Transcript Session Two: The Status of Access to Scientific Data Roberta Balstad Columbia University 18 April 2011

Session Two: The Status of
Access to Scientific Data
Roberta Balstad
Columbia University
18 April 2011
Why Access Is Important:
Changing Approaches to Science
• Experimentation and testing
• Modeling and projections
• Now research is an evolving, dataintensive activity that draws on multiple
data bases collected by many scientists,
governments, and the private sector
• Data-intensive science relies upon open
access to data from all sectors
Advantages of Data-Intensive
Science
– Open access to data advances most types of science:
• It improves descriptive, comparative, and observational science
• It enriches modeling and prediction.
• And it makes it easier to test and retest propositions using the same
data base; it thus facilitates both proving and falsifying theories.
• Scientists are able to address broader questions than they could if
they were responsible for collecting their data as well as analyzing
it;
• They can merge more disparate types of data and obtain a larger
number of cases or incidences of any phenomena under study (e.g.,
meta-analysis);
– It “levels the playing field” for scientists from smaller or less
wealthy countries, who are able to conduct data-intensive
science with publicly available data
Traditional Data Access Policies
• Data were held to be the private property
of the scientist
• Or data were seen as a national asset that
should be kept “within the tribe”
• Or data were seen as a commodity that
had economic value for the scientist or,
more often, the government that
sponsored the data collection
Benefits of Changing to Open Data
Access Policies
• Scientific advance—both substantive and
methodological
• Reductions in the cost of research
• Innovation and economic growth
Broad Implications of Limiting
Access to Data
1)
2)
3)
4)
Higher research costs
Lost opportunity costs
Barriers to innovation
Less effective scientific cooperation and
education
5) Sub-optimal quality of data
6) Widening gap between OECD and developing
countries
Openness thus should be the default rule,
subject only to legitimate and well-justified
exceptions.
Legitimate Restrictions on Public
Access to Data
• National security and public safety
• Personal privacy and confidentiality
• Proprietary rights of private-sector parties
Advances in International Data
Access Policies
•
•
•
•
International Geophysical Year (IGY)
World Data Centers (WDC’s)
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
Movement away from the
commercialization impulse
• GEO Data Policy
• OECD Data Policy Guidelines
2005 GEO Data Sharing Principles
• There will be full and open exchange of data, metadata, and
products shared within GEOSS, recognizing relevant
international instruments and national policies and legislation.
• All shared data, metadata, and products will be made available with
minimum time delay and at minimum cost.
• All shared data, metadata, and products being free of charge or no
more than cost of reproduction will be encouraged for research
and education.
GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan, adopted 16 February 2005
(bold added)
Proposed GEOSS Guidelines
1)
Promoting implementation of the principle of full and open exchange of
data in accordance with the GEOSS Data Sharing Principles
2)
Encouraging GEOSS users to reuse and re-disseminate shared data,
metadata, and products
3)
Ensuring consistency in the implementation of the GEOSS Data Sharing
Principles with relevant international instruments and national policies
and legislation
4)
Implementing pricing policies consistent with the GEOSS Data Sharing
Principles
5)
Reducing the time delays for making data available through GEOSS
6)
Promoting research and education uses of GEOSS data
7)
Developing metrics and indicators for GEOSS data sharing activities
8)
Developing effective coordination and outreach mechanisms for
implementing the GEOSS Data Sharing Principles
OECD Recommentations (2007)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Openness
Flexibility
Transparency
Legal conformity (with other existing laws)
Protection of intellectual property
Formal responsibility
Professionalism
Interoperability
Quality
Security
Efficiency
Accountability
Sustainability
The Changing Face of US Data
Access Policies
• Commercialization of research data at
NSF: Policy of Social and Economic
Science Division in 1980’s
• USGCRP Data Policy in 1990’s
• NIH grantee data management plans
required for large grants in 2005
• National Science Board’s new data access
policy in 2011
Panelists in Session Two
• Implementing a data access policy in South Africa
– Michael Kahn, Tswane University of Technology
• Developing a research data access policy in Chile
– Patricia Munoz, CONICYT
• Need for a national data access policy in Tanzania
– Leonard Mboera and Benjamin Mayala, National Institute for
Medical Research
• The data sharing policy of the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO)
– Jack Hayes—NOAA, National Weather Service, and Permanent
U.S. Representative to the WMO