Overview

Research in the Earth Science disciplines depends on the availability of representative samples collected above, at, and beneath Earth's surface, on the moon and in space, or those generated in experiments. These physical samples serve as fundamental references for generating new knowledge about the earth and the entire universe, contribute to and a deeper understanding of the processes that created and shaped it, assess the the availability of natural resources, and measure the risk of natural hazards. Many samples have been collected at great cost and with substantial difficulty, are rare or unique, and irreplaceable. The EarthCube Research Coordination Network (RCN) iSamplES (Internet of Samples in the Earth Sciences) aims to advance the use of innovative cyberinfrastructure to connect physical samples and sample collections across the Earth Sciences with digital data infrastructures to revolutionize their utility in the support of science.

We welcome participation from scholars as well as practitioners in disciplines that depend upon the availability of physical samples, such as earth sciences, biology, hydrology, archeology, etc. as well as information and computer sciences. The workshop will be held on June 22-23, 2017 in Toronto, Canada in conjunction with JCDL 2017 (the link to the conference page is: JCDL 2017).

Topics

We invite researchers, curators, and practitioners who are interested in studying the issues involved in the management of samples, sample collections, and sample-based data in the field, in the lab, in repositories, in data systems and scientific publications. The intention is both to assemble the existing community as well as invite those with emerging interests in this area. A goal of this workshop is to enable domain scientists, data curators, and computer and information scientists to learn from each other about the requirements of physical and digital sample and collection management. Presentations will address a broad range of issues and challenges at the intersection of Earth Science physical samples and digital libraries that facilitate the data collection, management, and use of earth samples. Topics include but are not limited to:

• physical sample collection curation
• information behavior and needs, user modeling
• evaluation of existing environments models
• theoretical models
• system architectures
• social-technical perspectives on digital methods for sample management
• policies and workflows
• data analytics and visualization
• user interfaces
• cyberinfrastructure architectures, applications, and deployments
• distributed data management information systems
• impact of digital libraries on earth sciences
• linked data and its applications
• personal information management of physical samples
• retrieval and browsing of sampels
• scientific data curation, citation, and scholarly publication
• social networks, virtual organizations, and networked information
• sample collection archiving and preservation

Proposals: formats and submission

All contributions must be written in English.

We encourage you to submit proposals for:

• full papers (3000-4000 words, exclusive of references): submissions that report on mature work or stake out a position in an area of interest
• work-in-progess papers (1500-2000 words, exclusive of references): submissions that present early results or a nascent project
• posters or demonstrations (500 words, exclusive of references): While the paper authors will present their work during sessions, posters will be available for attendees view during the breaks as well as before and after the workshop.

Please submit papers via the workshop's EasyChair submission page:https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=psdl2017.

Accepted submissions will be published in a special issue of the IEEE-TCDL bulletin in Fall 2017. Authors will also be invited to submit enhanced papers for a special issue of the International Journal on Digital Libraries in late 2017.

Important dates:

• May 10: Paper submissions due
• May 17: Notification of acceptance
• May 19: Regular registration for JCDL 2017 ends
• June 10: Submission of revised papers
• June 22-23: PSDL 2017 Workshop

Organizers

Please contact us in case of questions.

Unmil Karadkar ([log in to unmask])
School of Information, The University of Texas at Austin

Kerstin Lehnert([log in to unmask])
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University

Chris Lehhardt([log in to unmask])
Renaissance Computing Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Sarah Ramdeen([log in to unmask])
School of Information, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill