[Insight-developers] OPEN ACCESS WEEK: DAY #5 : OPEN DATA

[Luis Ibanez]

http://www.openaccessweek.org/

http://ksulib.typepad.com/talking/2009/10/open-data.html

<quote>
The internet has opened new potential in many areas of the
research and scholarly process: open access journals,
institutional repositories, open source software – and now,
open data.


Do you ever stop and think about the datasets that are the
foundation of scholarly journal articles?

* What happens to all that data?
* Is it ever seen or re-used by other researchers?
* Is it preserved somewhere?


New programs like the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) DataNet
program are beginning to address the enormous challenges of managing
and sharing research data in order to drive networked, collaborative and
innovative science. The challenges involve building infrastructure and
setting standards for storing data, encouraging researchers to deposit
their data for others to see and use for new purposes, and creating fewer
restrictions on licenses, patents and copyrights.

In the past raw data was not considered for publication primarily because
it was not affordable or feasible to include in print journals. But, the
predominance of online journals has changed that model. Also, large
federal funding agencies such as the NSF and the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) are having a tremendous impact on the publication of data.

Since 2003 the NIH has required applicants seeking $500,000 or more in
direct costs to follow their data sharing policy  by submitting a plan for
sharing their final research data with their application. Some NSF units
also have published policies on data sharing and management.

This trend could accelerate if the Federal Research Public Access Act
of 2009, S. 1373 (FRPPA) becomes law. This bill would require researchers
funded by one of eleven federal departments or agencies to submit an
electronic copy of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts to a repository
for public access. Although this bill does not currently apply to data, many
believe it is only a matter of time before other federal agencies develop
data sharing policies similar to those at NIH and NSF.

Data can be big like the Human Genome Project or small like thousands
of datasets created by individual or small group researchers at universities
and research institutes each year. No matter what the size, the potential
for sharing and reusing this knowledge is huge.

</quote>