tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/open-data-3962/articlesOpen data – The Conversation2022-04-28T14:42:10Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1813872022-04-28T14:42:10Z2022-04-28T14:42:10ZForests in the tropics are critical for tackling climate change – yet the people showing how are being exploited<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460359/original/file-20220428-9923-spo5l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3761%2C2505&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-ancient-tropical-forest-mist-1197808021">Tanes Ngamsom/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nowhere is nature more vibrant than in Earth’s tropical forests. Thought to contain more than half of all <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.abc6228">plant</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0301-1">animal</a> species, the forests around Earth’s equator have sustained foragers and farmers since the earliest days of humanity. Today, their bounty underpins much of our globalised diet and holds vast potential for <a href="https://theconversation.com/dwindling-tropical-rainforests-mean-lost-medicines-yet-to-be-discovered-in-their-plants-126578">new and existing medicine</a>. Those that remain lock up <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2035-0">billions of tonnes</a> of carbon dioxide each year, providing the best natural solution for climate change. There is no credible path to net zero emissions in which tropical lands are ignored.</p>
<p>Nations are clamouring for information on how much carbon tropical forests can keep out of a rapidly warming atmosphere to help limit global warming to well below 2°C. The best way to study these forests is through long-term measurements taken in carefully defined plots, one tree at a time, year-after-year. These plots tell us what species are present and need help, which forests store the most carbon and grow fastest and which trees excel at resisting heat and producing timber.</p>
<p>Far from the laboratories and capital cities where forests are studied and legislated upon, tropical people gather the data that forms the basis of our knowledge about these vital ecosystems. Conventional wisdom might suggest that making all their data freely accessible is egalitarian. But for the people measuring tropical forest species and carbon, offering the fruits of their labour without fair investment won’t reduce inequalities – it will increase them. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person in a harness ascends the trunk of a tropical tree." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460299/original/file-20220428-12-bzy2dn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Colombian colleague measures a giant Dipteryx tree in the Chocó rainforest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zorayda Restrepo Correa</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That’s because those gathering the data in tropical forests are extraordinarily disadvantaged compared to the researchers and policymakers who use it. Field workers can put their lives at risk to expand the world’s understanding of one of its best bulwarks against climate change and its biggest repository of biodiversity. For this, they receive scant protection and meagre compensation.</p>
<p>Valuing these workers is essential to make the most of what nature can offer to tackle biodiversity loss and the climate crisis. For example, tropical forests have an unparalleled ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. But without measuring this, the potentially massive contribution of tropical forests to slowing climate change will be overlooked, undervalued and inadequately paid for.</p>
<p>Now, 25 leading researchers in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01738-7">tropical forest science</a> from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America are demanding an end to the exploitation which undermines the sustainability of forests themselves.</p>
<h2>Precarious, dangerous and underfunded</h2>
<p>Measuring the biodiversity and carbon of a single hectare of Amazon forest requires collecting and identifying <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.85.1.156#:%7E:text=Contrary%20to%20accepted%20opinion%2C%20upper,soils%20on%20all%20three%20continents.">up to ten times</a> the number of tree species present in the UK’s entire 24 million hectares. The skill, risks and costs involved in gathering this information are ignored by those who expect it for free.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two world maps separately coloured to denote national GDP and tropical forest area." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460294/original/file-20220428-26-qjui0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How (a) 2008–2018 national average GDP per capita compares with (b) tropical forest area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01738-7">Lima et al. (2022)</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fieldworkers risk their lives to measure and identify remote tropical trees. Many face the threat of kidnapping and murder, not to mention natural hazards like snake bites, floods and fires. Most long-term workers have endured infectious diseases such as malaria and typhoid, as well as dangerous transport and the risk of gender-based violence. But they may be out of work as soon as the data are collected. How many of those using their outputs to calibrate satellite instruments or write high-level reports, like <a href="https://theconversation.com/ipcc-says-the-tools-to-stop-catastrophic-climate-change-are-in-our-hands-heres-how-to-use-them-179654">the recent one</a> from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will face similar conditions?</p>
<p>It costs an estimated <a href="https://rainfor.org/upload/publication-store/2021/ForestPlotsnet_Taking_the_pulse_of_forests_plot_networks_BiolCons_2021f.pdf">US$7 million a year</a> to measure how much carbon is sequestered by intact tropical forests. This easily exceeds piecemeal funding by a handful of charities and research councils. Because investment in field research is so inadequate, tropical nations have little idea how their forests are faring as climate change accelerates. They’re unable to say which are slowing it and lack the bargaining power to raise the finance needed to protect them.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the US spends over US$90 million annually on its <a href="https://www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/bus-org-documents/docs/FIA%20FY2020%20Business%20Report%20-%20draft%20tables.pdf">national forest inventory</a>. Wealthy countries have a firm understanding of their forest carbon balances, and have little trouble demonstrating to the world the contributions their forests make to slowing climate change.</p>
<h2>A fair deal for field workers</h2>
<p>A different approach must put the needs of data gatherers first and demand those benefiting from their efforts contribute funding and other support. Equal collaboration should be the goal of funders, producers and users of tropical forest science alike.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students gather hold a measuring tape around a tree trunk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460280/original/file-20220428-22-8vn1bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Field botanist Moses Sainge trains university students in data collection, Sierra Leone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Moses N. Sainge</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For that to happen, research funding must cover not only the costs of acquiring the data, but also of training and guaranteeing safe and secure employment for forest workers. Involving local communities is critical too – they often own the forests and need economic opportunities as much as anyone. After the fieldwork, there should be funding for the essential work of curating, managing and sharing the data.</p>
<p>Authors and journals who publish scientific studies on tropical forests can help by always including the people who collect the data as authors and publishing in their languages, rather than assuming English is enough.</p>
<p>Everyone could eventually benefit from the open sharing of data. After all, the tree of knowledge yields many fruits. But unless we dedicate ourselves to sustaining its roots, there will be little left to harvest.</p>
