[GOAL] Re: Open data

Tue May 8 16:33:28 BST 2012

Jean-Claude -

Indeed; the chair for 'Riding the Wave' was John Wood (ex CEO of my lab, first chair of ESFRI, now on EURAB....)  and the rapporteur was David Giaretta (a member of staff here and also Director of the Alliance for Permanent Access.

The lab where I work has long supported open data linked with publications.  Current projects in this area include PaNdata, but there is long-term work in the BADC (British Atmospheric Data Centre) for example.  The lab is part of STFC and through that (funding council) mechanism we are influencing RCUK - as are the other funding councils with research labs and/or data centres.

However Peter is right; we need to sort out very clearly rights and entitlements of users of so-called open data.  It is a much more complex business than use (even re-use, mining) of textual scholarly publications. While considering mining of text publications why on earth would anyone 'scrape' tables from a publication if the data were available in all its richness (with metadata) openly?  

It is worth noting that the OpenAIREPlus project is extending from scholarly publications to datasets and are adopting progressively if reluctantly (they tend to come from a Dublin Core mindset) CERIF to gain the expressivity needed.

Best
Keith

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Keith G Jeffery      Director International Relations       STFC
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-----Original Message-----
From: goal-bounces at eprints.org [mailto:goal-bounces at eprints.org] On Behalf Of Guédon Jean-Claude
Sent: 08 May 2012 16:06
To: goal at eprints.org
Subject: [GOAL] Re: Open data

Regarding open data, the European Commission has been involved in this kind of issue for over a year now, if not more. In effect, the UK government is simply beginning to act seriously on a concern that the EC has been expressing for a long while now. The EC report "Riding the wave", published in October 2010, already mentioned the desirability of open data and open data infrastructures.

Jean-Claude Guédon

--
Jean-Claude Guédon
Professeur titulaire
Littérature comparée
Université de Montréal

Le mardi 08 mai 2012 à 15:01 +0100, Richard Poynder a écrit :

> [SH] PM-R keeps reiterating that Gratis OA is not enough,  but he
> takes no practical account of the fact that we don't even have Gratis
> OA, that Gratis OA is within reach, via mandates, and that more than
> Gratis OA is not within reach.
> 
>  
> 
> >> 
> 
>  
> 
> One of the points I take away from David Willetts’ speech to the
> Publishers Association last week is that, whether one welcomes it or
> not, the UK government has decided that scientific open data is an
> issue that it needs to take an interest in, and to facilitate. 
> 
>  
> 
>  As Willetts put it, “Data mining is becoming an important part of
> scientific advance, with computer scientists working collaboratively
> with researchers and publishers to develop the necessary tools and
> technologies. With well over a million academic articles every year,
> researchers wanting to keep abreast of developments in their field are
> going to need analytic tools just to know where to start. There are
> proven benefits for humankind from text and data mining, such as the
> discovery of new treatments for Alzheimer’s. So we are considering how
> to advance UK capability in data mining in the light of the
> recommendations on intellectual property from Ian Hargreaves.” 
> 
>  
> 
> This suggests to me that effective text and data mining could be
> within reach, and the UK government seems intent on providing a ladder
> to allow researchers reach it. 
> 
>  
> 
> I think it is probably also fair to assume that other governments, and
> funders, will begin to take a similar position.  
> 
>  
> 
> As always, the danger is that governments might misunderstand the
> issues, and provide the wrong type of ladder. For that reason, the
> more clearly the research community understands exactly what it needs,
> and articulates those needs, the more likely it is that any ladder
> that governments provide will prove fit for purpose.
> 
>  
> 
> Richard Poynder
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 08/05/2012 11:50, Stevan Harnad wrote: 
> 
> > For the perplexed reader: 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 1. Peter Murray-Rust is a dedicated advocate for certain text-mining
> > and
> > re-use rights that are very important and very fruitful in certain
> > fields
> > of research (but not all, and probably not many).
> > 
> > 
> > 2. One of the necessary conditions for the kind of text-mining and
> > re-use rights PM-R seeks is free online access to the articles
> > (Gratis OA).
> > 
> > 
> > 3. We do not yet have Gratis OA, because authors are not providing
> > it, partly out of sluggishness and partly out of fear (see Keith
> > Jeffery's posting on publisher FUD), even though virtually all
> > authors 
> > want Gratis OA and even though the majority of journals (including 
> > almost all the top journals in almost all fields) already endorse
> > their 
> > authors providing immediate Gratis OA by self-archiving their
> > refereed
> > final drafts in their institutional repository (Green Gratis OA).
> > 
> > 
> > 4. Only about 20% of articles are being made Gratis OA (because
> > of author sluggishness and fear of FUD) even though over 60% 
> > of journals endorse immediate Green Gratis OA, 90% endorse it 
> > after an embargo, and user needs during the embargo can be
> > fulfilled 
> > via "Almost-OA" using the institutional repositories'
> > semi-automatic 
> > email-eprint-request Button.
> > 
> > 
> > 5. Research institutions and funders are in a position to
> > mandate (require) Green Gratis OA, as the remedy for author
> > sluggishness and fear of FUD, which would immediately
> > generate at least 60% immediate Green Gratis OA, plus 40%
> > embargoed OA and Almost-OA.
> > 
> > 
> > PM-R keeps reiterating that Gratis OA is not enough, 
> > but he takes no practical account of the fact that we don't 
> > even have Gratis OA, that Gratis OA is within reach, via 
> > mandates, and that more than Gratis OAis not within reach.
> > 
> > 
> > We would be at an OA impasse if grasping the Green
> > Gratis OA that is already within immediate reach of
> > Green Gratis OA mandates is discouraged as not being
> > enough, because it does not meet all the potential needs
> > of some fields.
> > 
> > 
> > Whatever you call it, "Libre OA" or Gratis OA plus certain
> > further re-use rights is not within reach today. Publishers oppose
> > it and it is not at all clear whether all, many, or most authors
> > want it -- but it is clear that only 20% of authors are providing
> > even just Gratis OA.
> > 
> > 
> > Hence immediate burden of the OA movement is not, as PM-R 
> > suggests, to gather evidence as to how many authors need and 
> > want the further re-use rights PM-R seeks. Nor is there any
> > practical 
> > strategy for mandating the further re-use rights PM-R seeks.
> > 
> > 
> > The immediate priority is to mandate the Green Gratis
> > OA that is already within reach -- and that also happens
> > to be a necessary condition for the further re-use rights PM-R 
> > seeks.
> > 
> > 
> > I urge PM-R to stop arguing that Gratis OA is not enough,
> > and that what is needed instead is Gratis OA plus certain 
> > further re-use rights.
> > 
> > 
> > Stop letting the out-of-reach best get in the way of 
> > grasping the within reach better.
> > 
> > 
> > We'll all end up a lot better off that way.
> > 
> > 
> > Stevan Harnad
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> 
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