SITE PLAN: EARTHCUBE.ORG & WORKSPACE PLATFORM

SITE PLAN:
EARTHCUBE.ORG &

October 23, 2013
Site Plan: EarthCube.org & Workspace Platform


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Site Plan: EarthCube.org & Workspace Platform


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As part of the EarthCube Test Enterprise Governance (ECTEG) award, a new EarthCube.org informational
website and workspace subdomain is being developed. The EarthCube.org workspace
(), which is separate from, but linked to the informational EarthCube.org site, is
the project development and group interaction component of the web environment. The site is being
developed to meet EarthCube’s goal of providing community-driven cyberinfrastructure to facilitate scientific
research.
Providing a workspace to project participants and interested members of the public accomplishes three goals: 1)
provides a location for EarthCube funded projects as well as special interest groups to form a knowledge hub
where they can conduct their activities; 2) provides a conduit for transparency in project development and
reporting; and 3) enables an integrated site experience for both group (workspace) and public participation.
The general requirements for this site plan were developed under NSF Award 1256235, PI G. Pearthree, and
document author E. Robinson in the spring of 2013. Analysis of the existing EarthCube.Ning.com site analytics
and a two-week-long public web assets survey (anonymous survey participants through Survey Monkey)
provided additional insights on functionality and user priorities. The general values associated with the
development of this site include: 1) a focus on transparency, 2) enabling collaboration, 3) simple navigation, 4)
clear and consistent messaging strategy for new community members, and 5) a central web-based hub for the
EarthCube community.

This document supports the development decisions regarding site requirements, content management system
selection, site structure, platform functionality, and overarching messaging strategy. The resulting site will
provide single sign-on authentication, a variety of project development tools including a calendar, events
descriptions, WebEx support, document editing and management, and consistent messaging between the public
site and workspace site.


BACKGROUND: PROCESS FOR DETERMINING INITIAL SITE
REQUIREMENTS

As a community led, nationwide effort, EarthCube must have a dynamic and functional website and platform for
facilitating virtual communications. Influencing each of the decision-making processes is the overarching goal of
EarthCube: to provide community driven cyberinfrastructure to facilitate scientific research. To enable this
vision, the revised EarthCube.org required three general functions:
1. Create a location for currently funded EarthCube related projects – as well as special interest groups – to
form a knowledge hub where these groups can conduct project activities
2. Provide a conduit for transparency in EarthCube project development and reporting
3. Enable an integrated site experience for both groups (workspace) and the general public.
Since the new site requires both a functional workspace for participants in EarthCube and an informational
component to attract future participation or general knowledge gathering, requirements for both sites have
been established.
Initial functionality of the EarthCube workspace site was determined by several means. These include a Web
Asset Requirements Document (Appendix 1) as a first-glance requirement through the EarthCube Governance
Framework Project, an EarthCube Online Platform Survey (Appendix 2), identification of content to be migrated
from the EarthCube Ning site, discussions with the ECTEG Community Engagement Team (led by Erin Robinson
[Foundation for Earth Science], accompanied by David Arctur [University of Texas at Austin] and Steve Diggs
[Scripps Institution of Oceanography]), discussions with the ECTEG Operational Management Group (a fourmember ECTEG advisory group), discussions with our in-house web development team (based at the Arizona
Geological Survey), Google Analytics on the EarthCube.Ning.com site, and input from other EarthCube awards
(Research Coordination Networks, Building Blocks, and Conceptual Designs Teams) regarding their immediate
need for a broad suite of services for communication and collaboration to carry out their work.

WEB ASSET REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT

The Web Asset Requirements document was compiled by Erin Robinson (Foundation for Earth Science) in April
2013 as part of her work on the Engaging the EarthCube Community to Inform EarthCube Governance award
(NSF Award 1256235). This document identifies key web platform requirements for EarthCube, based on
feedback from EarthCube end-user workshop participants, and from published research on best practices in
collaborative work spaces and virtual community engagement mechanisms.
Key findings are that the EarthCube.org workspace should be a set of web services, or platform, to “connect
distributed groups easily and non-intrusively and allow them to share and obtain information. The most critical
requirements are the first core services that create a minimal framework drawing the community in, but do not
over-specify the system. As the platform evolves with use and development, services will continue to emerge…
the platform will become ‘stickier’ or more useful and the whole community will move toward more and deeper
innovation.”1 Thus, Robinson argues that the EarthCube.org workspace should be:
1. The community hub for digital, dynamic content that is frequently updated.
2. A space that provides two-way communication between project participants (content creators and
users).
3. An open space – both in terms of transparency as well as inclusiveness to project participants.

