AGN Webinar 1: an AGN update
A snapshot of the AusGeochem platform and its many functionalities
In our first webinar the AGN team discussed our progress in building the AusGeochem platform and introduced our aims to create a collaborative network for all Australian geochemistry laboratories.
The AuScope Geochemistry Network (AGN) held their first webinar to update the Australian geoscience community on their activities and progress since partnering with Lithodat in March 2020.
Professor Brent McInnes, AGN director, discussed the motivating factors behind our push to establish a national collaborative network of geochemistry laboratories: Alignment with demand from the community but also the priorities at a state- and national-government level.
Data management infrastructure must keep-pace with analytical productivity
The need to preserve nationally important legacy collection
Compliance with funding agency requirements for sample archiving and data accessibility (FAIR principles)
“The AuScope Geochemistry Network is a vehicle for coordinating laboratory infrastructure across Australia to form a “geochemical telescope” focused on the Solid Earth” — Prof Brent McInnes
Dr Samuel Boone, AGN Data Scientist, outlined how the AGN’s AusGeochem platform will assist the geoscience community with streamlining the data curation continuum from the institutional domain, to the collaboration domain and on to the publication domain. Following on from this, Dr Alex Prent, AGN Coordinator, provided an update on the progress of AusGeochem including the development of minimum metadata requirements.
Importantly, Alex also shared insights into how the AGN team is consulting with Expert Advisory Groups, composed of geoscientists from across Australia, to develop data reporting templates that are based on best practice and will integrate seamlessly with current analytical procedures.
Finally, Dr Fabian Kohlmann, CEO of Lithodat described the technology behind AusGeochem and explained the key differences between it and existing geoscience data ‘portals’. Key distinctions are the ability to directly upload, manage data privacy and carry out live analytics and recalculation via cloud computing.
You can watch the Webinar in full here