cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.18739/a2jq0sw6f
title: Investigations of the Long Term Sustainability of Human Ecodynamic Systems in Northern Iceland

description: This project has centered on the Lake Myvatn area of northeastern Iceland. In spite of severe erosion problems, the Myvatn economy has been largely sustainable since the time when Iceland was first settled in the late ninth century. Until the early part of the twentieth century, the inhabitants of the region lived almost entirely on the proceeds of the land by farming, fishing for trout, and collecting the eggs of wild birds. In recent times, tourism has become an extremely important part of the economy. This brings needed revenue but raises conservation issues in what is a very fragile ecosystem. The interplay between the hydrology and geology of the area has formed a unique landscape characterised by an abundance of pseudo-craters and curious lava formations and an ecosystem that is unparalleled in Iceland. In the Myvatn area most resources are directly connected to water. The complex food web and biogeochemistry of the lake has created unique wildlife resources on which people depended, and adjacent wetlands produced the most important sources of hay for the animal husbandry practiced in the area. In the past, because of its North Atlantic location, marginal for agriculture, grass was the only viable crop in Iceland, and the economy focused primarily on the keeping of sheep and cattle until comparatively recent times. This meant that the success or failure of the grass crop, coupled with winter rangeland grazing, was the one aspect of the economy on which all else rested. If there was not enough hay to feed the livestock over the winter, then they could die, and the human population could also suffer with famines and related difficulties. The primary goal of this project was to establish what were the varying factors that influenced the success or failure of the grass growth and hay crop and grazing, and the sustainability of the use of these resources. A particularly important part of the project was to examine resource-management decisions and to consider to what extent local farmers focused on the long-term sustainability of grazing resources.
DOI: 10.18739/a2pg1hq06
title: Focus Groups with Village Residents

description: These conversations were designed to capture the feedback and perspective of community members in the context of the proposed offshore drilling program. The range of participants included groups of active hunters and whalers to young aakas [grandmothers] and small family groups. Participants were asked the same set of questions as their community Elders, although the format was more strictly adhered to in the context of these group discussions. Participants were asked: 1) About the environmental and social changes they had already observed in their lifetimes and their hopes and fears for the future in the context of incoming industrial development and the potential for more environmental and social changes to come (both positive and negative). 2) Whether or not they felt that their community was currently in the best position possible to both take advantage of the opportunities as well as face the challenges that such change could represent and whether they had any suggestions for improvements in terms of local decision-making processes, etc. 3) About the knowledge and practices they felt were most needed to be documented and communicated to outside decision-makers. Participants were also asked to identify some of the values and traditional ways of doing things here in the village that they felt were critically important to pass on to the youth within their own Tribe. 4) Overall, what they felt was the most important thing that their community could do to embrace the changes to come while still maintaining the core values of their culture.
DOI: 10.18739/a2dz03323
title: Is the Arctic Human Environment Moving to a New State?

description: This collaboration of Kruse, University of Alaska, Anchorage (0638408, LEAD) and Hamilton, University of New Hampshire (0638413) is part of the Arctic Observation Network (AON), initiated as part of the International Polar Year, and will implement phase one human dimension priorities of the Study of Arctic Environmental Change (SEARCH) program. This Human Dimension Observation System is designed to become part of a network of measurement systems developed within SEARCH. The goal of the researchers is to understand how socio-economic systems respond to rapid environmental change, and how local response interacts with broad forces of development and government policies to affect the well-being of Arctic residents. They will integrate existing data for key variables identified by the Committee: population size and structure, births, deaths, migration, health measures, cultural diversity, education, and economic indicators, including employment, subsistence, and government structure. For this study, they have identified stakeholder groups in each of the "arenas of climate-human interaction" (i.e., marine mammal hunting, fisheries, resource development) and have formed an advisory group made up of representatives of the following indigenous organizations: RAIPON, Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Saami Council, Maniilaq, North Slope Borough, Makivik Corp., and the Labrador Inuit Association. The project will focus on four arenas likely to involve climate-human interactions: marine mammal hunting; oil, gas, and mineral development; tourism; and fisheries. A fifth project focus is on indicators of social outcomes of human interactions with environmental change. As part of AON, the project is designed to foster integrated analysis across the physical, natural, and social sciences.
DOI: 10.18739/a2959c87m
title: Kawerak's Ice Seal and Walrus Project

