IOC-Sida-Flanders-SFRI Workshop on Ocean Data Management in the IOCINCWIO Region (ODINEA project)

Abstract

The IOC-Sida-Flanders-SFRI Workshop on Ocean Data Management in the IOCINCWIO Region was held in Capetown, South Africa, November 30 to December 11, 1998. It was the second workshop on ocean data management in this region within the framework of the ‘Ocean Data and Information Network for Eastern Africa’ (ODINEA) project, funded by IOC, Sida and Flanders. The workshop’s objectives were (i) to provide in-depth data management training; and (ii) to discuss progress made in the development of NODCs or DNAs during the past year, within the framework of the ODINEA project which is part of the IOC’s IODE programme. The Workshop was organized in cooperation with and kindly hosted by the Sea Fisheries Research Institute of South Africa, and was held in the excellent conference facilities of their seaside aquarium. We also wish to express our thanks to Dr Dave Pollock, Deputy Director: Environmental Research SFRI, and Dr Geoff Bailey, Assistant Director, SFRI for their assistance in the excellent arrangements. The Agenda for the workshop is contained in Annex I. The 1997 Workshop (Mombasa, Kenya) was designed to provide training on the fundamentals of PC operations with standard computer utilities and Microsoft programs (e.g. Excel, Access, and QuickBasic). The training sessions during the 1998 Workshop were designed to explore the further use of these programs and other programs for the in-depth quality control and analysis of data as well as to explore new technologies for data dissemination. The constant stream of new software for marine data analysis and management provides a rich field for this work, but the IOC training team has attempted to avoid providing too many unrelated programs in favor of a semi-integrated package of programs that interact with related databases. Selected databases and programs that fit in this scheme are provided for each session on a “class CD-ROM” so that every detail of the training agenda is portable and capable of being duplicated. The 1998 Workshop was also used as an occasion to review and possibly modify if necessary, the ODINEA workplan and budget for 1999 in order to ensure that the project responds to the (changing) needs of the newly established data centres in the IOCINCWIO region. More details are provided under 3.6