ICAN Tech Team Member Roy Lowry receives IODE Achievement Award

Roy has made numerous contributions to IODE over the past 3 decades – beginning with the software to accompany General Format 3 (GF3) in the 1980s – an early attempt at interoperability! The (GF3) system was developed by IODE as a generalised formatting system for the exchange and archival of data within the international oceanographic community. The next stage of Roy's career was spent compiling integrated data sets from major multidisciplinary oceanographic field programmes for UK, European and international projects, including leading the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Data Management Task Team. This also included a lot of work on controlled vocabularies which has evolved into one of his main areas of interest and impact. In particular, over the last 10 years or so, he has focused on the development of semantic infrastructure both in terms of technical and content governance.

Roy is responsible for the semantic framework underpinning the EU SeaDataNet project (which includes IODE) and has also led the ontologies work package for the NETwork for MARine Environmental Data (NETMAR) project and the ICAN coastal erosion and water quality ontologies. One final area of Roy's influence which should be mentioned is his contribution to the emerging subject of data publication and citation, through his contribution to the workshops and case studies of the joint project established between SCOR, MBLWHOI and IODE to investigate this topic. One last comment: Roy is a person who likes to get things done – and done properly! And he is always happy to discuss areas of interest whether in a workshop or over some beers! ICAN would add its appreciation to the that of the IODE for Roy's tremendous achievements.

Liz O’Dea said “Roy has been a valuable contributor to the ICAN Technical Working Group since ICAN’s inception, sharing his knowledge and providing great insight.”
(Extensive excerpts were used from the presentation speech published on the IODE website www.iode.org which also has a video of the award presentation.)

Vol, 8, Nr 2 - Now Available!

We are now entering our 9th year publishing the ICAN newsletter. Many thanks to our Editor Andy Sherin!

Please consider preparing an article for the next newsletter that will likely be published in the spring of this year.

Happy New Year!

Photos from CoastGIS 2018

Our friends from CoastGIS 2018 have posted a wonderful gallery of photos, including the recent ICAN mini-workshop:

See how many ICAN members you can spot!