<hr>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oliver Phillips receives funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council, the European Research Council, the European Space Agency, the European Union and the Royal Society. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aida Cuni Sanchez receives funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Renato Lima received funding from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). </span></em></p>Tropical forests are one of humanity’s best hopes for slowing climate change.Oliver Phillips, Professor of Tropical Ecology, University of LeedsAida Cuni Sanchez, Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Honorary Research Fellow, University of YorkRenato Lima, Associate Research Scientist in Forest Ecology, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1788692022-03-24T12:16:23Z2022-03-24T12:16:23ZNew data-sharing requirements from the National Institutes of Health are a big step toward more open science – and potentially higher-quality research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453967/original/file-20220323-27-6bf2wz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=137%2C0%2C5251%2C3074&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In order to get funding from the National Institutes of Health, researchers now need a plan for sharing and managing their data.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/learning-from-the-scholar-royalty-free-illustration/453408843?adppopup=true">Exdez/Digital Vision Vectors via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Starting on Jan. 25, 2023, many of the 2,500 institutions and 300,000 researchers that the U.S. <a href="https://www.nih.gov/">National Institutes of Health</a> supports will need to provide a formal, detailed plan for publicly sharing the data generated by their research. For many in the scientific community, this new NIH <a href="https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-013.html">Data Management and Sharing Policy</a> sounds like a no-brainer. </p>
<p>The incredibly quick development of rapid tests and vaccines for COVID-19 demonstrate the success that can follow the open sharing of data within the research community. The importance and impact of that data even drove a White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/21/executive-order-ensuring-a-data-driven-response-to-covid-19-and-future-high-consequence-public-health-threats/">Executive Order</a> mandating that “the heads of all executive departments and agencies” share “COVID-19-related data” publicly last year.</p>
<p>I am the Director of the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Open Programs Office. At <a href="https://openr.it/">Open@RIT</a>, my colleagues and I work with faculty and researchers to help them openly share their research and data in a manner that provides others the rights to access, reuse and redistribute that work with as few barriers or restrictions a possible. In the sciences, these practices are often referred to as open data and open science.</p>
<p>The journal Nature has called the impact of the NIH’s new data management policy “seismic,” saying that it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00402-1">could potentially create a “global standard” for data sharing</a>. This type of data sharing is likely to produce many benefits to science, but there also are some concerns over how researchers will meet the new requirements.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453701/original/file-20220322-23-1ovxpxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The large, brown building that houses the NIH." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453701/original/file-20220322-23-1ovxpxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453701/original/file-20220322-23-1ovxpxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453701/original/file-20220322-23-1ovxpxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453701/original/file-20220322-23-1ovxpxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453701/original/file-20220322-23-1ovxpxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453701/original/file-20220322-23-1ovxpxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453701/original/file-20220322-23-1ovxpxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The National Institutes of Health has had data-sharing guidelines in place for years, but the new rules are by far the most comprehensive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NIH_Clinical_Research_Center_aerial.jpg#/media/File:NIH_Clinical_Research_Center_aerial.jpg">NIH</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What to share and how to share it</h2>
<p>The NIH’s new policy around data sharing replaces <a href="https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-03-032.html">a mandate from 2003</a>. Even so, for some scientists, the new policy will be a big change. Dr. Francis S. Collins, then Director of the NIH, said in the 2020 statement <a href="https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/statement-final-nih-policy-data-management-sharing">announcing the coming policy changes</a> that the goal is to “shift the culture of research” so that data sharing is the norm, rather than the exception.</p>
<p>Specifically, the policy requires two things. First, that researchers share all the scientific data that other teams would need in order to “validate and replicate” the original research findings. And second, that researchers include a two-page <a href="https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-014.html">data management plan</a> as part of their application for any NIH funding.</p>
<p>So what exactly is a data management plan? Take an imaginary study on heat waves and heatstroke, for example. All good researchers would collect measurements of temperature, humidity, time of year, weather maps, the health attributes of the participants and a lot of other data. </p>
<p>Starting next year, research teams will need to have determined what reliable data they will use, how the data will be stored, when others would be able to get access to it, whether or not special software would be needed to read the data, where to find that software and many other details – all before the research even begins so that these things can be included in the proposal’s data management plan. </p>
<p>Additionally, researchers applying for NIH funding will need to ensure that their data is available and stored in a way that persists long after the initial project is over. </p>
<p>The NIH has stated that it will support – with additional funding – the costs related to the <a href="https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-015.html">collection, sharing</a> and <a href="https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-016.html">storing of data</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453959/original/file-20220323-13-rtceks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The logo of the Human Genome Project" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453959/original/file-20220323-13-rtceks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453959/original/file-20220323-13-rtceks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453959/original/file-20220323-13-rtceks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453959/original/file-20220323-13-rtceks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453959/original/file-20220323-13-rtceks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453959/original/file-20220323-13-rtceks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453959/original/file-20220323-13-rtceks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The open sharing of data has a history of promoting scientific excellence and was central to the Human Genome Project that first mapped the entire human genome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Logo_HGP.jpg#/media/File:Logo_HGP.jpg">U.S. Department of Energy, Human Genome Project via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Sharing data promotes open science</h2>
<p>The NIH’s case for the new policy is that it will be “<a href="https://osp.od.nih.gov/2020/10/29/nih-releases-new-policy-data-management-and-sharing/">good for science</a>” because it maximizes availability of data for other researchers, addresses problems of reproducibility, will lead to better protection and use of data and increase transparency to ensure public trust and accountability.</p>
<p>The first big change in the new policy – to specifically share the data needed to validate and replicate – seems aimed at the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/533452a">proliferation of research that can’t be reproduced</a>. Arguably, by ensuring that all of the relevant data from a given experiment is available, the scientific world would be better able to evaluate and validate through replication the quality of research much more easily.</p>
