The Electronic Geophysical Year (eGY) and the World Data Center System

2. Past and Current Activities

[4] The World Data Center system of today is structured as a loose federation of data centers hosted mostly at governmental or academic institutions. Most of the WDCs do not have direct funding from their host, but rather are operated in conjunction with the normal activities of the hosting organization.

[5] Looking back over the last fifty years, the WDC System can boast of a number of significant accomplishments. First and foremost is the preservation of the data from the IGY, the predecessor to the eGY. The data are still preserved today in the WDC system. Also, from the outset, they produced a "Guide to International Data Exchange'' [Rishbeth, 1996], the first of its kind and the model for the development of future guidelines of this type. The WDCs have always championed full and open data access, the provision of data on an exchange basis or for the minimal cost of reproducing the data. Because it is an ICSU body, the WDC system operates under the premise of non-discriminatory access to data and hence was successful in bridging the East - West divide during the Cold War, which was particularly important in the early years.

[6] The WDCs have initiated numerous data rescue projects in the former Soviet Union, India and China. In more recent years, the System has expanded to China, Australia, India and most recently other parts of Europe. This expansion also carried over into a wide range of discipline areas by adding new diverse WDCs in Biodiversity, Ecology, Astronomy, Soils, Geology, Human Dimensions, Remote Sensing and Land Cover, to name a few.

Figure 2

[7] One of the major focus areas of WDCs in recent years has been the transition from an analog to a digital mode of operation. This evolution to digital technology was carried out as a result of the WDCs being co-located with national or academic data centers. More recently, the WDCs have been initiating new collaborations with other data- oriented organizations and programs. In the early 1990's the WDC Panel entered into a close association with the International Ocean Data and information Exchange (IODE) of the Intergovernmental Ocean Commission. (Some of the IODE national data centers are also WDCs.) To improve international data exchange, the WDC for Solar and Terrestrial Physics (STP), Boulder developed a mirroring/partnering effort (Space Physics Interactive Data Resource - SPIDR) with several of the STP discipline WDCs in China, Russia, Australia, Japan and India as well as other interested organizations world-wide. This is an application of state-of-the-art data network connectivity. Similarly, the WDC for Paleoclimatology initiated mirror/partner sites for capacity building in data management in China, India, Argentina, South Africa and Kenya. Such collaborative efforts represent one of the critical directions to be taken by a revitalized WDC system (see Figure 2).