Queensland Museum Network (QMN) became an Associate Member of QCIF as of 1 February 2022.
Associate Membership provides QMN staff with unlimited access to QCIF’s cloud and high-performance computer services; discounted rates for QCIF’s data storage, bioinformatics, digital skills training, and software development services; and access to QCIF’s eResearch Analysts.
Peter Denham, QMN’s Director of Collections and Research, said the institution is pleased to join the QCIF community. “As museum collections expand into the digital realm, it’s important to have access to high-performance computer infrastructure to ensure our digital collection is safe and able to be shared with the world,” said Peter.
“This is why we are happy to have joined QCIF as an Associate Member to allow us to continue to tell the changing story of Queensland through digitisation and data visualisation.”
QCIF CEO John Bancroft welcomed QMN’s decision to join QCIF as an Associate Member and to use QCIF’s cloud computing service, QRIScloud, to store and share very large-scale data sets.
“QRIScloud will enable QMN data custodians to upload and manage important data collections that have been put together over decades and to potentially allow the sharing of some of those collections with Queensland researchers to advance areas such as natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities,” said John.
QMN’s initial QCIF Associate Membership is for two years, which can be renewed.
QCIF Membership is open to research institutions, government departments, government-owned corporations and industry involved in research.
If you would like to discuss QCIF Membership, please contact Troy Lockett: troy.lockett@qcif.edu.au.
Read a Q&A with QMN about its QCIF Associate Membership below.
Q&A with Peter Denham, Director of Collections and Research, Queensland Museum Network
Why did QMN decide to become a QCIF Associate Member?
Associate Membership provided QMN with:
- long-term, permanent, high-availability data storage services to store and manage large scale data sets generated by museum staff in a way that enables collaboration with, and analysis by, researchers from Australian and international universities and research agencies.
- Management of who can access the data stored
- Monitoring of storage usage for costs and rights management.
What challenges did QMN previously experience that led to this decision?
Queensland Museum Network is 160 years young and has a range of data management and storage requirements for corporate and research services. Current on-premise and cloud-hosted commercial services were unable to meet the requirements for collaborative data management and storage of large-scale data sets.
The museum required the ability to store and share very large-scale data sets such as 3D assets and photogrammetry data with researchers whilst ensuring rights management, versioning and ongoing preservation.
Why did QMN decide to use QCIF’s QRIScloud service over other cloud providers?
QCIF high-performance computing infrastructure and QRIScloud services provided a secure collaborative research environment whilst ensuring the museum’s assets were managed and preserved long term.
QCIFs research-led collaborative focus, companion bioinformatics and other related innovative services provided the museum with unique opportunities not found in other cloud offerings.
How much data storage do you think QMN will need soon and in the future?
As Queensland Museum Network and our partners continue to discover and digitise assets that tell the story of Queensland in new and engaging ways there will be an expanding need for 100s of terabytes per annum.
What is QMN’s long-term vision for its data collections?
As custodian of the state’s natural and cultural heritage, caring for more than a million items and specimens in collections, digitisation and data visualisation is key to telling the changing story of Queensland.
Is QMN likely to use any of QCIF’s other services, such as digital skills training, bioinformatics and software solutions?
As an organisation, we hope to continue this valuable partnership together with our industry associates in exploring new and innovative services and tools to develop engaging public experiences that tell the changing story of Queensland.
Will QMN staff or associates use QCIF’s services for research purposes?
A key deliverable of the Project DIG partnership between Queensland Museum Network, BHP and BMA [BHP Mitsubishi Alliance] is to improve capacity to maintain secure, long-term storage of scientific imaging data.
Project DIG aims to digitally unlock the knowledge held in QMN’s State Collection for visitors and researchers worldwide.
Project DIG is contributing to the cost for two years of membership and storage, which will benefit a number of existing Project DIG research projects, including Tropical Megafauna, Coral Bank, Photogrammetry and Digital Asset Management projects.