<p>I strongly believe that requiring data-sharing and management plans addresses a big challenge of open science: being able to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-020-09330-3">quickly find the right data, as well as access, and apply it</a>. The NIH says, and I agree, that the requirement for data management plans will help make the use of open data faster and more efficient. From the Human Genome Project in the 1990s to the recent, rapid development of tests and vaccines for COVID-19, the benefits of greater openness in science have been borne out.</p>
<h2>Will the new requirements be a burden?</h2>
<p>At its core, the goal of the new policy is to make science more open and to fight bad science. But as beneficial as the new policy is likely to be, it’s not without costs and shortfalls. </p>
<p>First, replicating a study – even one where the data is already available – still consumes expensive human, computing and material resources. The system of science <a href="https://theconversation.com/real-crisis-in-psychology-isnt-that-studies-dont-replicate-but-that-we-usually-dont-even-try-47249">doesn’t reward the researchers who reproduce an experiment’s results</a> as highly as the ones who originate it. I believe the new policy will improve some aspects of replication, but will only address a few links in the overall chain.</p>
<p>Second are concerns about the increased workload and financial challenges involved in meeting the requirements. Many scientists aren’t used to preparing a detailed plan of what they will collect and how they will share it as a part of asking for funding. This means they may need training for themselves or the support of trained staff to do so.</p>
<h2>Part of a global trend toward open science</h2>
<p>The NIH isn’t the only federal agency pursuing more open data and science. In 2013, the Obama administration mandated that all agencies with a budget of $100 million or more must provide open access to their publications and data. The National Science Foundation <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/02/22/expanding-public-access-results-federally-funded-research">published their first open data policy</a> two years earlier. Many European Union members are crafting national policies on open science – most notably France, which has already <a href="https://www.ouvrirlascience.fr/second-national-plan-for-open-science/">published it’s second</a>. </p>
<p>The cultural shift in science that NIH Director Collins mentioned in 2020 has been happening – but for many, like me, who support these efforts, the progress has been painfully slow. I hope that the new NIH open data policy will help this movement gain momentum.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Jacobs directs, Open@RIT, part of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Open@RIT has been funded in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to provide services in support of Open Work to their faculty. He is a volunteer member of the Steering Committee of the ToDo Group, a member organization of the Linux Foundation that supports Open Source Program Offices in industry.</span></em></p>Starting in 2023, all research proposals funded by the NIH will need to include a data sharing and management plan. An expert on open science explains the requirements and how they might improve science.Stephen Jacobs, Professor of Interactive Games and Media, Rochester Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1578262021-04-11T16:54:32Z2021-04-11T16:54:32ZHow we mapped billions of trees in West Africa using satellites, supercomputers and AI<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391657/original/file-20210325-23-vh42gj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C18%2C4007%2C2661&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Modern computing allows to spot isolated trees and shrubs in semi-arid areas, facilitating research on the evolution of vegetation cover.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martin Brandt</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The possibility that vegetation cover in semi-arid and arid areas was retreating has long been an issue of international concern. In the 1930s it was first theorized that the Sahara was expanding and woody vegetation was on the retreat. In the 1970s, spurred by the <a href="https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/sahel-drought/">“Sahel drought”</a>, focus was on the threat of “desertification”, caused by human overuse and/or climate change. In recent decades, the potential impact of climate change on the vegetation has been the main concern, along with the feedback of vegetation on the climate, associated with the role of the vegetation in the global carbon cycle.</p>
<p>Using high-resolution satellite data and machine-learning techniques at supercomputing facilities, we have now been able to map billions of individual trees and shrubs in West Africa. The goal is to better understand the real state of vegetation coverage and evolution in arid and semi-arid areas.</p>
<h2>Finding a shrub in the desert – from space</h2>
<p>Since the 1970s, satellite data have been used extensively to map and monitor vegetation in semi-arid areas worldwide. Images are available in “high” spatial resolution (with NASA’s satellites <a href="https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/multispectral-scanner-system">Landsat MSS</a> and <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/usgs-eros-archive-landsat-archives-landsat-4-5-thematic-mapper-tm-level-1-data">TM</a>, and ESA’s satellites <a href="https://earth.esa.int/eogateway/missions/spot">Spot</a> and <a href="https://sentinels.copernicus.eu/web/sentinel/home">Sentinel</a>) and “medium or low” spatial resolution (<a href="https://earth.esa.int/eogateway/missions/noaa">NOAA AVHRR</a> and <a href="https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/">MODIS</a>).</p>
<p>To accurately analyse vegetation cover at continental or global scale, it is necessary to use the highest-resolution images available – with a resolution of 1 metre or less – and up until now the costs of acquiring and analysing the data have been prohibitive. Consequently, most studies have relied on moderate- to low-resolution data. This has not allowed for the identification of individual trees, and therefore these studies only yield aggregate estimates of vegetation cover and productivity, mixing herbaceous and woody vegetation.</p>
<p>In a new study covering a large part of the semi-arid Sahara-Sahel-Sudanian zone of West Africa, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2824-5">published in <em>Nature</em></a> in October 2020, an international group of researchers was able to overcome these limitations. By combining an immense amount of high-resolution satellite data, advanced computing capacities, machine-learning techniques and extensive field data gathered over decades, we were able to identify individual trees and shrubs with a crown area of more than 3 m<sup>2</sup> with great accuracy. The result is a database of 1.8 billion trees in the region studied, available to all interested.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391659/original/file-20210325-21-1nbg76x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391659/original/file-20210325-21-1nbg76x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391659/original/file-20210325-21-1nbg76x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391659/original/file-20210325-21-1nbg76x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391659/original/file-20210325-21-1nbg76x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=699&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391659/original/file-20210325-21-1nbg76x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=699&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391659/original/file-20210325-21-1nbg76x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=699&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supercomputing, machine learning, satellite data and field assessments allow to map billions of individual trees in West Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martin Brandt</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Presently, this work is expanded to cover the semi-arid belt south of the Sahara across the African continent to the Red Sea. The current count of trees is 13 billion, and further refinements of the methodology are being made. It is expected that the geographical coverage will be widened, first to the rest of the semi-arid zones of Africa and then to other continents.</p>
