Session Two: The Status of Access to Scientific Data

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

2. Why Access Is Important: Changing Approaches to Science • Experimentation and testing • Modeling and projections • Now research is an evolving, data-intensive 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. Benefits of Changing to Open Data Access Policies • Scientific advance—both substantive and methodological • Reductions in the cost of research • Innovation and economic growth

6. Broad Implications of Limiting Access to Data • Higher research costs • Lost opportunity costs • Barriers to innovation • Less effective scientific cooperation and education • Sub-optimal quality of data • Widening gap between OECD and developing countries Openness thus should be the default rule, subject only to legitimate and well-justified exceptions.

7. Legitimate Restrictions on Public Access to Data • National security and public safety • Personal privacy and confidentiality • Proprietary rights of private-sector parties

8. 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

9. 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)

10. Proposed GEOSS Guidelines • Promoting implementation of the principle of full and open exchange of data in accordance with the GEOSS Data Sharing Principles • Encouraging GEOSS users to reuse and re-disseminate shared data, metadata, and products • Ensuring consistency in the implementation of the GEOSS Data Sharing Principles with relevant international instruments and national policies and legislation • Implementing pricing policies consistent with the GEOSS Data Sharing Principles • Reducing the time delays for making data available through GEOSS • Promoting research and education uses of GEOSS data • Developing metrics and indicators for GEOSS data sharing activities • Developing effective coordination and outreach mechanisms for implementing the GEOSS Data Sharing Principles

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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