Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network

CIESIN's Information Cooperative

Overview

The Information Cooperative provides easy access to major data archives and resource centers that electronically share their catalog information (metadata) and actual data. It links well-established information centers and agencies from around the world, including the United Nations and many non-governmental organizations.

The centers and agencies that participate in the Information Cooperative are called "partners." Many Information Cooperative partners operate computer servers ("nodes") on the system that are used for several purposes. Chiefly, a node provides services for searching catalogs, browsing data, staging and archiving data, and as a platform for data analysis and information conditioning. Nodes are also being established among organizations within developing countries and nations with transitional economies to better share data of national interest. These nodes are described as Country Nodes.

Select Information Cooperative Partners for an interactive map and current list of partners. The map and the list provide links to the electronic Guides of the partner organizations. Select How to Become a Partner for more information on membership in the Information Cooperative.

Objectives

• to provide a framework for improving communication and cooperative efforts among organazations concerned with global change research and the environment;
• to promote electronic capabilities using common standards;
• to promote the sharing of resources to enhance global access to data and information; and
• to facilitate the worldwide exchange and integration of socioeconomic, natural, and social science data and information.

What resources and tools are available?

• CIESIN Gateway--The award-winning Gateway provides an easy-to-use interface for searching, viewing, browsing, or ordering data and information. The Gateway allows simultaneous searches of many different databases around the world. The Gateway uses CIESIN's metadata standards for identifying and describing these different datasets.

• Information Resources--An extensive library of information resources is available through this link. These resources include:
  Organizational Guides
  
  Country Guides
  
  Dataset Guides
  
  Thematic Guides, and
  
  A Policy Instruments Database

• Tools--CIESIN provides a number of digital search and analysis tools that facilitate user understanding of selected datasets. These tools allow exploration and interaction with the data before a decision is made to retrieve or order the selected dataset.

Tel: 1-517-797-2685
Fax: 1-517-797-2622

e-mail: vabreu@ciesin.org

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