description: The data for this project is contained in digitally recorded interviews, interview transcripts, photographs and spatial GIS data. All data is stored at the offices of Kawerak, Inc. in Nome, Alaska, USA. Publications associated with this data include: Gadamus, L. and J. Raymond-Yakoubian 2015 Qualitative participatory mapping of seal and walrus harvest and habitat areas: Documenting indigenous knowledge, preserving local values, and discouraging misuse. International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research 6(1): 76-93. Oceana and Kawerak, Inc. 2014 Bering Strait Marine Life and Subsistence Data Synthesis. Oceana, Juneau, Alaska. Kawerak, Inc. 2013 Seal and Walrus Harvest and Habitat Areas for Nine Bering Strait Region Communities. Kawerak Social Science Program. Nome, Alaska. Gadamus, Lily 2013 Linkages between human health and ocean health: a participatory climate change vulnerability assessment for marine mammal harvesters. International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 72. Kawerak, Inc. 2013 Seal and Walrus Hunting Safety: Traditional Knowledge from Kawerak's Ice Seal and Walrus Project. Kawerak Social Science Program. Nome, Alaska. Kawerak, Inc. 2013 Traditions of Respect: Traditional Knowledge from Kawerak's Ice Seal and Walrus Project. Kawerak Social Science Program. Nome, Alaska. Kawerak, Inc. 2014 Policy-based Recommendations from Kawerak's Ice Seal and Walrus Project. Kawerak Social Science Program. Nome, Alaska.
DOI: 10.18739/a25d8ng4z
title: Local community verification of shoreline change risks along the Alaskan Arctic Ocean coast (North Slope).

description: In April 2016, local perspectives of shoreline change risks in the Arctic Slope covering the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska (NPR-A) and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) were collected using a collaborative mapping process. About 300 shoreline change "problem places" contributed by 50 participants in Wainwright (8), Utqiagvik (32), and Kaktovik (10) were mapped, described, and digitized. The resulting geodatabase consists of problem feature locations linked to transcribed verbal or hand-written description and basic participant background information. Transcripts from audio recorded interactive mappings stored in MS Excel files also include statements that are not associated with a specific location. The purpose of the data set is to verify local shoreline change risks as a front-end evaluation effort to develop a shoreline change risk WebGIS for Alaska's Arctic Slope using a collaborative mapping and Instructional Systems Design (ISD) process.
DOI: 10.18739/a21r6n23j
title: Perceptions and implications of thawing permafrost and climate change in two Inupiaq villages of arctic Alaska

description: Survey responses of residents of the arctic Inupiaq villages of Anaktuvuk Pass (n=39) and Selawik (n=41), Alaska. The survey elicited local knowledge, perceptions, and speculations about current and future implications of thawing permafrost and other aspects of climate change for ways of life in these communities, focusing on subsistence, infrastructure, water resources, and transportation as key areas of potential impacts. Human dimensions data were collected and analyzed in conjunction with local thaw depth data as part of an interdisciplinary study of the implications of thawing permafrost and climate change for the social-ecological systems of two communities whose ways of life rely on close interactions with their local environments.
DOI: 10.18739/a2x05xd9b
title: Photo-elicitation Interviews on Iñupiaq Conceptualizations of Nature

description: Participants were provided with digital cameras and instructed to take photographs of anything that captured what “nature meant to them as an Iñupiaq.” These photographs were then printed out and served as an interview guide where participants were asked: 1) To first pick out the top 5 pictures that really captured what nature meant to them as an Iñupiaq. For each of these photographs, participants were then prompted to give a short descriptive title to the photo, to generally explain what was going on in the picture, to describe what they were thinking about when they took the picture, and to discuss what it was about that photograph that really captured what nature meant to them as an Iñupiaq. 2) To then organize the remaining photographs into piles based on related themes. Each thematic group of photos was then discussed in terms of what was generally going on in each photo and how the photographs were related. 3) Several follow-up questions. Participants were prompted to provide a few short words or sentences that expressed what nature meant to them. They were also asked whether they felt that non-Natives from outside the community might think about or act differently towards ‘nature’ when compared to someone from the village. Lastly, they were asked whether they had ever heard the term “the sea is our garden” used locally, and if they were familiar with that term, what it meant to them. The goal of this research activity was to explore the worldviews and relationships to the land and sea that are part of a subsistence way of life here in the village.These perspectives are often overlooked by non-Native decision-makers who try to engage with the traditional knowledge of the Iñupiat. The general argument here is that the traditional knowledge of Native peoples is often mistranslated when it is removed from its source communities because it is divorced from the very context that gives this knowledge its true meaning and power.
DOI: 10.18739/a2s756m5k
title: Polar Sea-Ice Information Needs: Interdisciplinary Training, Outreach and IPY Legacy Products Through a Sea-Ice System Services Approach