1 Robinson, Erin, 2013, “EarthCube Web Asset Requirements Document,” unpublished.


4. Searchable – a crucial component to help people easily find content within the platform 2.
Potential characteristics and components brought forward by Robinson for the EarthCube workspace include:
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Low barrier to account creation by project participants
News/Community highlights
Mechanism to collect contact information
Clear EarthCube message and key documents
Notification mechanisms (RSS, email)
Discover, reuse, remix resources
Mobile accessible
Analytics
Shared calendar to publish events
Collaborative writing for event documentation – synchronous, asynchronous
Collaborative Group Coordination
Click to start a new sub-group with core services
Email integration (Forum/Listserv)
Collaborative writing – synchronous, asynchronous
User profiles that identify group members, expertise
Share resources – documents, data, videos, photos, presentations
Polling/Survey capabilities

Privacy settings3

Stakeholders identified by Robinson, and carried over to this requirements and specifications document,
include:
• Domain Scientist Users – individuals in the field who will benefit from the evolving cyberinfrastructure
• Computer Science and Information Technologists – individuals specializing and interested in the
development of distributed, collaborative, and effective human systems integration.
• Trainer – individuals responsible for training associated with the dynamic needs of the stakeholders 4
• Early Adopters – individuals that formulate approaches and coordination of cross-system testing
activities5
• Funders – existing NSF Program Officers that support the development and implementation of the
infrastructures as well as future funders, including the private sector, other federal agencies, and
foundations.
• Evaluators – individuals observing the system performance and providing mechanisms for feedback,
reflection, and evolution of the system.

EARTHCUBE ONLINE PLATFORM SURVEY
2 ibid
3 Ibid
4 This document identifies “Trainers” in the “Community Manager” and Engagement functions.
5 This document identifies “Early Adopters” as the EarthCube Portfolio.


The second component in determining initial EarthCube.org workspace functionality, the EarthCube Online
Platform Survey, was conducted between September 23 and October 10, 2013 and had 84 respondents from
within the EarthCube community – 1,800 – or approximately 4.6% response rate. The survey consisted of 15
questions and was designed to assess utility of the earthcube.ning.com site and invite feedback on potential
features to be included in a new EarthCube online workspace. The results of the survey (see Appendix 2)
demonstrated that users value the following components for a new EarthCube workspace:
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Improved, shareable calendar function
Clean design and navigation
Central document repository with metadata catalog
Meeting facilitation (event registration, access to a Webex account)
Promotion of shared document editing
The desire to access the website via a laptop or computer system rather than a mobile device

FUNCTIONALITY AND CONTENT FROM THE EARTHCUBE NING SITE

Due to the quick spin-up time for EarthCube prior to the first Charrette, a pre-existing web platform was
required that would allow participants to follow ongoing activities and communicate as a community or distinct
groups. The Ning platform was selected as it provided the ability to host forums, share photos, list events,
create a large number of Groups, have customizable member profiles, and provide for common social
networking connectivity (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.). While Ning does provide a set of features
seemingly complimentary to the requirements outlined in this document, the limited structural editing
capabilities, minimal repository capabilities, and proprietary nature of the source code (which therefore requires
monthly maintenance fees) does not encourage long-term use of the proprietary site. Thus, functionality that is
currently appreciated by the community – the groups and profile functions – will be expanded upon on the new
platform.

INPUT FROM ECTEG TEAMS

As part of the Secretariat, or the primary operations hub of the EarthCube Test Enterprise Governance project, a
collection of sites were suggested for review and inclusion of key functionality. These included:

1. Earth System COG – a web environment that enables users to create project workspaces, connect
projects into networks, share and consolidate information with those networks, and seamlessly link to
tools for data archival, reformatting and search, data visualization, and metadata collection and display.
Functionality such as project metadata and project workspaces are requirements of the EarthCube.org
site.
2. EarthCube Member Connections – an EarthCube Concept Award, the Member Connections site acts as a
research coordinator for EarthCube members. The “Facebook for Researchers” is designed to help
researchers identify potential collaborators from their field, complimentary fields, or early career or
post-doctoral fellows. Integration of the Member Connections site with the EarthCube.org member
profile is a requirement of the new site.
3. Basecamp – a web-based platform for project management, task tracking, and organizing teams, this
site was suggested due to its capability to coordinate among a distributed team. While the functionality
is an asset, the proprietary nature, closed source code, and maintenance costs provide many of the
same unfavorable characteristics of the Ning site.


