and the use of persistent identifiers, similar to data publications. The SciForge project is addressing these challenges. Based on interviews a blueprint for a scientific software publishing platform and a systematic implementation plan has been designed. In addition, the potential of journals, software repositories and persistent identifiers have been evaluated to improve the publication and dissemination of reusable software solutions. It is important that procedures for publishing software as well as methods and tools for software engineering are reflected in the architecture of the platform, in order to improve the quality of the software and the results of research. In addition, it is necessary to work continuously on improving specific conditions that promote the adoption and sustainable utilization of scientific software publications. Among others, this would include policies for the development and publication of scientific software in the institutions but also policies for establishing the necessary competencies and skills of scientists and IT personnel. To implement the concepts developed in SciForge a combined bottom-up / top-down approach is considered that will be implemented in parallel in different scientific domains, e.g. in earth sciences, climate research and the life sciences. Based on the developed blueprints a scientific software publishing platform will be iteratively implemented, tested, and evaluated. Thus the platform should be developed continuously on the basis of gained experiences and results. The platform services will be extended one by one corresponding to the requirements of the communities. Thus the implemented platform for the publication of scientific software can be improved and stabilized incrementally as a tool with software, science, publishing, and user oriented features.

In recent years research institutions, geological surveys and funding organizations started to build infrastructures to facilitate the re-use of research data from previous work. At present, several intermeshed activities are coordinated to make data systems of the earth sciences interoperable and recorded data discoverable. Driven by governmental authorities, ISO19115/19139 emerged as metadata standards for discovery of data and services. Established metadata transport protocols like OAI-PMH and OGC-CSW are used to disseminate metadata to data portals. With the persistent identifiers like DOI and IGSN research data and corresponding physical samples can be given unambiguous names and thus become citable. In summary, these activities focus primarily on “ready to give away”-data, already stored in an institutional repository and described with appropriate metadata. Many datasets are not “born” in this state but are produced in small and federated research projects. To make access and reuse of these “small data” easier, these data should be centrally stored and version controlled from the very beginning of activities. We developed DataSync [1] as supplemental application to the panMetaDocs [2] data exchange platform as a data management tool for small science projects. DataSync is a JAVA-application that runs on a local computer and synchronizes directory trees into an eSciDoc-repository [3] by creating eSciDoc-objects via eSciDocs' REST API. DataSync can be installed on multiple computers and is in this way able to synchronize files of a research team over the internet. XML Metadata can be added as separate files that are managed together with data files as versioned eSciDoc-objects. A project-customized instance of panMetaDocs is provided to show a web-based overview of the previously uploaded file collection and to allow further annotation with metadata inside the eSciDoc-repository. PanMetaDocs is a PHP based web application to assist the creation of metadata in any XML-based metadata schema. To reduce manual entries of metadata to a minimum and make use of contextual information in a project setting, metadata fields can be populated with static or dynamic content. Access rights can be defined to control visibility and access to stored objects. Notifications about recently updated datasets are available by RSS and e-mail and the entire inventory can be harvested via OAI-PMH. panMetaDocs is optimized to be harvested by panFMP [4]. panMetaDocs is able to mint dataset DOIs though DataCite and uses eSciDocs' REST API to transfer eSciDoc-objects from a non-public “pending“-status to the published status “released“, which makes data and metadata of the published object available worldwide through the internet. The application scenario presented here shows the adoption of open source applications to data sharing and publication of data. An eSciDoc-repository is used as storage for data and metadata. DataSync serves as a file ingester and distributor, whereas panMetaDocs' main function is to annotate the dataset files with metadata to make them ready for publication and sharing with your own team, or with the scientific community.

Currently a lot of work is done to stimulate the reuse of data. In joint efforts research institutions establish infrastructure to facilitate the publication of scientific datasets. To create a citable reference, these datasets must be tagged with persistent identifiers (DOIs) and described with metadata. As most data in the geosciences are derived from samples, it is crucial to be able to uniquely identify the samples from which a set of data were derived. Incomplete documentation of samples in publications, use of ambiguous sample names are major obstacles for synthesis studies and re-use of data. Access to samples for re-analysis and re-appraisal is limited due to the lack of a central catalogue that allows finding a sample's archiving location. The International Geo Sample Number (IGSN) [1] provides solutions to the questions of unique sample identification and discovery. Use of the IGSN in digital data systems allows building linkages between the digital representation of samples in sample registries, e.g. SESAR [2], and their related data in the literature and in web accessible digital data repositories. DataCite recently decided to publish their metadata store (DataCite MDS) and accompanying software online [3]. The DataCite software allows registration of handles, deposition of metadata in an XML format, it offers a search interface, and is able to disseminate metadata via OAI-PMH. Its, REST interface allows an easy integration into institutional data work flows. For our applications at GFZ Potsdam we modified the DataCite MDS software for reuse it in two different contexts: as the DOIDB web service for data publications and as the IGSN registry web service for the registration of geological samples. The DOIDB acts as a proxy service to the DataCite Metadata Store and uses its REST-Interface for registration of DataCite DOI and associated DOI metadata. Metadata can be deposited in the DataCite or NASA DIF schema. Both schemata can be disseminated via OAI-PMH. Transformation into the mandatory DataCite schema is done through XSLT stylesheet transformation. With its REST interface DOIDB integrates a number of independent automatic and semi-automatic data publishing systems at GFZ and provides a local summary of the dataset DOIs registered through GFZ as a publication agent. The web service of the IGSN registry is part of the registration structure of the IGSN e.V. Similar to the DOIDB, the IGSN registry inherits all characteristics from the DataCite software except for the metadata schema, which is completely different to the DataCite schema. Since the registry is on top of a 3 level metadata registration architecture, the IGSN Metadata Store holds only the handle, administrative data, and some metadata about the physical status of the sample. Both cases presented here introduce modifications to the DataCite MDS that enable to associate and enrich persistent identifiers of the handle system with own metadata. These metadata can be disseminated with OAI-PMH. Furthermore, the implementation as a proxy service allows to create local handle registries for institutions with a federated publishing structure which can be used to build catalogues of the registered objects and their metadata. [1] http://www.igsn.org [2] http://www.geosamples.org [3] http://github.com/datacite