<p>To cover Africa’s entire Sahelian zone, from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, we used approximately 100,000 satellite images – for a total data volume of hundreds of terabytes. Using NASA and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Waters">Blue Waters</a> supercomputers, the images were stitched together to create a continuous mosaic. The trees were then identified using <a href="https://theconversation.com/deep-learning-and-neural-networks-77259">deep learning</a>, an artificial-intelligence technique in which the computer is trained to recognize individual trees. During the training, tens of thousands of trees were “shown” to the computer by an operator, using field knowledge in combination with image-interpretation skills. Subsequently, the results of the machine-based identification were checked. Overall, the accuracy has proven to be highly correlated with field measurements.</p>
<h2>Unexpected information on individual trees</h2>
<p>Our database of trees and shrubs contains information on each tree, its exact location (typically with an uncertainty of few meters), its crown size, the date of acquisition of the satellite image in which it was identified, and its estimated above-ground woody mass and carbon content. In the future, other information, e.g. its height and phenological characteristics may be added.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391660/original/file-20210325-21-rsnscr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391660/original/file-20210325-21-rsnscr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391660/original/file-20210325-21-rsnscr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391660/original/file-20210325-21-rsnscr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391660/original/file-20210325-21-rsnscr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391660/original/file-20210325-21-rsnscr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391660/original/file-20210325-21-rsnscr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The relationship between humans and trees cannot always be related with losses in tree cover, as people in the semi-arid Sahel safeguard and promote trees within settlements and farmlands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martin Brandt</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Already at this early stage of the project, important implications are evident. In the West-African study we found many more trees than we would have expected. Other data-sources actually report that trees are virtually absent in the Sahara and North-Sahelian zone, yet we found hundreds of millions of trees. The carbon stock associated with these trees is larger – and more stable – than carbon stocks in the herbaceous vegetation. Moreover, we found that trees in farmlands are generally larger than in pristine savannas, and the overall tree cover in populated and managed places is high. This exemplifies that high density of human population cannot always be related to losses in tree cover, as people in the semi-arid Sahel safeguard and promote trees within settlements and farmlands.</p>
<h2>What will the database be used for?</h2>
<p>This database is expected to be useful for a range of different purposes. In particular, it will constitute a baseline, allowing for future studies of the temporal evolution of woody vegetation at large scale, possibly even at a continental or global scale.</p>
<p>The database will allow analysis of which factors control the occurence of trees in drylands, for example human pressure, or environmental factors such as rainfall, soils or geomorphology. The information will feed into the modeling of ecosystems and “full Earth System”, since trees are of great significance in the interaction between the atmosphere and the land surface, controlling both carbon exchange, evapotranspiration and aerodynamic roughness.</p>
<p>Finally, the information could be used to inform and support environmental policies at national and international levels.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=121&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=121&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=121&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the Axa Research Fund has been supporting nearly 600 projects around the world conducted by researchers from 54 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the <a href="https://www.axa-research.org/en/">Axa Research Fund</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Brandt a reçu des financements de AXA post doctoral research fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kjeld Rasmussen ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Advanced techniques allowed our research team to build an open database of billions of individual trees and challenge some common perceptions about vegetation in arid and semi-arid zones.Martin Brandt, Assistant professor of geography, University of CopenhagenKjeld Rasmussen, Associate professor emeritus, University of CopenhagenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1572472021-04-05T16:34:01Z2021-04-05T16:34:01ZOpen science can help accelerate – and protect – high-quality research in low-income countries<p>The public call to make science more open and transparent is not only longstanding, it has been intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic. In response to the health crisis, researchers around the world have gotten together and worked to understand the nature of the disease, develop vaccines, and create efficient ways to diagnose and treat patients.</p>
<p>While the burst in research is gratifying – from just January to May 2020, more than 23,000 scientific papers were published, creating a <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/scientists-are-drowning-covid-19-papers-can-new-tools-keep-them-afloat">“massive literature trove”</a> – the numbers are growing so quickly that it can be difficult to distinguish between groundbreaking research and mere noise. </p>
<p>Here, open science could help filtering out sketchy research, thus protect the public’s interests from the danger of politicised science in less-democratic countries. But the process has to be handled carefully so it does not put researchers from mid- to low-income countries in a vulnerable position.</p>
<h2>Filtering out shady research</h2>
<p>As a part of the crisis response, Indonesian researchers are persevering in speeding up their research. However, the country is also an unfortunate example where science and politics could be an odd and sometimes dangerous union.</p>
<p>Many observers mentioned that Indonesian government’s responses to Covid-19 crisis have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1868103420935561">incoherent, confusing, and unclear</a>. Unwilling to apply stricter quarantine policies, the government bet on a vaccination plan, including developing a domestically produced vaccine. Two vaccines are currently under development: <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/10/15/development-of-merah-putih-vaccine-reaches-55-percent-eijkman.html">Merah-Putih</a>, by a research consortium led by Eijkman Institute of Microbiology, and <a href="https://en.tempo.co/read/1441394/questioning-nusantara-vaccine">Nusantara</a>, developed by a research team under the leadership of Terawan Agus Putranto, the former health minister. Replaced in December 2020, he was at the centre of a dispute after promoting a <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/indonesian-health-minister-under-fire-pushing-his-own-controversial-stroke-treatment">controversial health treatment against stroke</a> and <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2020/09/the-man-most-responsible-for-indonesias-covid-crisis/">playing down the scale of the pandemic</a> while holding the ministerial position.</p>
<p>Despite the unconventional approach of developing a vaccine, the Nusantara team claims that their dendritic-based vaccine would produce stronger cellular antibodies that <a href="https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20210219090044-20-608209/idi-ragu-antibodi-vaksin-nusantara-terawan-tahan-seumur-hidup">could last a lifetime</a>. Such extraordinary claims are regarded by a number of molecular biologists <a href="https://www.suara.com/health/2021/02/18/111852/ahli-sebut-vaksin-nusantara-tidak-rasional-dikembangkan-ini-penjelasannya?page=all">as being impossible</a>. In particular, dendritic-based therapy is more common in treating cancer patients and its research is still in the early-phase. Moreover, the production plan of Nusantara vaccine is deemed unsuitable for emergency roll-out. </p>