INPUT FROM OTHER EARTHCUBE AWARDS

To ensure that the new workspace is functional for the EarthCube Awards (also referred to as the other funded
projects), we specifically conducted outreach to the other awardees for feedback on their specific needs. This
included requests for participation in the Online Platform Survey, one-on-one conversations with the award PIs,
and email communications with the award PIs.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS ON EARTHCUBE NING SITE

Google Analytics were instituted on the Ning site since early 2012. Findings from the analytics show that pages
highlighting activities and events are the most popular pages on the existing Ning site. In addition, the Analytics
showed that a high number of users found or accessed the Ning site via the Twitter feed. Finally, Analytics
indicated that a higher number of users were accessing the site using the Safari browser than either Firefox or
Internet Explorer. While most Drupal development is browser neutral, the knowledge that Safari is such a high

percentage of our user group requires us to ensure testing in the four major internet browsers.

PLATFORM SELECTION

Based on the initial web functionality requirements detailed above, we selected Drupal as the content
management system and web development tool for the EarthCube.org informational site and workspace. Drupal
is a robust user-driven community, currently functioning in its 7 th version with numerous high-profile users, such
as WhiteHouse.gov, The Economist, and The Examiner, and thus maintains the spirit of collaborative work and
sharing, as Drupal is free and open source.
Due to our tight time constraints (approximately 1.5 months for requirements gathering and building), we
reviewed a series of Drupal Installations, including Drupal’s Open Atrium and Drupal Commons (both for Drupal
7), which are pre-configured themes and modules for feature-rich websites and are developed specifically to
foster group collaboration environments. The Installations are configurable for future development and thus
provide a robust starting point from which to begin our initial EarthCube.org workspace development.
Because we have additional project management requirements for the EarthCube Test Enterprise Governance
award (discussed on page 9), we selected Open Atrium as the preferred Installation. The following Open Atrium
features influenced our decision to go with that platform:
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Open Atrium includes critical out-of-the-box features required by the EarthCube community, including calendars
and group workspaces, thereby maximizing our time and labor resources.
Simpler navigation of hierarchical spaces than Drupal Commons.
Cleaner User Interface than Drupal Commons.
More robust external development community than Drupal Commons, meaning that it will be easier to
troubleshoot and there will be easier access to information about capabilities and features than Drupal
Commons.

SITE STRUCTURE

Using the stakeholder communities identified by Robinson and outlined in the Background section of this
document, we further refined users to:
1. Community Engagement and Project Administrators – individuals responsible for conducting community
engagement activities which will require them to have additional rights and privileges on the site.
2. Community Members of the EarthCube Awards – individuals that have project and development
functions specifically for EarthCube (are members of the EarthCube awards).


3. Community Members from the Public – individuals interested in tracking the progress of EarthCube and
participating in one of the existing groups, or creating a special interest group.
4. Funders – individuals associated with existing and future funding opportunities.
5. Evaluators – individuals associated with providing the feedback mechanisms for Governance and
Community Engagement.
6. General Public – individuals simply interested in learning about EarthCube in its current state.
Each of these user groups will have access to the informational site at EarthCube.org. In addition, users in
groups 1-5 will have access to the workspace at workspace.EarthCube.org.

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Users will connect with each other via working group spaces in the general workspace. The structure of these
online group spaces is designed to mimic the structure of the groups actively carrying out work on the
EarthCube project. As such, the online groups will fall into these categories, at least initially:
Test Enterprise Governance
Secretariat
Evaluation Team
IT Team
Operations Center
Operational Management Group
Community Engagement Team
Assembly Development Team
Assembly Groups

Advisory Committee
RCNs
C4P: Collaboration and CI
Earth-centered Communication for CI
Sediment Experimentalist Network (SEN)
Building Blocks
Deploying Web Services across Multiple Domains
Cognitive Computer Infrastructure
Integrating Discrete and Continuous Data
A Broker Framework for Next-gen Geoscience
Earth System Bridge
CINERGI
Software Stewardship for the Geosciences
ODSIP
Collaborative research: Leveraging Semantics and Crowdsourcing
Conceptual Designs
Enterprise architecture for research and collaboration
Data-oriented human-centric enterprise architecture
Interest Groups (Miscellaneous organic groups)


FIGURE : DEMONSTRATES THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN SPACES, SUBSPACES, AND GROUPS IN DRUPAL OPEN ATRIUM
The End Users and Developers categories will initially consist of migrating groups that are still active on the Ning
site (active in the past six months) but are not part of a currently funded EarthCube award. Users will also have
the ability to request and create groups as needs arise.
Workspaces are designed to provide groups the ability to have a working site which then pushes drafts or
completed documents, specifications, requests for participation, or calendar events to the public. Transparency
of the projects is key; however, we also recognize that products in development may require some sensitivity to
minimize misinterpretation during the development phase; thus the need for semi-private workspaces.

