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Articles tagged with: open science

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[7 Aug 2008 | 14 Comments | ]

So BioBarCamp started yesterday with a bang and a great kick off. Not only did we somehow manage to start early we were consistently running ahead of schedule. With several hours initially scheduled for introductions this actually went pretty quick, although it was quite comprehensive. During the introduction many people expressed an interest in ‘Open Science’, ‘Open Data’, or some other open stuff, yet it was already pretty clear that many people meant many different things by this. It was suggested that with the time available we have a discussion …

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[29 Jul 2008 | 10 Comments | ]

The speaker had started the afternoon with a quote from Ian Rogers, ‘Losers wish for scarcity. Winners leverage scale.’ He went on to eloquently, if somewhat bluntly, make the case for exposing data and discuss the importance of making it available in a useable and re-useable form. In particular he discussed the sophisticated re-analysis and mashing that properly exposed data enables while excoriating a number of people in the audience for forcing him to screen scrape data from their sites.
All in all, as you might expect, this was music to …

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[28 Jul 2008 | 4 Comments | ]

Pedro has written a thoughtful post detailing arguments he has received against Open Practice in science. He makes a good point that as the ideas around Open Science spread there will inevitably be a backlash. Part of the response to this is to keep saying – as Pedro does and as Jean-Claude, Bill Hooker and others have said repeatedly that we are not forcing anyone to take this approach. Research funders, such as the BBSRC, may have data sharing policies that require some measure of openness but, at the end …

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[18 Jul 2008 | 11 Comments | ]

Written on the train on the way from Barcelona to Grenoble. This life really is a lot less exotic than it sounds… 
The workshop that I’ve reported on over the past few days was both positive and inspiring. There is a real sense that the ideas of Open Access and Open Data are becoming mainstream. As several speakers commented, within 12-18 months it will be very unusual for any leading institution not to have a policy on Open Access to its published literature. In many ways as far as Open Access …

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[17 Jul 2008 | Comments Off on Policy for open science – the wrap up session | ]

Today Science Commons sponsored a meeting looking at the policy issues involved in Open Access and Open Science more widely. I blogged James Boyle’s keynote earlier and there was some notes along the way via Twitter. This is a set of notes from the last session of the meeting, a panel with Alexis-Michel Mugabushaka (European Science Foundation), Javier Hernandez-Ros (European Commission), Michael Carroll (University of Villanova, Creative Commons) and John Wilbanks (Science Commons). These notes were taken at speed and are my own record of what happened. They should not …

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[17 Jul 2008 | Comments Off on Policy and technology for e-science – A forum on on open science policy | ]

I’m in Barcelona at a satellite meeting of the EuroScience Open Forum organised by Science Commons and a number of their partners.  Today is when most of the meeting will be with forums on ‘Open Access Today’, ‘Moving OA to the Scientific Enterprise:Data, materials, software’, ‘Open access in the the knowledge network’, and ‘Open society, open science: Principle and lessons from OA’. There is also a keynote from Carlos Morais-Pires of the European Commission and the lineup for the panels is very impressive.
Last night was an introduction and social kickoff …

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[13 Jul 2008 | 6 Comments | ]

The UKOLN Institutional Web Managers Workshop is running in Aberdeen from 22-24 July and I am giving a talk discussing the impact of Web2.0 tools on science. My main theme will be the that the main cultural reasons for lack of uptake relate to the fear of losing control over data and ideas. Web2.0 tools rely absolutely on the willingness of people to make useful material available. In science this material is data, ideas, protocols, and analyses. Prior to publication most scientists are very sceptical of making their hard earned …

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[25 Jun 2008 | 20 Comments | ]

Image via Wikipedia
I’m aware I’ve been trailing this idea around for sometime now but its been difficult to pin down due to issues with room bookings. However I’m just going to go ahead and if we end up meeting in a local bar then so be it! If Southampton becomes too difficult I might organise to have it at RAL instead but Southampton is more convenient in many ways.
Science Blogging 2008: London will be held on August 30 at the Royal Institution and as a number of people are coming …

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[12 Jun 2008 | 6 Comments | ]

Science commons and other are organising a workshop on Open Science issues as a satellite meeting of the European Science Open Forum meeting in July. This is pitched as an opportunity to discuss issues around policy, funding, and social issues with an impact on the ‘Open Research Agenda’. In preparation for that meeting I wanted to continue to explore some of the conflicts that arise between wanting to make data freely available as soon as possible and the need to protect the interests of the researchers that have generated data …

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[28 May 2008 | 8 Comments | ]

Regular readers will know I am a great believer in the potential of Web2.0 tools to enable rapid aggregation of loose networks of collaborators to solve a particular problem and the possibilities of using this approach to do science better, faster, and more efficiently. The reason why we haven’t had great successes on this thus far is fundamentally down to the size of the network we have in place and the bias in the expertise of that network towards specific areas. There is a strong bioinformatics/IT bias in the people …