GulfBase InfoHub, a new resource that makes research publicly available to a broad range of stakeholders, recently went live on GulfBase. What started out as essentially a literature review has evolved into an efficient vehicle that aspires to take research off the shelf and put it into action. While academics do a good job of advancing the state of knowledge, the challenge lies in infusing governance and industry with the lessons learned. The hope behind InfoHub is to provide law and policy makers, business and industry professionals, resource managers, agency personnel, attorneys, community groups and others with current information about the state of thinking on the Gulf of Mexico. Articles with an ecosystem-based management focus are the basis for InfoHub content.

Three graduate students, Rhonda Cummins and Dave Hoggatt of TAMU-Galveston and HRI alumnus Mikell Smith were recruited to create the initial literature review. The students created brief, non-proprietary summaries that explain the thrust of relevant articles. Smith was retained to conceptualize and create the database for InfoHub. New to information management but accomplished in marketing and customer-focused management, he prioritized delivery of a robust user experience. He set key priorities, such as providing easy access to the full text of articles, intuitive searching and low-cost content management. James Davis, a TAMU-CC graduate student and uniquely-qualified web developer, came aboard to program and design the interface. Software tools and semi-automated workflow features streamline content management for the InfoHub team. Clever features incorporated by Davis improve searchability as do compound keywords. The result is a web-based window into a wealth of research at no cost to users and with no new budgetary demands on the sponsoring institutions.

The National Sea Grant Law Center (NSGLC), at the University of Mississippi, funded the literature review portion of the project and subsequently partnered with HRI to maintain content for InfoHub. NSGLC was contemplating

a more robust platform for their PDF-based National Sea Grant Law & Policy Digest when the InfoHub idea evolved. Effective February of 2009, The Digest migrated to InfoHub. Editor Terra Bowling and her team of law students will continue to review law articles at NSGLC as they have done since 2000 but will deploy that content via InfoHub. HRI's Dr. Richard McLaughlin, who oversaw the project that led to InfoHub, is the Endowed Chair of Policy & Law at HRI. As InfoHub Editor-in-Chief, he will recruit and work with a team of stewards to cover a range of topic areas. Two stewards came aboard in February and are located at HRI. Dr. Ivonne Cruz will supervise content from the social sciences and Dr. Jorge Brenner will handle ecosystem services.

InfoHub provides a unique opportunity to pool existing resources and “to make freely available Gulf of Mexico research information,” a goal stated on the GulfBase home page. GulfBase, HRI and NSGLC exist not just to conduct research but also to facilitate good stewardship in the larger society. If properly cultivated and marketed, InfoHub should serve as a conduit for collective knowledge, the foundation of successful stewardship. Anyone can access InfoHub free of charge at:
www.gulfbase.org/infohub.

- Mikell Smith, InfoHub