WEB PLATFORM FUNCTIONALITY
This section details the specific website functions identified for and by our stakeholder community.

LOGIN CAPABILITIES
A frustration of individuals using the web for information access is the requirement of a different username and
password to access information on different websites. Thus, to simplify user login, minimize password fatigue,
and minimize the need for help-desk situations for password/username updates, we are implementing a Single
Sign-On (SSO) capability on the Workspace site. This means that users with an existing account at one of the
popular user accounts such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, etc. can use that sign-on to access their profile on the
EarthCube.org site.
In addition, to maximize user participation in the existing Member Connections site, we are implementing a data
feed that will directly populate the Member Connections profile of those with EarthCube profiles; thus
minimizing the need to update multiple profiles.


USER PROFILES

A critical component to the Ning site and also the new EarthCube.org site is the ability to have “participants” or
user profiles. The users include EarthCube stakeholders, project teams, potential end-users, broad science
communities, and general interested participants. As discussed above, to improve simplicity, a SSO is in place
for the EarthCube.org site. EarthCube.org is fortunate to have more than 1,800 user profiles accessible through
the existing Ning site and subsequent Member Connections application. Our goal is to minimize the existing
EarthCube community’s need to recreate or repopulate their profile. Returning users will be required to create
a new login as we do not have the capability of transferring usernames and passwords; however, their profile
should import seamlessly to the new site.

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New EarthCube users signing up for an account will see the following fields (* = Required). This same
information will automatically populate a corresponding Member Connections profile.
Name*
Email*
Country
Primary Affiliation*
Secondary Affiliation (currently “department” on Member Connections)
Type of Affiliation (e.g. Federal Government, Research Center or Institute, Private Sector, etc.)
Primary Domain* (One selection. Parent menu: Atmospheric and GeoSpace Science, Solid Earth Sciences,
Oceanography, Biology, Cyber/Computer Sciences, and Other. Each of the parent menu options hosts a variety
of child menu options. Examples of child menu options for Solid Earth Sciences: Geochemistry, Geology [land],
Geology [marine], Geochronology, Geomorphology, etc.)
Secondary Domain (Multiple-selection capabilities. Parent/Child menu options are the same as for Primary
Domain)

About/Research Interests (fillable text box)
Academic/research link (homepage or blog)
Photo (photo URL)
Professional Society Membership (new) (auto-fill text box)
Github link (new)
LinkedIn Profile Page link (new)
Blog link (new)
Other URL (new)
Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID, for use to promote further linking of researchers and publications)
Specialty Groups (workshop organizers and participants)

USER PERMISSIONS
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Users will have different permissions on the site based on their role in the project. These permissions will fall
into three categories: Administrators, general users, and observers. Permissions will be divided as follows:
Administrators: (Corresponding to stakeholder groups 1 and 2)
Master admins (Site Developers)
Admins (ECTEG Web Assets & Community Engagement Leads)
Group admins (Administrators for the EarthCube Awards groups and special interest groups)
Can accept members, appoint other admins, choose group workspace functions, and manage content.
Group Administrator assignments:

Organic groups: group creator is default admin
NSF Funded groups (other than Governance): PI is default admin
Assembly Groups: Advisory Council members are default admins


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General users (have a login): (Corresponding to stakeholder Group 3)
Can request groups and can become the group admin
Can create content and modify editable content in any group workspace they belong to
Observers (do not have a login): (Corresponding to stakeholder Group 6)
● Can view all content, but cannot edit or upload.
Workspace Groups Current EarthCube Award project teams will automatically have access to a group within the
workspace.EarthCube.org site. Functionality for these groups include:
Group-level calendars, – intended for groups to have a centralized project planning calendar where they can
track internal calls and deadlines. Also included is the ability to post events to the EarthCube.org informational
site Calendar
Events – intended for groups to have a location for planning project specific events, like project kick-off
meetings, with the ability to make events “Public” on the EarthCube.org Events page if necessary

Assigned tasks – the ability to assign and track tasks within the project workspace
Forums – the ability to have discussion forums for the project groups as well as a public forum for public
participation
Document upload and editing (basic file extensions—DOC, PPT, XLS, PDF, JPG, FLV, etc.) – for documents
currently in process. Also included will be a location for linking to editable Google Docs
Photos – for sharing group photos
The base functionalities of each group workspace can be customized by the assigned administrator.

