Data in the Atlas of Living Australia is used by over 45,000 users to better understand the environment in areas such as biodiversity, conservation, biosecurity and agriculture.

High quality, well annotated and well described data is essential for the community to undertake meaningful research and to inform decision-making. We are continually working on ways to improve how users access data and have prioritised the Data Quality Project in 2020 to respond to feedback from ALA stakeholders and user groups.

The project includes communications and engagement activities; software development; and data management activities. 

PROJECT DIARY
Thursday 11 February 2021

We have just released new data filter features to improve the way you search and filter data in the ALA. There is now a default data filter in place that excludes lower quality records. You can pre-filter your search results using a suite of other data filters. To learn more, read Getting started with the data profiles.
Monday 8 February 2021

The Data profiles functionality has been available for beta testing since November.  Since the start of the testing, more than 450 new and returning users have interacted with the beta environment over nearly 1000 sessions. Two emails have been received to the data_quality@ala.org.au email with questions and some feedback on the details of the profiles.

The Data profiles functionality has been demonstrated to the data quality reference group, CSIRO National Collections and Marine Infrastructure, the natural history collections community, government agencies and some small groups. Feedback from demonstrations has been very positive, including suggestions for additional capabilities such as a personal data profile.

Please provide any feedback to dataquality@ala.org.au

To learn more about the new data filter features, start here: Getting started with the data profiles

The data profiles functionality will be released to production this week.
Monday 23 November, 2020

The Data quality project team has been busily working over the last few months to finalise development of the data profiles capability, run usability testing and run performance testing to prepare for the current round of open beta testing. The filters can be seen in a new Data Profile section above the search results.

The functionality enables users to switch filters on or off and manage them as a group or individually. Information is available on the fields and data that make up the filters through mouse-over text and clickable info icons (i). 

Join the beta test of the Data profiles here: https://biocache-dq-beta.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=

Please provide any feedback to dataquality@ala.org.au

To learn more about the new data filter features, start here: Getting started with the data profiles
Tuesday 4 August, 2020

Following some further functionality development and system architecture revisions the Data Quality filters functionality is nearly ready for a production release.  We are in the process of setting up the pre-production environment for performance testing and will also undertake some one on one usability testing prior to release.  For now the test environment is available at the usual URL (https://biocache-dq-test.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=*%3A*#tab_mapView) and any feedback is always appreciated.
 
The following changes have been made recently:
 
Full metadata for assertions and fields used in the DQ filters
Filter profiles for a default view, the CSDM program and open licensed data
Updates to Downloads to include the filters
Wednesday 6 May, 2020

As the first software developed for the ALA data quality project, the team has developed a data filtering framework to be initially applied to all queries.  If you would like to test and provide feedback on the software please see the test plan here: https://www.ala.org.au/app/uploads/2020/05/Beta-Test-Plan-DQ-filters.pdf for information and links to the functionality.  The test environment is here: https://biocache-dq-test.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=*%3A* and testing comments can be provided via a form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd2UWZJUb9jSQQTzg3V8I0JsopM0H2gO_bINYvudt74gUcYlw/viewform or an email.
 
The functionality is intended to address the following issues:
 
– I don’t know whether to use particular records or data sets for my purpose
– Users of the ALA are using data accessed via the ALA without filtering out records that are not fit for purpose.
– Users that do not know to filter data are using low quality records along with high quality records
– I don’t know whether to use particular records or data sets for my purpose because quality indicators are not visible or I don’t understand what the information means

This round of testing will close Friday May 15th.
 
Thank you for taking the time help us build the best solutions possible.
Tuesday 28 April, 2020

A survey is now available to collect your top data quality priorities:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdw-jvLx97q_2eZMGqc1Od_PPBnsPAW1Bqts8x9tMtNNyQ1Pg/viewform?usp=sf_link.  It’s very short, essentially one question with optional comments.  The survey will be open until Monday May 4th.  The results of this survey will be used to determine the work program for the data quality project.
Monday 6 April, 2020

The data quality project met with representatives from the collections, state and federal government, research and citizen science last Wednesday to discuss the project delivery model and priorities. Top priorities so far are visualising data quality, ensuring data is available to government agency systems and data quality filtering.

A form will be sent out soon for the entire ALA community to provide their top priority.

Friday 27 March, 2020

We have finished our first sprint and have developed basic functionality to administer and apply pre-filters on quality attributes. The changes are currently being tested internally and will be released for public testing soon.

We are holding a teleconference with key stakeholders next Wednesday to review the development so far and set future priorities.

A report on the survey results will be released soon.
Wednesday 11 March, 2020
We have begun our first development sprint implementing set of data quality filters. Initially the filters will exclude some records based on data quality assertions, location and identification.

The data quality baseline survey has now closed, thank you to everyone that took the time to contribute. We received 243 responses and will be using the information and comments collected to help direct and measure the progress of the project.
Monday 2 March, 2020
We are currently organising a workshop with state, territory and federal government, the natural history collections, citizen science community and researchers to collect and prioritise Data Quality related issues for the project to address.

Thank you to everyone who has filled in our data quality baseline survey, it will close in just over a week. If you have a minute to help us measure your current views on the quality of data in the ALA please take the survey here.
Thursday 20 Feb, 2020
Take the Data Quality Baseline survey and help us measure your current views on the quality of data in the ALA.
Take the survey now.
Thursday 20 Feb, 2020
Data quality project launched. Read more…

How to contact us and keep up to date