- Posts tagged opendata
- Explore opendata on posterous
Dear researcher, which side of history will you be on? | Mendeley Blog
We came to the conclusion that technology is finally at a point that if we don’t use it now, then we are holding back the progress of science. And what exactly are we to use technology on? Open science/data/access.
Revisiting Ethos | jonobacon@home
When I first heard about Free Software in 1998 I was mesmerized by it’s potential. Sure, back then the software was complex and some would argue ugly, but underneath the rough edges was a thing of beauty — the opportunity for people to come together to make new things, and anyone with the inclination and energy could take part.
Jono's description really rings home for me. When I first really started hearing about FLOSS, I was 18. I'd been using Linux and Unix for seven years (but only on dial-in BBSes and the like) but I'd never considered using it on my desktop. And then I picked up a copy of SUSE 6.1, installed it, and started looking beneath the surface. I still believe in the principles, but it's hard not to get frustrated with where computing is going. I've tried to use those principles in my research, pushing my code and my data into the open while encouraging my colleagues and collaborators to do so as well. We've been successful so far, but the Grand Experiment (as my current mentor likes to call it) is just beginning. (More on that as it occurs.) In many ways the FLOSS community and the Scientific communities are very similar, but the cross-talk is sadly limited.
To answer the prompt from Jono that I didn't quote above, I'm passionate about Free Software and Open Source software because I want my kids to have the same opportunities and the same encouragements that I did. And because I think it's really guided me, my personal and my professional interactions in many ways, and I want to make sure that spirit of collaboration, of openness, of tinkering and problem solving never dies out.
Michael Nielsen » Cameron Neylon on practical steps toward open science
The most critical issue however is rapid deployment of expertise to specific problems. To apply a distributed rapid innovation model we need the means to rapidly identify the very limited number of people with appropriate expertise to solve the problem at hand. We also need to rethink our research processes to make them more modular so that they can be divided up and distributed. Finally we need capacity in the system that makes it possible for expertise to actually be rapidly deployed. Its not clear to me how we achieve these goals although things like Innocentive, CoLab, Friendfeed, and others are pointing out potential directions. We are a long way from delivering on the promise and its not clear what a practical route there is.
Practical steps: more effective communication mechanisms will be driven by rewarding people for re-use of their work. Capacity can be added by baseline funding. Modularity is an attitude and a design approach which we will probably need to build into training and will be hard to do in a community where everything is bespoke and great pride is taken in eating our own dogfood but never trusting anyone else’s…
I find this particularly compelling, especially in light of some of the growing pains yt has been having. We're trying to build something that's useful, without losing sight of our own personal goals, and it's difficult at times. But we've been having some amazing successes, and I think it's worth it.
Four Big Ideas from the Open Science Summit 2010
Our new vision for CoLab is to enable scientific debate around any piece of scientific content. We want to make it stupid easy to center a discussion around protocols, data, plots, published papers, papers in progress, simulations, code, or any other component of scientific research. As an experimentalist, I should be able to import a lab protocol, raw data, or manipulable plots based on a live feed from that raw data and discuss it online with collaborators across the globe. As a computational scientist, I should be able to import code or live simulations and troubleshoot online with anyone in the world who might be able to help. As a member of a journal club, I should be able to import a published paper and collaboratively highlight and annotate in-line with colleagues, from those in the lab next door to those in another country. As a researcher ready to publish, I should be able to host a working version of my paper online, collaboratively edit with any of my colleagues, and submit a link directly to a journal, without being forced to download the paper and make finishing touches offline. In short, as a scientist, I should be able to easily and openly discuss any piece of my science with my entire scientific community.
Interesting vision. CoLab is something to keep a close eye on.
Panton Principles
Science is based on building on, reusing and openly criticising the published body of scientific knowledge.
For science to effectively function, and for society to reap the full benefits from scientific endeavours, it is crucial that science data be made open.
Principles for Open Data in Science.
