GeoPRISMS Community Projects


Community Projects

GeoPRISMS Community Projects

The designation “GeoPRISMS Community Projects” referred to projects with potential widespread benefits to a large group of researchers, in particular through data access and sharing, broad dissemination of results, etc. To be designated as a GeoPRISMS Community Project, the project had to be fundamental for community science to move forward and the results to benefit a large GeoPRISMS user group. The concept of the project should were identified and prioritized with broad consensus at an open community workshop or meeting and outlined, motivated, and justified within a community planning document, e.g., the GeoPRISMS Science or Implementation Plan. The GeoPRISMS Steering and Oversight Committee (GSOC) often provided advice and guidance to proponents of proposed community projects, helping to assess if the project was fundamental to the goals of the GeoPRISMS Program.

All designated GeoPRISMS Community Projects had to offer the opportunity for members of the community to contribute to and participate in the project, and to contribute to on-line discussions during the planning stages. The data generated as a result of the community project are openly available to members of the community, and archived accordingly. Updates, reports, announcements and opportunities associated with the community project, as well as data availability, were provided regularly, and broadly communicated to the GeoPRISMS community through the GeoPRISMS listserv and other means. Given the impact of funding such community projects on limited GeoPRISMS resources, all community proposals were evaluated in the context of other timely proposals. i.e., submitted and reviewed through the regular GeoPRISMS solicitation. Requests to be allowed to submit a community proposal outside of the usual GeoPRISMS solicitation, due to extenuating circumstances, were to be made to the GSOC, accompanied by reasonable justification and documentation with GSOC endorsement for the proposal to go forward.

Protocol for GeoPRISMS Community Projects:

  • Proponents were encouraged to submit a community project concept to GSOC for feedback prior to proposal submission, with appropriate justification. Feedback and guidance from the GSOC was provided regarding the relevance of the project to GeoPRISMS research priorities.
  • Community proposals had to fund data acquisition and initial processing, and related activities. Scientific analysis of these data had to be supported by proposals submitted to NSF by PIs within the larger GeoPRISMS community.
  • The proposal (and project concept) had to outline a clear data management plan, including data acquisition, processing, formats, release, and community access.
  • Proposals had to be submitted to the regular GeoPRISMS solicitation, unless the need for an out-of-cycle proposal was strongly justified. Such requests had to be endorsed by the GSOC.
  • The GeoPRISMS Office resources were made available to facilitate project planning, coordination, and communications, e.g., to publicize, solicit input, disseminate results and reports, opportunities to participate, etc.

Other Resources for Community Project Planning:

  • Access to modest funds to help organize and plan a community project, e.g., to hold small workshops. Requests for such planning activities had to be made to the GeoPRISMS Office, and were considered in the context of the available office budget.