OECD White Paper, written by Toby Green, examining current issues in data discoverability and citation standards and offers a solution through creating industry standards.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/603233448430
Companion web site: http://www.oecd.org/document/25/0,3343,en_21571361_33915056_42600857_1_1_1_1,00.html
This may or may not be related (as I haven't read the article), but I was at a talk during my first week given by Alberto Pepe on the lack of standardization for citing data sets. Because it's so specific, there are very few guidelines and researchers often don't even use proper "eyeballing it" citation formats.
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting to see the way most of the people in the room, who were astronomers, stiffen up and close off their body language when it came time to talk about data sharing/publishing initiatives. I think there's still a huge sense among researchers that they own their data, even if it technically belongs to the university or another body, just because they are the data stewards. It would be interesting to see if this sentiment is different among younger scientists ... most of the people in that room were also mid- to late-career.
Boo, hiss! I agree - it would be neat to see the sentiment amoung younger scientists. I'm curious to see if this bad behavior is being passed down.
ReplyDeleteOne neat snippet I wanted to point out (I'm still reading this, too) is this: OECD launched a service called StatLinks in 2004. The concept is simple. Under each table, chart and graph appearing in an article or book chapter, a DOI (Digital Object Identifier1) link is printed alongside the traditional "Source" legend. By following the DOI link, readers are able to download a spreadsheet containing the data used to create the table, chart or graph. By 2008, OECD had put 20,000 StatLinks into its publications and in 2008 alone, 980,381 spreadsheet files were downloaded. Proof, if it were needed, that readers do take the chance to get hold of original data when it's offered.
So people want data! Give us our data!