[open-science] “We are entering an era of open science” says EU Vice President Neelie Kroes at launch of new global Research Data Alliance

[Jonathan Gray]

Hi Matt,

This is great to know. While the emphasis on open data may be implicit and
evident to partners, it is not so evident on the current website! So happy
to hear that there is broad support. :-)

To be a bit more specific, it is not clear that the 'sharing' and 'reuse'
that are described on the RDA website extend to the public, as opposed to
sharing between institutions or researchers. Also it is not clear that
there is a principled commitment to openness (as in the OpenDefinition.org)
and removing restrictions on reuse (as per the Panton Principles), as
opposed to - for example - the more typical terms and conditions for
research data distribution services which often permit private use, but
which may limit redistribution and further downstream sharing.

Typically the reuse rights for aggregators are only as permissive as
upstream providers (researchers, institutions, etc) allow, so while there
may be a commitment to open data from the RDA, this would have to be
accompanied by serious commitments from funders, research bodies, national
agencies, etc. Given that the rights clearance, evangelism, standards
building and best practises work involved in explicitly opening up the
world's research data is a non-trivial, I'd expect open data to be a core
focus of at least one of the working groups. Perhaps it already is?

In any case - great to hear that there is core support for open data, and I
look forward to hearing more about RDA plans on this front.

All the best,

Jonathan


On 22 March 2013 11:13, Matt Jones <jones at nceas.ucsb.edu> wrote:

> Jonathan --
>
> At DataONE, we've been involved in the talks leading to the formation of
> the Research Data Alliance, as have many of the other DataNet partners in
> the US.  DataONE and these other partners all have a commitment to open
> data, and I fully expect that it would be a major emphasis of RDA. I think
> it is implicit in almost all of the activities I have seen to date.
>  Certainly most of the the working group activities have moved beyond
> simply stating that data should be open, and instead focus on how one gets
> there via metadata interoperability, long-term preservation, etc. (see
> http://rd-alliance.org/working-groups/current-candidate-groups/). Are you
> thinking there is some explicit risk that RDA will try to be non-open, or
> are you just trying to raise the profile of open data within the RDA
> activities? Thanks for the clarification...
>
> Matt
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 8:58 AM, Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org>wrote:
>
>> FYI
>>
>>
>> http://blog.okfn.org/2013/03/21/we-are-entering-an-era-of-open-science-says-eu-vp-neelie-kroes/
>>
>> Is anyone in touch with or involved with the Research Data Alliance? It
>> would be wonderful if there could be an open data working group, and a
>> stronger focus on open data (and the Panton Principles) more generally!
>>
>> http://rd-alliance.org/
>>
>> --
>> Jonathan Gray <http://jonathangray.org/> | @jwyg<http://twitter.com/jwyg>
>> Director of Policy and Ideas
>> The Open Knowledge Foundation <http://okfn.org/> | @okfn<http://twitter.com/okfn>
>> Support our work: okfn.org/support
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>


-- 
Jonathan Gray <http://jonathangray.org/> | @jwyg <http://twitter.com/jwyg>
Director of Policy and Ideas
The Open Knowledge Foundation <http://okfn.org/> |
@okfn<http://twitter.com/okfn>
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