Open data

What is Open Data?

Increasingly, open data sharing is expected

by journals
by funding bodies
by other researchers
by the public

Why is this happening?

'Science is driven by data … society now relies on scientific data of diverse kinds; for example, in responding to disease outbreaks, managing resources, responding to climate change, and improving transportation …. It is obvious that making data widely available is an essential element of scientific research.'

Making Data Maximally Available, Science (editorial), 11 February 2011, 331 (6018): 649. DOI: 10.1126/science.1203354.

The impetus towards open data and data sharing is called many things - open data, open access, and PSI (public sector information). There is also Linked Data, where the value of the open data lies in its linkages to other available data. There is a whole interconnected universe of this kind of data online. Much of it can be re-used.

A diagram of existing Linked Data online - a collection of files and data linked via URIs and RDF in a Semantic Web.

Various bodies such as the Open Knowledge Foundation and the Royal Society are involved in moves to open up data for sharing. The Open Knowledge Foundation has produced a Guide to Open Data Licensing to facilitate openness and sharing.

Many world governments (Australia, the US, NZ, the UK) have open data sites, and organisations such as the World Bank now make data freely available. Data citation is also increasing. DOIs are now being issued for data sets as well as publications. DataCite and the ANDS' Cite My Data service are key sites for news about these developments.

The Panton Principles for open data in science state:

'Science is based on building on, reusing and openly criticising the published body of scientific knowledge. For science to effectively function, and for society to reap the full benefits from scientific endeavours, it is crucial that science data be made open.'

'The volume of scientific data, and the inter-connectedness of the systems under study, makes integration of data a necessity… life scientists must integrate data from across biology and chemistry to comprehend disease and discover cures, and climate change scientists must integrate data from wildly diverse disciplines to understand our current state and predict the impact of new policies.'

Science Commons, Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data

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Library staff monitor these developments constantly. The issues of open data, public sector information and data sharing are covered regularly on the Library's eScholarship blog.