Data Preservation Imperatives: The Role of the US National Science Foundation

1. Data Preservation Imperatives: The Role of the US National Science Foundation Lucy Nowell, Ph.D. Office of Cyberinfrastructure Conference on Permanent Access to the Records of Science Brussels, Belgium 15 November 2007

2. Outline • NSF Office of Cyberinfrastructure • Motivation for Data Preservation • Role of Universities and Academic Libraries • Characteristics of the Digital Age • NSF OCI Data Strategic Vision and Goals

4. NSF Act of 1950 • “To promote the progress of science…” • Encourage & develop a national policy for the promotion of basic research and education in the math, physical, medical, biological, engineering and other sciences • Initiate & support basic scientific research in the sciences

5. U.S. President Science Advisor Office of Management and Budget Other boards, councils, etc. Office of Science and Technology Policy Science Advisor MajorDepartments Health and Human Services Commerce Agriculture Interior Homeland Security Defense Energy Independent Agencies National Aeronautic and Space Administration Environmental Protection Agency Nuclear Regulatory Commission Smithsonian Institution Other agencies

6. National Science Foundation Director Deputy Director National Science Board • Offices • CyberInfrastructure • Integrative Activities • Polar Programs • International Science and Engineering • Research Directorates • Biological Sciences • Computer & Info. Science & Eng. • Education & Human Resources • Engineering • Geosciences • Mathematical & Physical Sciences • Social, Behaviorial & Econ. Sciences

7. New Modes of Investigation The conduct of science and engineering is changing and evolving. This is due, in large part, to the expansion of networked cyberinfrastructure … NSF Strategic Plan 2006-2011

8. Office of CyberInfrastructure (OCI) Dan Atkins Office Director José Muñoz Dep. Office Dir. Judy Hayden Mary Daley Irene Lombardo Deborah White Lucy Nowell Diana Rhoten Terry Langendoen Kevin Thompson Steve Meacham, Abani Patra Learning & Workforce Virtual Organizations Software/ Middleware High Performance Computing Data

9. Cyberinfrastructure … … is the organized aggregate of technologies that enable us to access and integrate today’s information technology resources—data and storage, computation, communication, visualization, networking, scientific instruments, expertise—to facilitate science and engineering goals. - Fran Berman, Director, SDSC

10. High Performance Computing Data, Data Analysis & Visualization CI Vision :4 Interrelated Perspectives Collaboratories, Observatories & Virtual Organizations Learning & Workforce Development

11. The Fragility of Memory in a Digital Age “In 1964, the first electronic mail message was sent from either MIT, the Carnegie Institute, or Cambridge University. The message does not survive, however, and so there is no documentary record to determine which group sent the pathbreaking message.” Report of the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information Commission on Preservation and Access and the Research Libraries Group

12. NASA plans new search for missing moon tapes Aug. 15, 2006, 5:13PM Seth Borenstein, Associated Press WASHINGTON —NASA said today it was launching an official search for more than 13,000 original tapes of the historic Apollo moon missions.

13. Source: Koehler W. (2004) Information Research, 9 (2), 174

14. Replication of Results: A Cornerstone of Science “…the results of one scientist's experiment are not considered reliable until another scientist has replicated them. The reproducibility of results plays several different, crucial roles in science…[but] in many circumstances, considerations of time and money often make reproducibility impractical.” The Key Role of Replication in Science, Nancy S. Hall, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10 November 2000

15. Replication of Results • First and foremost, scientists attempt to reproduce someone else's experiment if they doubt that the results are accurate, or if the results contradict a view that is widely accepted in the field. • An experiment is so reproducible that replicating it becomes a test of the student; if the student cannot replicate the experiment, it is the student who is at fault. • As a training exercise, a new person [in a group] might be asked to repeat experiments that others have already performed, both to familiarize the newcomer with the work of the group and to give the older members a sense of the newcomer's expertise. The Key Role of Replication in Science, Nancy S. Hall, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10 November 2000

16. Replication of Data Collection Not Always Feasible • Medical experiments carried out over years or decades, involving hundreds or even thousands of human subjects. • Events that are singular and beyond the experimenter's control, like comets, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. The Key Role of Replication in Science, Nancy S. Hall, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10 November 2000

17. A Global Response “Ensuring research data are easily accessible, so that they can be used as often and as widely as possible, is a matter of sound stewardship of public resources.” Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); “Promoting Access to Public Research Data for Scientific, Economic, and Social Development”

18. A Challenge for Society “If we are effectively to preserve for future generations the …. corpus of information in digital form that represents our cultural record, we need … to commit ourselves technically, legally, economically, and organizationally to the full dimensions of the task.” Report of the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information, 1996 Commission on Preservation and Access and the Research Libraries Group

