Intertidal Agency
The challenge:
Data is critical to maintaining ocean health, but too often, ocean data is difficult to find, access, and use — if it exists at all. 80% of the ocean is unmapped and understudied, and when valuable data are collected, they need to be shared to have impact. The ocean needs new data collaborations and a community of data stewards, with the skills and capacity to deliver the information we need for the ocean we want.
What can be done?
We’re building the people layer of data because sharing data is as much about relationships, mindsets, and behaviors as it is about technology. Data governance aligns data infrastructure, management, and policies with project goals, making it easier to share data for purpose. Ocean professionals can adapt best practices for data governance from other sectors to unlock data across governments, communities, scientists, nonprofits, and businesses. Modern data platforms can enable complex ocean analyses while protecting sensitive or confidential data, like tribal and Indigenous knowledge. By making our tools and methods open, Intertidal Agency makes ocean data stewardship accessible to everyone, helping catalyze new insights and solutions for the ocean.
How Intertidal Agency is meeting the challenge:
Creating Data Strategy
We help partners align around goals, map data ecosystems, assess barriers, plan and implement strategy for a data-informed future.
Example: We worked with the UN Ocean Decade’s Data Committee to understand the project focus areas and data capacity needs for Ocean Decade Projects and Actions, contributing analyses and helping write and edit the Decade Data & Information Strategy.
Building Data Governance Capacity
We train and support ocean professionals and project teams as they navigate the complexities and opportunities around data sharing.
Example: We co-wrote the data governance chapter for the Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative for Offshore Wind (RWSC) Science Plan, drafted language for their standard data policy, and are helping them assess tools and methods for data interoperability and reuse.
Developing Data Partnerships
We expand our partners’ technical data sharing skills, create a culture of data sharing, and grow the global community of ocean data stewards.
Example: As part of our 2021-2022 NSF Convergence Accelerator project on Data Governance to Support an Equitable and Sustainable Blue Economy, we developed and ran data governance trainings for Early Career Ocean Professionals. Topics included data collaborative structures, governance, and stewardship.