<p>Instead of disseminating their findings to the academic community, the team <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2021/03/11/after-questioning-terawans-vaccine-drug-regulator-faces-political-pressure.html">sought support</a> from parliamentary members by politically pressing the Indonesian Food and Drug Supervisory Agency to put an approval stamp for progressing to the mid-stage clinical trial. During the hearing, the parliamentary members <a href="https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20210310211121-20-616281/izin-vaksin-nusantara-alot-komisi-ix-usul-buang-astrazeneca">made accusations</a> mixed with ethno-nationalist sentiments that the agency head intentionally hampered the vaccine development and not being appreciative to their “fellow Indonesians’ creations”.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the pressure, the agency head was adamant about her decision to delay its progress. While <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04685603">the study protocol is registered publicly</a>, no other public records, including report or data, are available to the public and thus making scientific scrutiny virtually impossible.</p>
<p>Nusantara vaccine is not the first. Previously, Universitas Airlangga’s <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2020/06/17/preventing-misleading-claim-of-covid-19-cure.html">drug research</a> and Universitas Gadjah Mada’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesian-made-covid-19-breathalyser-sensitivity-comparable-to-rt-pcr-155497">breath analyser</a> were facing the same criticism due to the teams’ failure to made their detailed work publicly available while the need to immediately translate the research findings into practice was essential. </p>
<p>While Universitas Airlangga’s drug research was putting on hold, the breath analyser is planned to be <a href="https://www.ugm.ac.id/en/news/20824-massive-distribution-of-genose-tools-2-021-tools-are-ready-for-dispatch">widely used</a> to screen people in schools, offices, tourist attractions, and cinemas with only partial scientific data available to public. </p>
<h2>The need for public scrutiny</h2>
<p>Had open science been a norm, the flowery claims would have been easier to deflate, preventing the needless waste of public funds. Moreover, only truly groundbreaking research will survive scientific scrutiny. Reliable research will progress faster since the teams allow scientific community and lay public to verify claims and participate in expansion of the research. </p>
<p>It is virtually impossible to expect lay people to put their trust in science and scientists, while scientists are unwilling to hold themselves accountable for their own claims. It is important to note that lay people <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002460">would trust scientists</a> who are persevering to get their research right, not for being right.</p>
<p>To optimise limited research budget, bringing ongoing publicly funded research projects visible to the public through <a href="https://www.cos.io/initiatives/prereg">pre-registration</a> or <a href="https://www.cos.io/initiatives/registered-reports">registered report</a> which means scientists write down their study details in a time-stamped document before actually collecting data, would improve confidence in claims and avoid duplication. </p>
<p>After finishing the project, posting research report as a preprint along with the data would allow the scientific community to vet the credibility of the claims. By performing robust and legal checks, the scientific community could protect the public’s interest and avoid the damaging effects of unreliable science, especially when it can be politicised for ethno-nationalist purposes like in Indonesia.</p>
<p>Although Indonesia’s new science law mandates that researchers deposit their data on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesias-first-scientific-data-bank-is-a-step-towards-strengthening-open-data-practices-126632">National Scientific Repository</a>, it is yet to be a common practice for two reasons; the formulation of technical regulation is still ongoing, and data sharing has yet become the norm. </p>
<h2>But what are the risks?</h2>
<p>Working as an aspiring scientist in the largest nation in Southeast Asia, my life is a constant struggle between surviving the pressure to produce flashy research and navigating our projects amid poor available research infrastructure. </p>
<p>In 2020 alone, Indonesia <a href="http://uis.unesco.org/apps/visualisations/research-and-development-spending/">spent less than 0.5% of its GDP</a> in research spending, with only 89 researchers per one million inhabitants. This number is in stark contrast to its neighbouring countries, such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. To properly adopt open scientific practices, researchers in countries with growing research culture might face <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03052-3">different, if not higher, hurdles</a> than their counterparts in North America, Europe and Australia. </p>
<p>Apart from the lack of research infrastructure, less-democratic countries might be less appreciative to academic freedom. The populist government often <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/indonesian/2021-03-01/hoaks-jadi-tantangan-ilmuwan-indonesia-saat-pandemi-covid-19/13192424">use science as a token</a> to please the public, and a mere tool to exercise their own political agenda. Practising honest, rigorous science might carry risks, especially when the government does not like the result.</p>
<p>Contaminated with feudalism and authority bias, universities restrict their role to cultivate scientific debates. People often confuses criticism with personal attacks and are reluctant to admit limitations and past mistakes. Owning limitations and acknowledging critics is rarely valued when dishonest behaviours are rewarded. </p>
<p>This is a downside when science is seen as a rat race, not a careful, meticulous effort to pursue the truth. In this case, redesigning national science policy that champions academic freedom is very critical to shape a strong and sustainable research ecosystem.</p>
<p>During the health crisis, it is more challenging for early-career scientists to get proper training due to lack of funding. Meanwhile, to be able to improve the credibility of their research, scientists should be equipped with intense training that allow them to critically design, evaluate, and conduct methodologically robust research. </p>
<p>While free online resources are widely available, such courses do not equate with formal training, like PhD and Postdoctoral program. Global collaborations that minimise systematic barriers for researchers from mid- to low-income countries to access funding for training would help cultivating healthy research culture in the long run.</p>
<p>At last, educating the next generation about what it means to do good research would prevent the same mistakes from being repeated. In this regards, teaching <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metascience">metascience</a> at university level might benefit students by preparing them with necessary skills to critically appraise scientific claims. Metascience helps student to properly understand how science works and many ways to improve its credibility. </p>
<p>By doing so, I believe good science will prevail.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328409/original/file-20200416-192725-wmbl1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328409/original/file-20200416-192725-wmbl1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328409/original/file-20200416-192725-wmbl1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328409/original/file-20200416-192725-wmbl1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328409/original/file-20200416-192725-wmbl1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328409/original/file-20200416-192725-wmbl1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328409/original/file-20200416-192725-wmbl1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>This article is part of the series “Great Stories of Open Science” published with the support of the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. To learn more, visit <a href="https://www.ouvrirlascience.fr/">Ouvrirlascience.fr</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rizqy Amelia Zein ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>In countries such as Indonesia, politicised science can obscure real research. Open science has the potential to help filter out sketchy research and protect the public’s interests.Rizqy Amelia Zein, Social and Personality Psychology Lecturer, Universitas AirlanggaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1526882021-01-25T15:00:06Z2021-01-25T15:00:06ZAs the world changes, science does too – and that’s a good thing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377154/original/file-20210105-15-1gco1pj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Science can become more open and inclusive and can shift its culture.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Suwit Rattiwan/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The term “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/09/02/what-is-industry-4-0-heres-a-super-easy-explanation-for-anyone/?sh=8deb2ac9788a">Industry 4.0</a>” has been used for years to describe the need for societies to adapt their work and productivity to the “4th Industrial Revolution”, in which new technologies bridge the virtual, physical and biological domains. These terms have become so dominant that <a href="https://www.4ir.gov.za">governments</a> have adopted them into their policies and planning.</p>