USER-CREATED GROUPS

New users and users not currently associated with an EarthCube Award will be able to create new group
workspaces via a simple series of steps. This workspace and its forum will be modeled after the EarthCube
Award group spaces. Creation of the group will require a moderator approval, similar to the Ning site.

COMMUNICATION CAPABILITIES
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All users will be able to send and receive messages, subscribe to community newsletters, and participate in
forums. All forums will feature an optional Listserv integration and will exist at three levels:
Group level workspace forums (e.g. Operations Center, CINERGI)
Space-level forums (e.g. Governance, RCNs)
A general, EarthCube-wide forum

EVENTS/CALENDARS

Calendars are available at the group level (e.g. Operations Center, CINERGI), the space level (e.g. Governance,
RCNs), and in the form of a single, EarthCube-wide general calendar. Users adding an event at the group level
will have the option to extend it to the larger calendars with admin approval. Event listings include an iCal

feature allowing the user to easily sync any event with a personal calendar (e.g. Google, Outlook).
Basic event registration capabilities will also be made available to group workspace participants (including
EarthCube award groups and organic interest groups), as well as access to EarthCube’s Webex account
information and tutorials.


DOCUMENTS

Users can to create and upload new documents, edit and comment on drafts, and search a central, EarthCubewide repository of finalized documents.
New documents are added by users to a group workspace via upload or text field. Those users will have the
option of designating a document as a draft, editable by other group members, or as a finalized version that is
not editable but will remain open to comments. Once finalized, the document can be uploaded to the
EarthCube-wide file repository.

FILE REPOSITORY

A central file repository will be publicly accessible and will support a range of common file types. Users will be
able to search by descriptive keywords, date, group, file type, and document type (e.g. charter, minutes, etc.).
Initially a Drupal based file repository with Dublin Core metadata will be implemented. However, in maintaining
and continuing the vision of EarthCube and to enable long-term preservation of digital assets, we are
researching a more robust data management platform for EarthCube such as a Fedora Repository or DSpace
Repository; both are free and open source software installations.
A GitHub code repository is also available for NSF-funded technical components (Building Blocks, Conceptual
Designs, RCNs, and Governance). Users are also encouraged to submit personal GitHub links on their profile
page for collaboration and coordination under the EarthCube Repository ( />
CONNECTIONS TO OTHER PROJECTS
Users will have access to a searchable index of cyberinfrastructure initiatives related to EarthCube. This work is
taking place under the CINERGI Building Block proposal. This document will be updated once further
collaboration takes place and a work plan for implementation is available.

EARTHCUBE API
To truly achieve EarthCube’s goals of community-guided cyberinfrastructure, an emphasis on free and open
source software development, as well as the development of web assets associated with EarthCube.org, is
required. Thus, availability to the EarthCube API will be encouraged which permits “unintended, serendipitous
developments to [be] contributed to the richness of the EarthCube ecosystem.” 6 EarthCube.org will feature RSS
capabilities for dynamic content and other standard API interfaces for the Computer Science (or other)
stakeholders interested in extending the EarthCube.org platform to their group or community. 7

INTEGRATION WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
EarthCube will be integrating its web presence with Facebook, Twitter, SlideShare, YouTube, and LinkedIn social
media outlets. Common messaging will be employed across all platforms for a cohesive feel, and regular content
will promote events, prompt online discussion, and direct users toward interaction with the EarthCube website.
A comprehensive Community Engagement, Crowdsource, and Social Media plan is in development.

6 Robinson, Erin, 2013, “EarthCube Web Asset Requirements Document,” unpublished.
7 Ibid


PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES

As the operations center for EarthCube Test Enterprise Governance, we are providing basic project management
functionality immediately to the ECTEG Operations Center (housed at the Arizona Geological Survey) which
includes the ability for project subaward recipients to upload invoices, submit reports, and other materials
related to project administration. This functionality is only accessible to members of the Operations Center
responsible for the fiscal and reporting functions.

DESIGN AND MESSAGING
To ensure cohesive and consistent messaging in all public forums, the last section of this document discusses the
selection process associated with developing that cohesion.

WEBSITE
The site will have two distinct sections, with an informational portal (earthcube.org) leading to the EarthCube
workspace (workspace.earthcube.org). The landing page at Earthcube.org will be geared toward those new to
EarthCube in general, and will provide clear messaging addressing EarthCube’s vision, mission, and goals. This
page will also provide information to interested visitors on how to get involved in the EarthCube project, and will
prominently feature a link directing users to enter or join the workspace site.
The landing page at workspace.earthcube.org will feature information for new users on how to create an
account and begin utilizing the site. It will also feature information for returning users, including a menu of
groups and spaces, and recent site activity (uploaded events and docs, assigned tasks, etc.).