description: This proposal is based on the concept of sea-ice system services as a unifying theme. The proposal focuses on the role of sea ice as a provider of services that are crucial to a range of users, such as parts of an ecosystem, indigenous populations, the oil and gas industry, or humanity as a whole, through the climate regulating services provided by the ice. This proposal has four elements (1) Conduct a sea-ice field course that provides a comprehensive, integrated perspective on the state-of-the-art in field studies of sea ice, using sea-ice system services as a unifying concept to link course modules and aid with research design. (2) Develop a handbook and multimedia products comprising high-quality digital video, animations, and supporting computer programs that serve as resources for (under)graduate education, professional training, and as a reference work for scientists in a range of relevant fields. (3) Distill an outreach multimedia product out of the materials referenced above that can serve as an entry point for members of the public interested in following up on media reports on sea-ice change as well as a teaching tool in K-12 curricula. (4) Create a documentary record of the state-of-the-art in studies of the sea-ice system, the services it provides to a broad range of users, and the (field) methods employed in its study during IPY-4 that can serve as a reference point and legacy product for future outreach as well as studies of science history and science culture. Using these three methods, the project intends to address five major aspects of sea ice: (1) the changing role of sea ice as an important habitat for microorganisms at the center of Arctic marine foodwebs, (2) the status of the polar bear and other marine mammals heavily depending on sea ice, (3) the role of sea ice as a hazard to shipping and coastal infrastructure, (4) the reduced stability of coastal sea ice as a source of concern to indigenous hunters, (5) sea ice in the context of environmental security, e.g., clean-up of oil spills in ice-covered waters. The project will train a cadre of interdisciplinary researcher to address sea ice issues and leave a legacy for International Polar Year. The project also integrates the sea ice knowledge of Alaska Natives living in Barrow.
DOI: 10.18739/a2ng4gt1f
title: Qualitative Data NVivo

description: Qualitative data from community observations are stored and managed using NVivo software that provides functionality for classifying, sorting and arranging qualitative research data. The sampling unit used is a harvest event, typically a hunting or fishing event in a particular season. As of 5 September, 2008 we have received and encoded data for 56 harvest events as follows: Harvest type: Mammal (10), Fish (45), Shellfish (1) Community: Gambell (10), Kanchalan (22), Nikolskoye (6), Sandpoint (18) Preliminary NVivo Data structure: Nodes (collections of related material by topic): ANIMAL HABITATS ANIMAL SPECIES CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS FAMILY SIZE HARVEST USE HOW PROCESS CATCH HUNT FISH LOCATON INFO SOURCE LEGAL VERSUS NATURAL HUNT FISH SEASON MIGRATION PATTERN QUALITY OF CATCH QUANTITY OF CATCH RESPONDENT CANNOT RECALL OR IS NOT KEEPING TRACK OF PREVIOUS FISH HUNT DETAILS SOCIAL TIES AND FOOD SHARING THE FISHING EXPERIENCE UNCLEAR Queries (primary topics that have had queries created): AIR TEMPERATURE BY LOCATION CHANGES IN WIND STRENGTH FACTORS AFFECTING ABILITY TO REACH HUNT FISH BY LOCATION ICE BREAK-UP ICE FREEZE-UP ILL HEALTH CONDITIONS INFORMATION SOURCE LOCATION BY AIR TEMPERATURE PROXIMITY TO ISLAND OF HUNT FISH LOCATION QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF ICE STRENGTH OF RESPONDENTS OBSERVATION WIND STRENGTH BY LOCATION Classifications (attributes by which cases can be classified): ANIMAL LOCATION SEX
DOI: 10.18739/a2cz3262v
title: Regional Alaska Community Meetings

description: As part of the overall goals of Pacific Marine Arctic Regional Synthesis (PacMARS) and specifically addressing the research theme "Subsistence Lifestyles in Times of Climate Change", the Pacific Marine Arctic Regional Synthesis (PacMARS) team conducted five regional Alaskan community meetings on St. Lawrence Island, and in Barrow, Kotzebue and Nome. The meetings provided a forum for feedback on research needs as they are perceived by local communities as well as for ecological insights from subsistence hunters specifically, and local residents in general.
DOI: 10.18739/a2rv0d19c
title: Semi-structured interviews with Iñupiaq Tribal leaders, Wainwright, Alaska, 2013-2014

description: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Tribal leaders who were asked about: 1) The Tribe’s current abilities to influence regional and national decision-making processes and the degree to which general community members were now involved in local decision-making processes. 2) The role that they thought their traditional knowledge was both currently playing in the larger decision-making processes as well as what role they thought it could/should play in the future. 3) Their own visions, as local leaders, of the ideal future for their families and the community of Wainwright and what, if anything, they felt needed to happen for their community to achieve that ideal future.
DOI: 10.18739/a25314
title: Snowchange Oral History - Work Among the Kolyma River Indigenous Societies in Siberia, Russia

