At the Ocean Program of OEF, we are building the digital infrastructure needed to conserve 30% of the global ocean and address the environmental issues that adversely impact it. By doing so, we hope to expand marine conservation and outcome-based conservation finance on a global scale. Our efforts go beyond merely drafting a methodology for a Marine Biodiversity Unit. We are also testing it with open-source data from various sources and publicly sharing our work to aid those interested in applying this in another Marine Protected Area.

By doing this work, we know that data management, storage, and accessibility solutions are crucial components for us when dealing with large amounts of data and if we want to open it up. Here is a brief summary of each aspect and how we improved the way we work with Ocean Program data:

Data Management: Effective data management is the foundation of any successful data-driven organization. So, to capture, store, analyze, and utilize data effectively, we should apply good data management practices. At the beginning of the project, when we identified a useful database for our work, the data was curated and placed in Google Drive, easily accessible by our team members, but not by people outside the OEF site (manual request required).

Storage: It is important to have efficient storage solutions that provide our organization with the ability to store large amounts of data safely and cost-effectively. Also, we need solutions that can offer backup and recovery capabilities, ensuring that data is protected in the event of a disaster or other unforeseen event. With this in mind, we initially attempted to put all the necessary data for replicating our methodology on GitHub. However, some files were too large to upload. As a result, we moved the Ocean data to a public S3 bucket.

Accessibility: Data accessibility is a critical factor for any organization looking to leverage its data effectively. By providing easy access to Ocean’s data, we can have more contributors in our projects. Furthermore, using a public S3 bucket as our accessibility solution ensures that data is accessible to those who need it while maintaining data security and privacy.

In conclusion, data management, storage, and accessibility solutions give OEF and other organizations the necessary tools to effectively manage, securely store, and easily access their data. By leveraging these solutions, organizations and projects can gain valuable insights from their data, make data-driven decisions, and stay ahead of the competition.