REVISED EARTHCUBE LOGO
Parallel to the development of the new web spaces, a new EarthCube logo was developed in-house at AZGS. This
logo will be used on all EarthCube messaging and be featured prominently on the new web spaces. This logo was
developed based on the following criteria:
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Is a natural extension of the existing EarthCube graphic
Targeted to Earth, Atmo and Ocean domains
Is monochrome or close to it, to simplify the printing process
Is easily readable and looks good in black and white
Has a short tagline that can be hidden or changed as EarthCube progresses
Is simple enough in design to allow an easily resizable vector file format
Can be easily screened, embroidered, embossed, or engraved

USE CASES
User Stories and Use Cases (See Appendix 3) are employed throughout the development of the site. Prior to site
build, Test Governance project coordinators compiled several casual first-person accounts (“User Stories”) of
basic needs as project team users. EarthCube-specific Use Cases were then created to consider multiple user
perspectives with the core categories of participation level, task complexity, case actors, and primary goal.
Multiple levels of interaction were specified to assist in establishing permissions structures that enable crossfunctional interaction: Individual, Group, Cross-group, and EarthCube-wide.


APPENDIX 1: EARTHCUBE WEB ASSET REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT

Purpose
The purpose of this document is to identify key requirements for the EarthCube web assets. The results from this exercise
will be prioritized using a Web Requirements Priority Index.

Completed By: Erin Robinson, EarthCube Community Engagement Team, April 2013

1. EARTHCUBE WEB ASSET OVERVIEW
This document is to inform the EarthCube Test Enterprise Governance group on implementation of the next phase of the
Earthcube.org web platform. The term website is not used because it is our view that the EarthCube community needs a
web platform, a set of services that can be thought of as planks, to enable communication, coordination and cooperation
both for human and machine interaction across a wide variety of stakeholders (Simon, 2011). The platform is an ecosystem
that scales quickly and doesn’t require all development to go through a single channel. Instead development can come from
both the core team as well as the community edges.

1.1 EARTHCUBE COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS
The EarthCube web platform’s primary purpose is to support a community that is actively developing and using the
EarthCube infrastructure. This community is made up of a variety of stakeholders. These stakeholders are described in the
system’s literature to include:

1. Domain Scientist Users. People in the field who benefit from evolving cyberinfrastructure.

2. Computer Sci/ Information Technologist. Development distributed, collaborative. Effective
human systems integration is critical.
3. Trainer. Training to be evolving dynamic needs of sets of stakeholders.
4. Early Adopter. Formulates approach, coordination of cross system testing activities.
5. Community Manager. Coordination across multiple sustainment organizations is needed
6. Funder. Supports the development and implementation of the infrastructure.
7. Evaluator. Observing the system performance and providing mechanisms for feedback,
reflection and evolution of the system.

At a high level, the EarthCube platform should connect distributed groups easily and non-intrusively and allow them to
share and obtain information. The most critical requirements are the first core services that create a minimal framework
drawing the community in, but do not over-specify the system.

Appendix 1: EarthCube Web Asset Requirements Document

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As the platform evolves with use and development, services will continue to emerge in the EarthCube platform ecosystem,
the platform will become “stickier” or more useful and the whole community will move toward more and deeper
innovation.

1.2 WEB ASSET COMPONENTS
The EarthCube platform will include a home base, where we concentrate most efforts and outposts,
such as social media sites that make it easier for the community to find things (Fig.1).

Fig. 1 EarthCube Asset with extensions to potential hubs. Image Source: />
The home base is the home for EarthCube digital content. It should be clear on the EarthCube mission
and vision and should allow for (Dreyer, 2011):
- Frequent updates

- Two-way communication
- Openness
- Searchability
- Shareability

Appendix 1: EarthCube Web Asset Requirements Document

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Outposts increase the surface area or reach of EarthCube content. Outposts are the EarthCube
community is already interacting online. A few examples are Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

1.3 WEB ASSET REQUIREMENTS
In order to support this diverse community, there needs to be a mix of official and unofficial, public and private, home base
and outpost. Beyond these general requirements, the design team should consider a user-centric approach using the valueadded model (Taylor, 1986; Scholl, 2011).
The value-added model identifies six user criteria of choice:
- Ease of use: Elements that reduce difficulty using the system

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Low barrier to entry for participation and contribution

- Noise reduction: Intentional use of information to help user accomplish his/her goals.

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Tagging or classification of objects

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What’s new section

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Pointers to additional information

- Quality: Elements that build system reputation, fit-for-use and truthfulness in labeling.

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2-Way communication that allows for comprehensiveness and completeness of the site.