<p>Against this backdrop it is important to ask whether – and how – the world of science is effectively adapting to an ever more connected and data intensive world. Is there such a thing as “Science 4.0”? What does this mean for society?</p>
<p>As scientists who have been involved in research, technological development, advocacy, diplomacy and the realisation of societal benefits from science, we believe that yes, “Science 4.0” is real. It is about a revolution in which science is an integral part of society, rather than being confined to public or private laboratories and institutions of higher learning. It is about recognising that scientists are people, subjective and opinionated – and people are scientists, curious and eager to learn. It is about embracing new technologies to do better science more responsibly and more inclusively.</p>
<p>Over the past nearly three decades, we have observed trends that show what is possible. These include openness, the importance of data, artificial intelligence, inclusion and crucial changes in the culture of science. </p>
<h2>Openness</h2>
<p>The term “open science” was first captured by the <a href="https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read">Budapest Open Access Initiative</a> in 2002. It originated from open source software and open access literature; it includes the openness of data, methods, software, results and publications.</p>
<p>Openness is a shift away from traditional thinking around the protectionism of intellectual property. Its <a href="https://content.iospress.com/articles/information-services-and-use/isu861">benefits to science</a> have become increasingly clear. </p>
<p>Today most organisations have policies of openness, from the <a href="https://osp.od.nih.gov/scientific-sharing/nih-data-management-and-sharing-activities-related-to-public-access-and-open-science/">National Institutes of Health in the US</a> to <a href="https://en.unesco.org/science-sustainable-future/open-science/recommendation">UNESCO</a>. The <a href="http://africanopenscience.org.za/">African Open Science Platform</a>, meanwhile, aims to grow open science practices across the continent. </p>
<p>Several business ventures have emerged. The <a href="https://www.cos.io/products/osf">Center for Open Science</a>, for instance, sees people generating value by helping scientists to make their science more open. </p>
<h2>Data-driven science</h2>
<p>Increasingly, scientific research involves very large data sets. From the massive <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1532046413001007">genomics data</a> to the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2019.0060">data</a> expected from future telescopes, data-intensive research is becoming the norm. </p>
<p>There is a shift in the scientific method from, for example, single observations to large scale statistical analyses. This progression calls for new infrastructure models to support scientific research. <a href="https://www.labiotech.eu/genomics/cloud-genomics-big-data-problem/">Cloud computing technologies</a> are at the forefront of this shift; these combine easy access to and collaboration on data and analysis with high-performance computing.</p>
<p>Nowadays, data and codes are part of scientific publications. <a href="https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1435800">Containerisation</a>, a technology that packages code and the computer environment in which codes are run, helps make results easily reproducible by others. Containers can be shared and cited.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cloud-computing-could-be-key-to-speeding-up-africas-development-121344">Cloud computing could be key to speeding up Africa's development</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>AI scientists</h2>
<p>Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a tool of science as both data storage and computing power have become cheaper. Machine learning (computer algorithms improving with experience) is <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200114074044.htm">accelerating the rate of discovery</a> in anything from drug development to image analysis.</p>
<p>AI is becoming advanced enough that <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/artificial-intelligence-evolving-all-itself">it could do the whole cycle from hypothesis to result</a>. As research accelerates, the rate of publications follows and AI <a href="https://iris.ai/">can even be used to sift through</a> the overwhelming literature. Scientific unions and other councils are also now <a href="https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/ai-and-society">discussing</a> the ethics of AI.</p>
<h2>Culture of science</h2>
<p>Science 4.0 is not just a transformation of scientific tools and methods. It also affects the culture of science and how we evaluate scientific work. <a href="http://blogs.nature.com/naturejobs/2017/04/14/the-next-generation-of-science-outreach/">Outreach</a> is increasingly valued as a part of a scientist’s tasks. Counting publications and citations is limited and doesn’t reflect the true impact of research.</p>
<p>Scientists are also admitting that science is done by people – and that means acknowledging their failings. Misconduct by scientists is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-19/science-brilliant-free-pass-bad-behaviour/9879704">not taken lightly</a>. Science is slowly becoming <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07782-3">more family friendly</a> too, with some <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2018/12/are-conferences-providing-enough-child-care-support-we-decided-find-out">conferences offering childcare</a> facilities.</p>
<p>One area that’s worth watching is the speed of science. The race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 has demonstrated that science can be done fast, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-1015-0">albeit sometimes at the expense of quality</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/international-statistic-of-the-year-race-for-a-covid-19-vaccine-152064">International Statistic of the Year: Race for a COVID-19 vaccine</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This speed may become more common in some areas of science. And that’s potentially a good thing because it brings the benefits of science to more people, more rapidly.</p>
<h2>Inclusion</h2>
<p>However, these new ways of science won’t benefit everyone unless scientists have a serious conversation about inclusion. For example, the pandemic also showed a <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/women-in-science-may-suffer-lasting-career-damage-from-covid-19/">disproportionate effect on women scientists</a> as compared to men.</p>
<p>Inclusion has risen to the surface in recent years: minorities have <a href="https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.3536">denounced</a> science as an unwelcoming space of rampant implicit bias that needs to be claimed by diverse identities. This has given rise to large grassroots visibility campaigns such as the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BlackInSTEM">#BlackInSTEM</a> hashtag on social media and open conversations about inclusion.</p>