The Competence Center is planned as link between Geoscientific facilities and an existing archive network for earth and environmental data in Germany. KomFor generally aims at improving the overall availability and quality of data in a sustainable way. Practically from the users view the project will create a unique instance which accompanies scientific facilities, projects, and groups in all questions of data management – from the planning phase via data production, QA/QC, registration and long term storage to publication of data; the latter also including science publishers. In addition KomFor will supply systems and interfaces for accessing data comprising a data portal, services which allow downloading data for analysis and visualization tools (added value services), components for cross-referencing data and science articles as well as a broker function into superior global networks. KomFor is based on ICSU World Data Centers and Services located in Germany, which are collaborating in a national cluster since 2003 – the WDC Climate (WDC-C, DKRZ), WDC for Remote Sensing (WDC-RSAT, DLR), the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GfZ), and the Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science (PANGAEA, AWI/Marum). The cluster is complemented by the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB). The consortium is well embedded into the international environment (WDS, IPCC, ESA, NASA, CEOS, GMES, GEOSS, INSPIRE, ESFRI, WMO, IODP, ICDP, IOC etc.) and is engaged since years in the development of standards as well as organizational structures and infrastructures for research data. Amongst others the consortium has implemented a registry service for scientific data which meanwhile is supported by an international association of libraries and is used worldwide (DataCite). A milestone was also the implementation of a web service for dynamically cross-referencing science articles with related data, initially used by Elsevier and now increasingly used by further publishers.

Die modernen Informationstechnologien haben in allen Lebensbereichen starke Veränderungen bewirkt. Besonders stark beeinflusst sind die Wissenschaften, die auch eine treibende Kraft dieser Entwicklungen sind und immer größere Anforderungen an Rechner, Speicher und IT-Werkzeuge stellen. In neuen Experimenten der Teilchenphysik werden kaum bewältigbare Datenmengen für Tausende von Wissenschaftlern produziert, Klimaforscher berechnen immer detailliertere Modelle des Systems Erde, und die Geisteswissenschaften beginnen riesige digitale Sammlungen von Kulturgütern mit Rechnern zu analysieren. // Die Grid-Technologie zur Aufteilung der Aufgaben auf viele verteilte IT-Ressourcen ist ein Mittel, um den Herausforderungen dieser neuen, als e-Science bezeichneten wissenschaftlichen Arbeitsweise gerecht zu werden. // nestor und Wissenschaftler weltweit haben immer wieder darauf hingewiesen, dass mit der Zunahme der Bedeutung digitaler Daten auch die Notwendigkeit wächst, ihre langfristige Nutzbarkeit zu sichern. Bei der Grid-Technologie ergibt sich die chancenreiche Situation, dass nicht nur wertvolle und zu erhaltende Daten produziert werden, sondern auch Mittel bereit gestellt werden, die für die Herausforderung der Langzeitarchivierung großer und komplexer Datenmengen nutzbar sein können. Die klassischen Gedächtnisorganisationen - wie Bibliotheken, Archive und Museen - und die neuen Gedächtnisorganisationen - wie Daten- und Rechenzentren - können wechsel-seitig voneinander profitieren. // Um dieses Potenzial auszuloten, hat nestor in seiner zweiten Projektphase eine Arbeitsgruppe mit Fachleuten aus klassischen Gedächtnisinstitutionen und aus e-Science- und grid-engagierten Institutionen initiiert und drei Expertisen in Auftrag gegeben. Diese Expertisen untersuchen den Ist-Stand und die Anforderungen und Ziele für das Zusammenspiel von e-Science-/Grid-Technologie und Langzeitarchivierung unter drei Gesichtspunkten: // Welche Anforderungen gibt es für die Archivierung von Forschungsdaten? // Was sind die möglichen Synergien, die angestrebt werden sollten? // Und auf welche Standards können weitere Arbeiten in diesen Bereich aufgebaut werden und welche sind gegebenenfalls noch zu entwickeln? // Neben der Untersuchung des Standes der Technik, sind einige Projekte der deutschen Grid-Initiative D-Grid befragt worden. nestor wird in seiner Grid-/eScience-Arbeitsgruppe die Ergebnisse der Expertisen aufnehmen und versuchen, eine Landkarte für die weiteren Entwicklungsperspektiven zu zeichnen. e-Science-/Grid-Technologie und Langzeitarchivierung sind relativ neue Forschungs-bereiche, die sich sehr schnell entwickeln. Einzelne Fragen, die von nestor Mitte 2006 formuliert wurden, als die ersten Projekte der deutschen Grid-Initiative D-Grid gerade gestartet waren, stellen sich heute, wo bald schon die dritte Generation von D-Grid-Projekten beginnt, unter den veränderten Bedingungen möglicherweise anders dar. Die Expertisen müssen daher auch vor ihrem Entstehungshintergrund betrachtet werden. Derzeit liefern sie eine Beschreibung sinnvoller und notwendiger Entwicklungen. Wenn sie in naher Zukunft „veralten“, weil sie zur erfolgreichen Zusammenarbeit von e-Science/Grid und Langzeitarchivierung beigetragen haben, dann haben sie ihren Sinn erfüllt.