description: This data set includes oral history accounts from Indigenous people participating in the Snowchange project in Siberia, Russia. It provides geographic and environmental information from residents of two Indigenous Chukchi communities practicing seasonal nomadic reindeer herding and other subsistence activities that are being affected by climate change in Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia, in the Russian Federation.
DOI: 10.18739/a2m902301
title: Siberian Yupik names from the native villages of Gambell and Savoonga, Alaska, 2016-2018

description: This dataset includes Siberian Yupik names from Gambell and Savoonga, Alaska dating to the early 19th Century. There are roughly 4,000 names in the set and English translations for a subset of about 1,500. Included are birthdates or birthyears for many names and other US Census identifiers (e.g. census location, father's ethnicity, and so forth). The names were compiled in search of individuals named after significant storm events. Those individual's birth dates could then be used as a proxy for storm event dates. This would enable us to construct a chronology of storm events in these two villages and coupled with measuring driftwood debris lines address the ultimate question of this study - are storm events intensifying in the Bering Strait Region? The data are not publicly available because the tribe has not consented to sharing them. Please contact Jon Rosales for more information at jrosales@stlawu.edu
DOI: 10.18739/a2jq0sv03
title: Social Transitions in the North: Document Digitization, Alaska and Russia, 1993-1995

description: Social Transition in the North (STN), was a four-year research study funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF; OPP-9213137 and OPP-9496351). STN was a longitudinal study analyzing four circumpolar regions, two in Russia (Chukotka and Kamchatka) and two in Alaska (Nana and Aleutian-Pribilof Islands), looking at demographic, epidemiologic, and domestic social transitions (Mason, 2004). Demographic transitions were the study of change in mortality and birth rate. Epidemiologic transitions were studied by watching the change of infectious disease and increase of lifestyle diseases. The third transition was domestic, and is summarized as the redefinition of family, family member roles, and the family’s role within the community. The overall goal was to predict future changes, especially of high-risk conditions, and encourage institutional change that would improve services for these conditions. During the final year of the study, while in the Russian region of Chukotka, the principal investigators, two additional research staff, and 10 villagers, died in a tragic boating accident in September of 1995. It was decided that the documents would be given to the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies (ICHS) at the University of Alaska Anchorage where they are now housed. If researchers are interested in accessing any STN material, a data use agreement will be set in place with the following requirements: to submit an application the UAA IRB, to honor the content of the original consent forms, and in their UAA IRB application specify how they intend to be responsive to the NSF Principles for the Conduct of Research in the Arctic. Further, ICHS will require a copy of UAA IRB's approval prior to release of STN materials. Anyone interested in accessing the data can also contact: Dr. Janet Johnston (jmjohnston2@alaska.edu) or the University of Alaska at Anchorage Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies (uaa_ichs@alaska.edu)
DOI: 10.18739/a2p31s
title: Summary Report of Community-Based Environmental and Species Observations from the Bering Sea Sub-Network, 2008-2009

description: The Bering Sea Sub-Network (BSSN) is comprised of a set of coastal communities representing six indigenous cultures: three in the Russian Federation and three in the United States. The objective of BSSN is to develop a framework that will enable residents in remote Arctic communities to systematically document physical and social changes occurring in their region. In 2008 and 2009, approximately 300 hunters and fishermen participated a pilot project of harvest surveys covering species caught, species health, and intended use; changing climate and environmental conditions; location and travel information; and a review of harvest conditions. This data set is a report of the preliminary findings from the pilot phase of BSSN.
DOI: 10.18739/a2xw75
title: Sociocultural Influences on Diet, Physical Activity, and Nutritional Status Among Older Adults in Anchorage, Alaska

description: This award supported research to examine the sociocultural factors that shape diet, physical activity practices, and nutritional status among an ethnically diverse sample of Alaskan older adults (adults aged 65+ years) living in Anchorage. This project (1) identified and evaluated the influence of sociocultural factors on dietary and physical activity patterns among urban Alaskan elders, and (2) identified relationships between the sociocultural environment, diet, physical activity, and nutritional status in this population. This 9-month long mixed-methods research study employed participant observation, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and anthropometric techniques. Fifteen interviews were conducted with seniors in Anchorage to identify the sociocultural factors that influence diet and physical activity practices. From these data, the investigator finalized the questionnaires which measures typical foods eaten (food frequency), engagement in physical activities, and the strength of sociocultural influences on these dietary and activity practices (a cultural survey). This questionnaire was orally administered by the researcher as a structured interview and anthropometric measurements (height, weight, and waist circumference) were taken with a convenience sample of 82 seniors in Anchorage. Anthropometric measurements were used to determine body mass index (BMI) and the prevalence of normal weight, overweight, and obesity. This research project will contribute to a deeper understanding of the social and cultural context of aging and health among urban Alaskan elders.