Member Node Approval Process
============================

After reviewing DataONE literature and deciding that a partnership with DataONE would be beneficial to all parties, a Member Node will, working with project personnel, prepare a "proposal" including information about data holdings, scope of interaction with DataONE, etc.  
This includes completion of a `Member Node Description Document`_.

.. _Member Node Description Document: http://www.dataone.org/sites/all/documents/Member_Node_Description_Form_2012Jun20_Formatted.docx

The DataONE Member Nodes team will evaluate the proposal using several of the criteria below:

Selection criteria
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* First Principle: Select MNs for joining DataONE based on number of instantiations.

* Second Principle: Select MNs based on quantity and quality of data.

* Third Principle: Select high-profile MNs.

* Fourth Principle: Select pragmatically - knowing that there are resources and enthusiasm to complete the tasks.

* Fifth Principle: Select MNs based on their ability to contribute to long-term sustainability.

* Sixth Principle: Select MNs that are diverse and geographically distributed so that we cover a range of MN types and globally distributed nodes.

* Seventh Principle: Select based on showing exemplars for what we want DataONE to be.

Criteria for Standing Up a DataONE Member Node
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Size and visibility of the community represented by the candidate MN.

* The collections are significant or enable new science or both.

* Fills significant gaps in the content available through DataONE.

* The data are unique data in the broader community.

* Collections are strong in breadth, depth or both

* The candidate brings significant contributions to the DataONE resource base, including:
	#. strategic partnerships
	#. professional expertise in managing data, computing, administration, etc.
	#. synergistic services
	#. new funding streams or other sustainability enhancing resources
	#. technical resources such as storage capacity, bandwidth, and processing power
	#. compatibility with DataONE services, minimizing cost of deployment

* The candidate adds diversity to the collective membership of DataONE such as through:
	#. geographic diversity: a new state or region, new country, new continent
	#. under-represented group
	#. linguistic and cultural diversity
	#. different type of institution
	#. diversity of funding sources
		
* The candidate offers compliance with best practices and standards, including:
	#. quality assurance
	#. data sharing policies
	#. metadata creation
	#. security