<p>In the developing world, academic isolation is a multifaceted challenge. Academics in relative isolation can become the targets of <a href="https://predatoryjournals.com/publishers/">predatory publishers</a>. Developing countries can be led to giving away their data, for example genomics of endemic species, or oral traditions recorded without permission but with misplaced good intentions of preservation. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/global-academic-collaboration-a-new-form-of-colonisation-61382">Global academic collaboration: a new form of colonisation?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/international-research-collaborations-how-can-we-shift-the-power-towards-africa-142421">This situation is not sustainable</a>. <a href="http://trust-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/San-Code-of-RESEARCH-Ethics-Booklet-final.pdf">Initiatives are emerging</a> to ensure communities are involved and benefit from research carried out on them, on their environment, and ultimately their universe.</p>
<p>It is also worth noting the growth of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-tracked-the-eating-habits-of-snakes-in-africa-with-the-help-of-a-facebook-group-143569">citizen science</a> and <a href="https://www.zooniverse.org/">its evolution</a> from passive data gathering to participatory approaches to research.</p>
<h2>Role of Science 4.0 in a changing world</h2>
<p>Progress in science is not about bringing more people into an ivory tower. It is about breaking down the tower completely and helping scientists work with and among people. </p>
<p>As the world grapples with building back better, the scientific community needs to display engaged leadership and play an active, humanistic role in shaping policies, public perceptions and technologies for a sustainable future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152688/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Science 4.0’ is real. It is about a revolution in which science is an integral part of society.Carolina Odman, Associate Professor, University of the Western CapeKevin Govender, Director, International Astronomical Union Office of Astronomy for DevelopmentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1252272019-10-29T19:24:00Z2019-10-29T19:24:00ZSydney lockout laws review highlights vital role of transparent data analysis<p>The New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) <a href="https://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Pages/bocsar_media_releases/2019/mr-Impact-lockouts-on-the-CBD.aspx">recently claimed</a> Sydney’s alcohol licensing regulations, commonly known as <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/lockout-laws-26282">lockout laws</a>, reduced non-domestic assaults by 13% in the CBD. Its calculation relied on a decision to allocate 1,837 of these offences to both Kings Cross and the CBD – that is, double-counting the data. <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/submissions/63631/Submission%20734%20-%20Centre%20for%20Translational%20Data%20Science,%20University%20of%20Sydney.pdf">Our analysis</a> found this decision was critical to the conclusion that assaults decreased in the CBD. For every other choice about the areas to which offences data were allocated and type of analysis we found no decrease. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298452/original/file-20191024-119433-7qnb4k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298452/original/file-20191024-119433-7qnb4k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298452/original/file-20191024-119433-7qnb4k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298452/original/file-20191024-119433-7qnb4k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298452/original/file-20191024-119433-7qnb4k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298452/original/file-20191024-119433-7qnb4k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298452/original/file-20191024-119433-7qnb4k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of Sydney and the entertainment precincts as used by BOCSAR in its analysis: blue – CBD entertainment precinct; red – Kings Cross entertainment precinct; green – nearby displacement areas; yellow – outer displacement areas.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/submissions/63631/Submission%20734%20-%20Centre%20for%20Translational%20Data%20Science,%20University%20of%20Sydney.pdf%5D">Our findings</a> highlight an important question: how do the choices of data collection, pre-processing and analysis affect policy decisions?</p>
<p>The allocation of crimes to areas is just one of several choices made when using data to assess policy impacts. Other choices include how to measure violent crime, what time period to consider and the geographical extent of the areas to include. The question is: if other choices were made, would the results affect a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/sydney-lockout-laws-rolled-back/11489806">decision to repeal or continue the laws</a>? </p>
<p>Our findings point to the need to follow a couple of principles when using data to inform policymaking. First, the institution that collects data and the institution that analyses the data should be independent of each other. Second,
we need as much transparency about the data and its analysis as possible.</p>
<h2>So what exactly did the analyses show?</h2>
<p>BOCSAR chose to use monthly non-domestic assaults from 2009 onwards. There is nothing wrong with these choices, but others could have been made.</p>
<p>For instance, why from 2009 onwards, not from 2005? Why monthly, not daily? Why reported non-domestic assaults, not reported assaults causing grievous bodily harm? Why divide the area into the CBD and Kings Cross only? </p>
<p>One way of assessing the impact of such choices is to use different subsets of data, different types of data pre-processing and different statistical and/or machine-learning techniques. If the conclusion still remains the same, then our decision is robust to this source of variability. If not, we need to understand why.</p>
<p>For the Kings Cross precinct, the analysis by the Centre for Translational Data Science at the University of Sydney showed the conclusion remained unchanged irrespective of the frequency and period over which data were collected and the analysis performed. Non-domestic assaults had declined following the introduction of the lockout laws in 2014.</p>
<p>For the CBD the reverse was true. Only if we make exactly the same choices as BOCSAR, in particular allocating 1,837 crimes to both the CBD and King Cross, could we conclude non-domestic assaults had decreased very slightly. </p>
<p>Under all other variations of the analyses, including data, methodology and spatial allocation of that data, we found no decrease. Non-domestic assaults in the CBD had been decreasing since 2008 and, if anything, more slowly after the lockout laws took effect. </p>
<p>So why was the inclusion of 1,837 crimes so critical to the conclusions about the CBD? </p>
<p>Using data provided by BOCSAR, we plotted the most likely location of those 1,837 crimes. Figure 1 shows these crimes occurred mainly in Kings Cross, an area in which the crime rate had fallen since 2014. We say “most likely location” because we have yet to receive the additional data we requested from BOCSAR to help us locate exactly where these crimes occurred.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298427/original/file-20191023-119429-qgf5xh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298427/original/file-20191023-119429-qgf5xh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298427/original/file-20191023-119429-qgf5xh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298427/original/file-20191023-119429-qgf5xh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298427/original/file-20191023-119429-qgf5xh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298427/original/file-20191023-119429-qgf5xh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298427/original/file-20191023-119429-qgf5xh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298427/original/file-20191023-119429-qgf5xh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Counts of crimes (per SA1 region) that were assigned to both the CBD and Kings Cross.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Centre for Translational Data Science</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With the removal of those 1,837 crimes from the CBD, we detected no decrease in non-domestic assaults. But BOCSAR apparently did. After removing those crimes from the CBD, BOCSAR released an <a href="https://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Documents/BB/2019-Report-Effect-of-lockout-and-last-drinks-laws-on-assaults-BB142.pdf">updated report</a> to a <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/listofcommittees/Pages/committee-details.aspx?pk=260">parliamentary inquiry into Sydney’s night-time economy</a>. This report claimed assaults in the CBD decreased by 4% (much less than the original 13%). </p>