19. TheUniversities “Ever since their inception, universities have been occupied with the fundamental elements of what we now call 'knowledge management', i.e. the creation, collection, preservation and dissemination of knowledge.” Andre Oesterlinck, Knowledge Management in Post-Secondary Education: Universities

20. The distinctive mission of the University is to serve society as a center of higher learning, providing long-term societal benefits through transmitting advanced knowledge, discovering new knowledge, and functioning as an active working repository of organized knowledge. Mission Statement of the University of California

21. The Academic Libraries “It is to the research library community that others will look for the preservation of … digital assets, as they have looked to us in the past for reliable, long-term access to the ‘traditional’ resources and products of research and scholarship.” Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Strategic Plan 2005-2009

22. Information is the currency of the digital age and information integration is the means for mobilizing that currency for discovery, innovation, learning, and progress.

27. t t x x x Time t y y y z z z t x x y y z z Before the Digital Age:A World Constrained to 4 Dimensions

28. t t x x x Time t y y y z z z t x x y y z z 5th Dimension CI

29. Opening a 5th dimension through cyberinfrastructure is the revolutionary force of the digital age …

30. Characteristics of a 5D World: (in priority order) • Time and place are no longer barriers to participation and interaction • Access is open to specialists and non-specialists alike • Information is the primary driver for progress • The realm of the possible is expanded through new capabilities, resources, and mechanisms

31. Individuals, groups, organizations, and nations that don’t embrace the 5th dimension will fall behind in the digital age

32. The World Is Flat - Thomas Friedman The flat world is expanding -Anonymous OCI program director • More room for innovation • New spaces for learning and discovery • Expanded opportunities for collaboration and interaction • Greater capabilities for research and education

33. NSF Draft Strategic Plan for Data, Data Analysis, and Visualization Chapter 3 http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf0728/index.jsp

34. Vision • “Science and engineering digital data are routinely deposited in a well-documented form, are regularly and easily consulted and analyzed by specialists and non-specialists alike, are openly accessible while suitably protected, and are reliably preserved.” • NSF Cyberinfrastructure Vision for 21st Century Discovery, Chapter 3

35. Goals • To catalyze the development of a system of science and engineering data collections that is open, extensible and evolvable. • To support development of a new generation of tools and services facilitating data acquisition, mining, integration, analysis, and visualization.

36. Principles • Data generated with NSF funding will be accessible and reliably preserved • Research/education opportunities determine investment priorities • Broad community engagement is necessary in reviewing and prioritizing data activities

37. Principles (cont’d) • Data is only useful if it can be found, understood, and analyzed • Legitimate privacy, confidentiality, and intellectual property rights must be protected • International, interagency, and public- private partnerships are essential

38. University State College USER Non-profit Federal Commercial Local International Digital Data Preservation and Access Framework • User-centric • Multi-Sector • Sustainable • Reliable • Nimble

39. DataNet • A robust and resilient national and global digital data framework for preservation and access to the resources and products of the digital age • Provide reliable digital preservation, access, integration and analysis capabilities for science and/or engineering over a decades-long timeline: sustainability • Continuously anticipate and adapt to changes in technologies & user needs and expectations • Engage at the frontiers of science & engineering research & education, with research & development to drive the leading edge forward • Serve as component elements of an interoperable data preservation and access network, spanning national and international boundaries: shared governance and standards • Creation of new types of organizations that fully integrate all of these capabilities

40. DataNet Partners • Combine expertise in library and archival sciences; computer, computational and information sciences; cyberinfrastructure; and domain sciences and engineering • Develop models for economic and technologicalsustainability over multiple decades • Engage at the frontiers of science and engineering research and education • Work cooperatively and in coordination to to create a functional data network with revolutionary new capabilities for information access, use, and integration without regard to conventional barriers such as data type and format, discipline or subject area, and time and place/institution.

41. DataNet Partner Responsibilities • Provide for full data management life cycle • Data deposition/acquisition/ingest • Data curation & metadata management • Data protection, including privacy • Data discovery, access, use, & dissemination • Data interoperability, standard, & integration • Data evaluation, analysis, & visualization • Engage in research central to DataNet responsibilities • Education & training • Community & user input assessment • International engagement – collaborate & coordinate closely with preservation & access organizations to catalyze formation of a global data network • Foreign collaboratorsare expected to secure support from their own national sources.

42. SummaryStrategicPlan • Promote a change in culture • Catalyze development of a national digital data framework • Support new generations of tools, services, and capabilities

43. NSFNet Traffic September1991

44. The World Wide DataNet @ T=T0 = Data point-of-presence

45. The World Wide DataNet @ T=TN

46. The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts • Climate Change • Pandemic • Drought and Starvation • Sustainable Energy • Aging Populations • Human Behavior under Stress • Etc.

47. Thank you!