EarthCube Building Blocks Collaborative Proposal: Digital Crust ? An Exploratory Environment for Earth Science Research and Learning

该项目开发了数字地壳，这是一个在线工作空间，地球科学界可以在其中贡献数据和知识，可视化、探索、综合和测试跨越时空和主题的多种假设，并从多个数据中得出4D数据产品。该平台可以作为一个资源，将从事地球系统不同方面工作的地球科学家聚集在一起，将他们的数据/想法聚集在一起，并提供一个从不同角度观察地球的环境。对于地球科学教育工作者来说，这也将是一个“一站式商店”，让越来越多的人了解地球科学问题的多面性，并看到数据和知识差距，这些数据和知识差距是年轻人强大的动力(不是所有的问题都得到了解决？有一个我可以贡献的地方)。数字地壳平台原型将展示有可能改变地球科学家进行研究和学习的方式的技术，方法是(1)连接地球各方面的现有数据仓库--由地球科学所有学科、社区和个人创建的S地壳，(2)在任何给定的空间(Xy)和时间(T)创建多背景环境(例如，构造学、构造地质学、地层学、沉积学、地貌学、古生物学、考古学、矿物学、地球化学、土壤科学、水文学、陆地生态学)，用于综合型勘探、假设检验或学习，(3)允许为所有研究和学习应用程序进行多尺度(例如，露头到大陆)数据提取和下载，以及(4)暴露数据-知识差距，以确定最有回报的未来投资。托管多种数据类型，以及有时相互冲突的对地球过程的解释和假设，将促进社区对地球过程的讨论和辩论，这将促进科学家之间的互动、合作和数据/想法共享，否则他们可能永远不会相遇。从传播和信息的角度来看，数字地壳利用和连接现有的建筑单元，探索“松散模式”的应用，即NoSQL数据库，以实现地球科学研究数据库所需的灵活性，并利用模块化软件设计，促进平台的长期维护和发展。

This project develops the Digital Crust, an online workspace where the geosciences community can contribute data and knowledge, visualize, explore, synthesize and test multiple hypotheses across space-time and themes, and derive 4D data product from multiple data.The platform can serve as a resource to bring together geoscientists working on separate aspects of the Earth system, by bringing their data/ideas together and by providing an environment to view the Earth from different perspectives. It will also be a "one-stop shop" for Earth science educators to expose the growing minds to the multi-faceted nature of Earth science problems and to see data and knowledge gaps which are powerful motivators for the young (not all problems have been solved ? there is a place for me to contribute). The Digital Crust platform prototype will demonstrate technology that has the potential to transform the way geoscientists conduct research and learning, by (1) linking existing data repositories on all aspects of the Earth?s crust created by all disciplines of geosciences, communities as well as individuals, (2) creating a multi-context environment (e.g., tectonics, structural geology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, geomorphology, paleontology, archeology, mineralogy, geochemistry, soil science, hydrology, terrestrial ecology) at any given space (xyz) and time (t) for synthesis-type explorations, hypothesis-testing or learning, (3) allowing for multi-scale (e.g., outcrop to continent) data extractions and downloads for all research and learning applications, and (4) exposing data-knowledge gaps to identify the most rewarding future investments. Hosting multiple data types and sometimes conflicting interpretations and hypotheses of Earth processes will promote community discussion and debate on Earth processes that will foster interaction, collaboration, and data/idea sharing among scientists who might otherwise never have met. From the CI perspective, Digital Crust leverages and links with existing Building Blocks, explores the application of "loose-schema", noSQL databases to allow the flexibility necessary in a geoscience research database, and utilizes a modular software design to facilitate long-term maintenance and evolution of the platform.