Building Capacity in MorphoSource through state-of-art, flexible data storage protocols for broader and more sustainable adoption by museums and other mass-data producers.

获取高质量数据的能力是推进生物多样性和自然历史科学知识的核心挑战。没有这些数据，就不可能进行分析，产生有意义的结果，从而得出结论。由杜克大学（Duke University）的研究人员于2013年创建的资料库MorphoSource已经开始彻底改变研究人员和公众发现、访问、互动和学习博物馆标本的方式，这些标本构成了世界上自然历史和生物多样性的主要证据（或数据）。截至2022年底，MorphoSource在1500篇论文中引用了数据访问或存档，作为一个公开访问的网络数据存储库，博物馆馆长、研究人员和学者可以上传、存档和共享代表博物馆或实验室收藏的物理标本的3D、2D和视听图像数据，MorphoSource是独一无二的，也是前所未有的。目前，MorphoSource拥有超过170,000个数据集，经常用于研究，教育和一般兴趣目的。MorphoSource目前依赖于有限的运营承诺，这种模式限制了可以托管的数据量，并且不能充分确保持续运营的长期可用性资金。因此，作为长期可持续性更大计划的一部分，当前项目将构建显著降低数据存储成本的功能，支持使用更灵活的存储技术，并收回与数据沉积、管理和存储相关的一些成本。根据其核心使命，MorphoSource是一个开放访问存储库，它托管的所有数据必须始终对任何人免费访问。然而，它最终必须平衡其贡献者（上传数据的用户）对数据沉积、管理和存储的需求与可用资源。该项目将通过开发网站工具开始这一过程，这些工具可以根据文件大小向贡献者收取访问某些高级存储/管理功能和数据存储的费用。作为一个重要的更广泛的影响，该项目将创造创新的技术，以负担得起的方式存储数据，不仅可以由MorphoSource使用，还可以使其他存储库平台和存储基础设施受益。此外，这项工作的结果将直接有助于MorphoSource目前和未来数据中的170,000个数据集的持续可用性，这反过来又将为参与研究，教育，艺术和一般个人教育的个人提供好处，这些数据是必不可少的。为了实现这个项目的目标，MorphoSource当前的文件和磁盘存储架构将被升级，以支持对象存储，这是一种被许多云存储提供商使用的更具可扩展性和效率的存储技术。作为此次升级的一部分，MorphoSource将与杜克大学nsf支持的“CC*Storage Fast”平台（OAC-2232810）集成，该平台支持在磁盘、对象和冷云存储层之间存储和移动数据。存储库数据将从磁盘存储移动到更实惠的对象存储。使用FAST平台，将实现预测算法和存储分层工具，自动将不太常用的数据放入更便宜的冷云存储中。通过实施电子商务功能，以改善和扩大向贡献者收取上传数据押金的现有做法，从用户那里收回运营成本。这将导致向贡献者赞助存储的转变，同时仍然允许MorphoSource根据需要补贴某些数据集。MorphoSource还将对贡献者用户的功能支持分为两种帐户：基本帐户和功能更强大的高级帐户。虽然所有存储和管理数据集的关键组件都可以使用免费的基本帐户，高级帐户将包括可选的站点功能，这些功能对经常使用站点的用户或贡献大量数据的用户组很有用。高级贡献者账户将与适度的年费相关联。高级账户也将提供给组织管理团队，而不需要团队中的个人付款。项目结束时的预期结果包括MorphoSource存储成本的显著降低，由于存储成本降低，贡献者调动的数据规模更大，随着时间的推移，更多的数据被公开，以及各种机构实体加入社区联盟以帮助维持其愿景和承诺的兴趣增加。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ability to acquire high-quality data is a central challenge to advancing scientific knowledge about biodiversity and natural history. Without such data it is impossible to run analyses that generate meaningful results from which to draw conclusions. MorphoSource, a repository founded by researchers at Duke University in 2013 has begun to revolutionize how researchers and the public can discover, access, interact with and learn from the museum specimens constituting the world’s primary evidence of (or data on) natural history and biodiversity. Cited for data access or archiving in 1,500 papers at the end of 2022, MorphoSource is unique and unprecedented as a publicly accessible web data repository where museum curators, researchers, and scholars can upload, archive, and share 3D, 2D, and audiovisual image data representing physical specimens from museum or lab collections. Currently, MorphoSource hosts over 170,000 datasets regularly used for research, education, and general interest purposes. MorphoSource currently relies on finite commitments to operate, a model that puts constraints on how much data can be hosted and does not adequately ensure the long-term availability of funds for continuing its operations. Therefore, as one part of a larger plan for long-term sustainability, the current project will build features that significantly reduce data storage costs, enable the use of more flexible storage technologies, and recover some costs associated with data deposition, curation, and storage. By its core mission, MorphoSource is an open access repository and all of the data it hosts must always remain accessible to anyone without charge. However, it must ultimately balance demand for data deposition, curation, and storage by its contributors (the users who upload data) with available resources. This project will begin that process by developing site tools that charge contributors for access to certain advanced deposit/curation features and for data deposits based on file size. As an important broader impact, this project will create innovative technologies for storing data in affordable ways that will be usable not just by MorphoSource but will also benefit other repository platforms and storage infrastructures. Further, results of this work will directly contribute to the continued availability of the 170,000 datasets presently in MorphoSource and future data to come, which will, in turn, provide benefits to individuals involved in research, education, art, and general personal edification where these data are essential.To accomplish the goals of this project, MorphoSource’s current file-and-disk storage architecture will be upgraded to support object storage, a more scalable and efficient storage technology used by many cloud storage providers. As part of this upgrade, MorphoSource will be integrated with Duke University’s NSF-supported “CC*Storage Fast” platform (OAC-2232810) that supports storing and moving data between disk, object, and cold cloud storage tiers. Repository data will be moved from disk storage to more affordable object storage. Using the FAST platform, predictive algorithms and storage tiering tools will be implemented to automatically place less frequently used data into much cheaper cold cloud storage. Recovery of operating costs from users will be accomplished through implementation of eCommerce features to improve and scale an existing practice of charging contributors a deposit fee for uploading data. This will result in shift towards contributor-sponsored storage, while still allowing MorphoSource to subsidize certain datasets based on need. MorphoSource will also distill the feature support for contributor users into two kinds of accounts: a basic account, and more powerfully featured, advanced account. While all critical components of depositing and curating a dataset will be possible with the free, basic account, the advanced account will include optional site features useful for frequent site users or user groups who contribute large amounts of data. The advanced contributor account will be associated with a modest annual fee. Advanced accounts will also be made available to organizational management teams without requiring payment by individuals on the team. Intended outcomes by the project end include significant reductions in MorphoSource storage costs, larger scales of data mobilized by contributors due to lower storage costs, more data becoming public over time, and increased interest from various institutional entities in joining a community consortium to help sustain its vision and promise.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.