Spring Spectacular & AGM

• Scholarly Journals Introduce New Data Archiving Policy
  
  An important editorial about data archiving has just appeared online in the February issue of The American Naturalist <http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/650340>.
  
  To promote the preservation and fuller use of data, The American Naturalist, Evolution, the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Molecular Ecology, Heredity, and other key journals in evolution and ecology will soon introduce a new data archiving policy to ensure that data supporting published articles is preserved and made publicly available. The policy has been enacted by the Executive Councils of the societies owning or sponsoring the journals.
  
  For example, the policy of The American Naturalist will state:
  
    This journal requires, as a condition for publication, that data
    supporting the results in the paper should be archived in an
    appropriate public archive, such as GenBank, TreeBASE, Dryad, or the
    Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity. Data are important products of
    the scientific enterprise, and they should be preserved and usable
    for decades in the future. Authors may elect to have the data
    publicly available at time of publication, or, if the technology of
    the archive allows, may opt to embargo access to the data for a
    period up to a year after publication. Exceptions may be granted at
    the discretion of the editor, especially for sensitive information
    such as human subject data or the location of endangered species.
  
  This policy will be introduced approximately a year from now, after a period when authors are encouraged to voluntarily place their data in a public archive. Data that have an established standard repository, such as DNA sequences, should continue to be archived in the appropriate repository, such as GenBank. Data can also be archived in a more flexible, interdisciplinary digital data archive such as the National Science Foundation–sponsored Dryad <http://datadryad.org> repository, at http://datadryad.org.
  
  Dryad is developed by the US National Evolutionary Synthesis Center <http://www.nescent.org/> and the University of North Carolina Metadata Research Center, <http://ils.unc.edu/mrc/> in collaboration with a consortium of partner journals.
  
  Authors of the editorial, Michael C. Whitlock, Mark A. McPeek, Mark D. Rausher, Loren Rieseberg, and Allen J. Moore present the case for the importance of data archiving in science. This is the first of several coordinated editorials soon to appear in major journals.
  
  Citation: Am Nat 2010. Vol. 175, pp. 145–146. DOI: 10.1086/650340
  
  For more information, contact: Peggy Schaeffer, Communications Coordinator, Dryad pschaeffer@nescent.org

• 34th International Geological Congress,
  Brisbane,
  2-10 August 2012
  www.34igc.org/
  
  
• 5th International Archean Symposium
  Information concerning the 5th International Archean Symposium to be held in Perth, Western Australia 4–9 September 2010, including the Preliminary Program and Presenter Information is now available on the website
  www.5ias.org/default.aspx.

  Please distribute this link widely to those in your fields who will be interested in attending.

• GSA/GSIS Annual Meeting
  31 October – 3 November 2010
  Denver
  gsa.confex.com/gsa/2010AM/cfp.cgi

  The Geoscience Information Society (GSIS) is sponsoring the technical session,

  T79. Geoscience Information Services: "Peak" Performances
  Sponsors: Geoscience Information Society; GSA Geoinformatics Division; National Association of Geoscience Teachers

  Geoscience information providers apply their expertise to add value to information and deliver exceptional services for library users in complex and diverse roles, such as consultation, contract negotiation, metadata description, instruction, and website development.

  Disciplinary Categories: Geoscience Information/Communication; Geoscience Education; Geoinformatics

  Abstract submission deadline is 10 August 2010.  Submit an abstract to this session online at http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2010AM/top/papers/index.cgi?sessionid=26089 .  More information is posted at http://www.geosociety.org/meetings/2010/techprog.htm. 

  To see a list of other sessions in the disciplinary category geoscience information/communication go to http://www.geosociety.org/meetings/2010/sessions/topical.asp?CatID=Geoscience+Information%2FCommunication&submit=Go .  The main conference website is at http://www.geosociety.org/meetings/2010/ . 

  Please contact Janet Dombrowski, GSIS 2010 Technical Program Convener, at jdombrow@uwyo.edu or by phone at 307-760-5452 for further information.  See the GSIS website at http://www.geoinfo.org/ for information about membership.

Of Interest

• Paper by: Adrian Burton and Andrew Treloar
  Australian National Data Service, Vic
  "Publish My Data": the design and implementation of a loosely-coupled data 'publishing' service