Background
Communities, natural resource managers and policy-makers need the best information to manage our rivers and wetlands, but it is extremely difficult to access all the information. To overcome this problem, we have prepared databases on the rivers and wetlands in several catchments, of which the Hacking is one. The core database, Water Information System for the Environment (WISE) is encapsulated in a quote by Samuel Johnson (1775) -
Knowledge is of two kinds:
General Information
WISE is much more than a library catalogue of information or references. Library catalogues simply list titles, authors, publishers and sometimes keywords or abstracts. So, searching for information is always going to be limited by how much of a particular publication is 'captured' by the title. Unfortunately, a lot of relevant information for communities, managers and policy-makers is often missing from the title, limiting applicability. For example, only some titles of scientific papers identify what part of the world they are dealing with. Also, publications often have information 'buried' in the text. For example, a publication on frog ecology may have involved collection of water quality data, but this is not identified in the title, abstract or keywords.
WISE does two essential things. It links publications to a part of the world, so people can find out what is known about a particular wetland, creek, river or catchment. The other thing it does is 'capture' all of the information in a publication. We have read every publication and linked its 'environmental content' to more than 300 fields. You no longer have to rely simply on the title or keywords for your search. In the frog ecology study, the information on frogs is catalogued in the appropriate fields in the content database and the study is also highlighted under water quality. This provides an extremely powerful information tool for managers, scientists and policy-makers. It has some potential to allow managers and policy-makers access to the most up-to-date information.
All the references are cross-linked within a bibliographic database and a content database. The bibliographic database is like a conventional library with a list of authors, titles and abstracts if they exist. The content database links the contents of the publication to any of more than 300 fields if it is relevant. So any time you search for a particular subject, you will get a match for not only those publications with the information in the title but other relevant publications as well. Currently there are WISE reference databases for 7 catchments available on the internet at http://wiserivers.npws.nsw.gov.au . It is planned to have another 4 catchments deployed by June 30, 2003.
Wetlands, Creeks and Rivers, Catchments and Basins
WISE is built around a conceptual base of dividing the world of water information into a hierarchy of four scales. From the finest to coarsest scale, there are wetlands, creeks and rivers, catchments and finally basins (e.g. Murray-Darling Basin) Identifying all the rivers and wetlands then finding all the information that applies to each feature in a catchment forms the basis of this information system. Sometimes information focuses on a swamp, a river, the whole catchment or even the whole basin. People identify with these different places. For a particular wetland, you can get more details of its location with a map.
An example might illustrate. You could imagine a study which focussed on the water quality of a particular wetland. Another study might take another approach and investigate water quality in rivers and creeks. A broader approach might look at water quality across the whole catchment. The final dimension is to look at water quality across an entire basin. All of these different types of information need to be 'captured' in an easy to understand system, which is why WISE has this unique design. From one screen, a person can navigate across these scales with the same search request. Alternatively, you can focus on one of these scales such as wetlands, choose an environmental area of interest and obtain a list of wetlands where that type of information has been gathered.
Education
Access to relevant information provides a unique opportunity for people to find out what they want on a wide range of issues. The multimedia modules of WISE currently available with the CD-ROM allow people to 'see' the catchment from the perspective of animations, photographs, videos and sound files. There are more than 100 photographs of the catchment and several videos and sound files. Basic information, including multimedia, is provided on the towns, rivers, national parks and reserves, and important historic or cultural sites that make up the catchment. Additional information is provided on the flora and fauna in the catchment and on the photographic collections of historical societies, libraries and government agencies. Three key environmental issues have been identified for each catchment - copies of articles and other material is provided on each of these key issues. There is a current project to deploy to the internet a complete set of databases for one catchment by July 2003 to the web which will include the multimedia (photographs, oral histories, text and maps) modules of the WISE information system. In addition there will improvements by directly linking from the bibliographic entry to any reference documents or related material already available on the internet.
Finding Information
Powerful search tools allow you to look for the information you want easily but with enough flexibility to cope with the most difficult search requests. We have designed the WISE system to be as versatile as possible because people have different needs.
Quality Control
All references in WISE are for material that is publicly available. Every attempt has been made to identify all relevant publications by exhaustively searching on-line library databases, scientific information, regional and Government libraries and the reference lists of all publications. This produces a long list of books, proceedings and scientific papers, and other technical papers. No attempt has been made to leave out any information. If the information is publicly available, it will be listed. Consequently there may be contradictory information or inferences.
WISE also identifies which studies have been through a peer-review process. This is the 'bread and butter' of a scientist's work. It is primarily a part insurance process that the information presented in a study is of the highest quality. For peer-review, a research paper is submitted to a journal and the editor usually sends the report away for independent and often anonymous review by other experts in the field. Based on these experts' recommendations and critical analyses, a decision is made to publish or reject the information. This process provides some 'quality control' for the information.
The WISE Team
WISE and the Rivers and Wetlands Databases were designed and produced through a cooperative effort with the community in each catchment. The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service staff involved include: Dr Richard Kingsford, Victoria Adair, Cherylin Bray, Mike Cufer, Susan T. Davis, Cheryl Gajda, Sam Davis, Allan House and Sharon Ryall in the Biodiversity Research and Management Division.
Contact People
We welcome suggestions for improvements to WISE, new material and advice on any errors or omissions. Please note the Record Id and the field name and quote these in any communications. If you want us to include something new, please use the data form in the directory NEWFORM on this disk. Open the file readme.txt for an explanation of the data form. Inquiries and comments can be forwarded to either Sharon Ryall or Allan House.
The WISE Project
Biodiversity Research and Management
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
43 Bridge Street, Hurstville 2220
Telephone (02) 9585 6847
Fax (02) 9585 6606
Allan House: email allan.house@npws.nsw.gov.au
Sharon Ryall: email sharon.ryall@npws.nsw.gov.au
Acknowledgments
Many different organisations have ensured the success of the WISE project. The initial funding for the database on the Macquarie-Bogan River Catchment was provided by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission and the NSW State Government.
Throughout the evolution of the WISE databases, there have been many contributors to the information system including, individuals, communities and organisations, managers, researchers, policymakers and librarians from the Department of Land and Water Conservation (NSW), Environment Australia, Department of Natural Resources (Qld), Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (Vic), the Department of Environment and Planning (SA), the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, NSW Fisheries, NSW Agriculture.
Copyright
No part of this package or the data contained therein can be used for commercial purposes or transposed either directly, indirectly or digitally to another medium or database without the written permission of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Non-commercial use of the database is unrestricted except in relation to the photographs, video clips, audio clips and maps where permission must be sought to reproduce any item in a report, paper or other publication. We ask that you appreciate the contributions of various organisations and private individuals to this package and respect their copyright entitlements.
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Disclaimer
No warranty is given that this database is free from error or omission. The State of New South Wales, its agencies and its servants expressly disclaim liability for any act done or omission made in reliance on the information in the database and any consequences of any such act or omission.