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Endorsement from NSF that this site is the authority for EarthCube information

- Adaptability: Responsiveness of the system to users’ unique problems.

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Include API to system to allow for modular, need-specific community development

-

Embrace ecosystem approach. Collaborating and partnering where it makes sense.

-

Allow users to subscribe and read RSS Feeds

-

Analytics to monitor site usage and behavior

- Performance: The amount of useful work accomplished by computer compared to time and resources used.

-

Where possible use existing, off-the-shelf services to reduce development time and cost

-

Collecting relevant resources/sharing lessons learned to reduce user time/cost.

- Affection: The extent that the user is pleased using the system.

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2. WEB ASSET COMPONENTS
The platform will have a home base or hub component where the work of the EarthCube community is primarily done. The
platform will also have planks or additional services developed by the community that extend this home base. Finally, the
platform will have extensions into social media outposts in order to extend EarthCube content to a broader audience.

2.1 EARTHCUBE HOME BASE
The home base is the community hub for digital content. It is important that the home base (1) offer
dynamic content that is frequently updated, (2) two-way communication between content creators

and users as well as between EarthCube-centric and adjacent community-relevant content (3)
openness – both in terms of transparency in development process as well as inclusiveness to newcomers (4) searchability, a crucial component that helps people find material easily within the platform
and (5) shareability, the process that community members can push EarthCube content to a wider
audience through their social network.
Currently, the homebase is the EarthCube Ning site. While the site offers some key functionality of a
social network, the EarthCube community stakeholders require a broader suite of services for
communication, cooperation and collaboration.

2.2 EARTHCUBE OUTPOSTS
EarthCube outposts are places where stakeholders are already interacting online. EarthCube has an
official presence on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. On Twitter we also have an unofficial
presence through the #EarthCube hashtag. The hashtag allows the larger EarthCube community to tag
relevant tweets.

2.3 EARTHCUBE API
In order for the EarthCube platform to grow and thrive, there needs to be hooks that allow for the
content to be embedded other places. The EarthCube API allows for unintended, serendipitous
developments to contribute to the richness of the EarthCube ecosystem. The EarthCube platform
should have RSS feeds available for dynamic content and should offer other standard API interfaces for
those that want to extend the EarthCube platform to their own group or community.

3. EARTHCUBE STAKEHOLDER DESCRIPTION AND NEEDS
The EarthCube Community is distributed and complex. This community is made up of a variety of
stakeholders. These stakeholders are described in the system’s literature to include:

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1. Domain Scientist Users. People in the field who benefit from evolving infrastructure in
response to dynamic needs.
2. Computer Sci/ Information Technologist. Development distributed, collaborative. Effective
human systems integration is critical.
3. Trainer. Training to be evolving dynamic needs of sets of stakeholders.
4. Early Adopter. Formulates approach, coordination of cross system testing activities.
5. Community Administrator. Coordination across multiple sustainment organizations is needed
6. Funder. Supports the development and implementation of the infrastructure.
7. Evaluator. Observing the system performance and providing mechanism for…?
Domain Scientist Users are those that will leverage the EarthCube infrastructure for science
applications. These users are not interested in actively building the system. The web platform should
support:
- Gathering needs or requirements to drive development
- Relevant tutorials and information about useful tools
The Computer Scientist or Information Technologists are cyberinfrastructure developers that are
building the system. There are a variety of components that need to fit together through standard,
service-oriented architecture. The web platform should support:
- Forum for sharing tech issues
- Status of system development, key milestones
The Trainer is someone that is introducing the system to user groups. In the EarthCube community the
trainer should be familiar with utilizing the web platform and should modify training in order to best
engage the community. The web platform should support:
- Help documents
- Tutorials and education content
- Sandbox
Early Adopters are the subset of the community that is willing to go out front. The web platform should
support:
- Showcase or gallery of new things
- Idea submission
- Reputation building or incentivized participation

Appendix 1: EarthCube Web Asset Requirements Document

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Community Administrator is the operational manager of the EarthCube platform. This user will be
providing moderation and scheduling content. This person or set of people would maintain the
EarthCube accounts at other outposts. The web platform should support:
- Analytics on usage
- Easy ability to add content
- Social media integration
Funders are those that are representing funding agencies. They may not actively utilize the site,
however they provide guidance on direction and goals of project.
Evaluators will monitor the success or failure of the EarthCube project. This group is documenting the
process. The web platform should support:
- Passive evaluation through analytics
- Active evaluation through survey as well as community member interviews

4. WEB ASSET REQUIREMENTS BY FUNCTION
Requirements were gathered for this document by observing the components of currently implemented EarthCuberelevant sites such as, the Ning site, EarthCube workshop sites and other community sites developed and maintained by the
EarthCube Community Engagement team8. Beyond requirements already implemented, we harvested comments from the
community. This document is not meant to constrain the eventual implementation.
In this section, we document requirements laid out by stakeholder type above by “function”. This document is living and
provides a framework and mechanism for evaluating requirements in terms of objectives to inform development.

4.1 FIND EARTHCUBE - OUTREACH AND INFORMATION
General outreach and information is meant as the ability to find key introductory material about EarthCube. This
can be thought of as the landing page requirements.

1. Low barrier to account creation
2. News/Community highlights
3. Mechanism to collect contact information
4. Clear EarthCube message and key documents
5. Notification mechanisms (RSS, email)
6. Discover, reuse, remix resources

8 EarthCube Website Requirements Spreadsheet: />key=0ArDAFB2BsbfRdHp6S2FWaDFzM0VwVDgwbmlMR2x2ZUE#gid=0

Appendix 1: EarthCube Web Asset Requirements Document

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7. Mobile accessible
8. Social Media connections
9. Analytics

4.2 ACCESS EARTHCUBE - EVENT PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION
Events include both virtual like webinars and team meetings as well as in-person events like, workshops,
conferences.

1. Shared calendar to publish events
2. Collaborative writing for event documentation – synchronous, asynchronous
3. Social media connections

4.3 USE EARTHCUBE
Collaborative Group Coordination. EarthCube is an umbrella for many sub-groups that all need space to connect,
define specific governance and produce new products or insights.

1. Click to start a new sub-group with core services
2. Email integration (Forum/List-serv)
3. Collaborative writing – synchronous, asynchronous
4. User profiles that identify group members, expertise
5. Share resources – documents, data, videos, photos, presentations
6. Polling/Survey capabilities
7. Privacy Settings

5. SUGGESTED PRIORITIZATION PROCESS AND INITIAL PRIORITIZATION
It is suggested that the development team go through some process of prioritization.

5.1 PRIORITIZATION CRITERIA
One method could include using a web platform requirement index that has three dimensions: Asset Function, Stakeholder
Value and Feasibility. These three criteria include several variables under each dimension with weighted values:
Function:

-

Find EarthCube Content

-

Access EarthCube

-

Use EarthCube

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Stakeholder Value:

-

Domain Scientist

-

Cyberinfrastructure Expert

-

Supporting – Evaluation, Funders, Trainers, Administrator

Feasibility:

-

Technical risk: How much risk does this requirement introduce?

-

Ease of Implementation: How easy will it be to implement?

-

Skills & Resources: Do we need to do this to stay up with our community.

5.2 INITIAL RESULTS
The chart and table below show this methodology for a few of the suggested web platform requirements.

Appendix 1: EarthCube Web Asset Requirements Document

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6. CONCLUSION
This web requirements document is meant as a guide, but not to be prescriptive. Clearly, there are competing needs and
priorities so this document has laid out a prioritization framework for classifying the needs of a variety of users and
potential functions. The group should start simply with needs that support most stakeholders and expand as it becomes
evident that the community needs are unsupported with the current methods. The EarthCube web platform should
experiment with new methods evolve with the same agile development methods of the larger EarthCube infrastructure. In
order to understand if the platform is being utilized effectively the metrics mentioned in this document should be tested
and expended on. Finally, the technological requirements are only a small part of the online presence. The EarthCube
platform will need to invest in strong facilitators and content creators in order to drive the progress of the larger EarthCube
initiative forward.

7. RESOURCES & REFERENCES
Dreyer, Lindy, and Maddie Grant. Open Community. Omnipress, 2011.
Kanter, Beth, and Allison Fine. The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with social media to drive
change. Jossey-Bass, 2010.
Kanter, Beth, and Katie Delahaye Paine. Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to
Change the World. Jossey-Bass, 2012.

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Scholl, Hans J., et al. "The TEDS framework for assessing information systems from a human
actors' perspective: Extending and repurposing Taylor's Value-Added Model." Journal of the
American Society for Information Science and Technology 62.4 (2011): 789-804.
Simon, Phil. The age of the platform: how Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have
redefined business. Motion Publishing, 2011.
Taylor, Robert S., and Melvin J. Voigt. Value added processes in information systems.
Greenwood Publishing Group Inc., 1986.

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APPENDIX 2: EARTHCUBE ONLINE PLATFORM SURVEY

Q1

Appendix 2: EarthCube Online Platform Survey

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Q2

Appendix 2: EarthCube Online Platform Survey

25