<p>The committee then asked for our <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/other/12591/Centre%20for%20Translational%20Data%20Science.pdf">comments</a>. We found the report did not provide a confidence interval for this decrease. Yet the report made a virtue of reporting uncertainty estimates for other quantities and elsewhere it claimed “statistically significant” results. </p>
<p>We replicated BOCSAR’s analysis and found the change in crime could have been as low as a 12% decrease and as high as a 6% increase. In other words, the result is “statistically insignificant”. </p>
<h2>What are the implications for making policy?</h2>
<p>Why does this matter? There are two reasons. </p>
<p>First, the danger in not explaining, quantifying and reporting uncertainty is that the public loses trust in data-driven policymaking. Only if conclusions acknowledge and explain the uncertainty inherent in inferring complex quantities from data can we make robust and explainable policy decisions that build trust with the public. </p>
<p>Second, if we don’t accept and report uncertainty we could stop looking for other explanations. We might then fail to achieve an outcome that everyone wants: a reduction in violence and a healthy night-time economy.</p>
<p>How do we proceed from here? We’d make two recommendations: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>The institution that collects and curates the data should be distinct, informed but independent from the institution/s that analyse the data. </p></li>
<li><p>There should be as much data transparency as possible, which would enable different groups to perform different types of analyses, using different sources of data. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>We are almost certain these different groups would produce different findings, but the subsequent discussion could provide insights that move us closer to more robust and acceptable policy decisions. </p>
<p>To <a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/08/27/richard-feynman-on-the-role-of-scientific-culture-in-modern-society/">quote</a> Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives … to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/inquiries/2519/Report%20-%20Sydneys%20night%20time%20economy.pdf">parliamentary committee’s recommendation</a> that BOCSAR and the Centre for Translational Data Science work together more closely appears to do just that. We look forward to an ongoing collaboration to further our understanding of the drivers of violent crime.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125227/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The collection and analysis of data used for making policy should be independent and open to ensure public trust in decision-making. The debate over alcohol licensing shows why this matters.Sally Cripps, Professor of Statistics, Director of Centre for Translational Data Science, University of SydneyRoman Marchant, Senior research fellow and lecturer, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1118952019-04-01T10:44:44Z2019-04-01T10:44:44Z7 unexpected things that libraries offer besides books<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266441/original/file-20190328-139374-1wrn8v7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Libraries are offering new and innovative things that belie their historic image as silent places to read.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Local libraries are often thought of as places to check out books or engage in some silent reading. But libraries offer <a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3209281.3209403">so much more</a> than just what can be found on their shelves or done in hushed tones.</p>
<p>And, in some instances, libraries have become places to make some noise.</p>
<p>From laptops and 3D laser printers, libraries today are providing the public with access to new technologies and education. In our <a href="https://www.ctg.albany.edu/projects/imls2017/">research project on public libraries in smart communities</a>, in which I serve as the principal investigator, we found that a public library serves as an <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10125/59766">anchor institution</a> for these communities. It is a role libraries can be expected to fullfil even more in the future as technology continues to evolve in new and fascinating ways.</p>
<p>Here are seven examples from throughout the country of libraries offering more than books.</p>
<h2>Robots</h2>
<p>The Westport Free Library in Westport, Connecticut – population of roughly 28,000 – has a <a href="http://westportlibrary.org/events/robot-training-classes-schedule">Robot Open Lab</a> where the public can learn how to program robots to respond to simple commands, catch and kick a small soccer ball and even dance. The library’s two robots, Vincent and Nancy, autonomous, programmable humanoid robots, arrived in September 2014. Since then, <a href="http://westportlibrary.org/about/news/robotics-library">more than 2,000 people</a> have learned how to program them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266445/original/file-20190328-139377-52zd6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266445/original/file-20190328-139377-52zd6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266445/original/file-20190328-139377-52zd6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266445/original/file-20190328-139377-52zd6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266445/original/file-20190328-139377-52zd6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266445/original/file-20190328-139377-52zd6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266445/original/file-20190328-139377-52zd6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some libraries offer patrons the chance to program robots.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-China-France-Robots/c8d8d6208dd64c95a2ff1ee1e4c65a34/24/0">AP photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Wi-Fi for your home</h2>
<p>For those who may lack the financial resources to buy Wi-Fi, libraries such as the Chicago Public Library offer <a href="https://www.chipublib.org/news/borrow-a-wifi-hotspot-from-chicago-public-library/">Wi-Fi hotspot lending programs</a> that allow patrons to access the internet from home. Some have collections of laptops, e-readers and MP3 players available for check out.</p>
<h2>Creation tools</h2>
<p>Along similar technical lines, public libraries offer free access to <a href="https://www.makerspaces.com/what-is-a-makerspace/">maker spaces</a>, which are laboratories filled with advanced technical equipment like 3D printers and laser cutters. </p>
<p>For instance, the <a href="https://chattlibrary.org/4th-floor/">4th Floor</a> in the Chattanooga Public Library in Tennessee is a 12,000-square-foot public laboratory and educational facility with a focus on information, design, technology and the applied arts. The library also has classes to teach citizens how to use the equipment. </p>
<p>The goal isn’t for every citizen to start their own new tech company, but to expose people to the technology as a matter of education and empowerment.</p>
<h2>Recording studios</h2>
<p>Chattanooga also has a <a href="https://chattlibrary.org/thestudio/">fully functional music studio</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266443/original/file-20190328-139345-fm2x52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266443/original/file-20190328-139345-fm2x52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266443/original/file-20190328-139345-fm2x52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266443/original/file-20190328-139345-fm2x52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266443/original/file-20190328-139345-fm2x52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266443/original/file-20190328-139345-fm2x52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266443/original/file-20190328-139345-fm2x52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266443/original/file-20190328-139345-fm2x52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of a band record music at a Chattanooga public library.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With a valid library card, a patron can reserve a three-hour session in the studio – which is filled with state-of-the-art recording studio equipment – to work on projects and learn the art of recording. A studio instructor is available to help inspire, educate and spark creativity.</p>
<p>For those who want to build and fix things, Chattanooga also has an extensive hand- and power-tool collection filled with hammers, wrench sets, drills and saws among many other tools. Cardholders who are 18 or older can check out <a href="https://chattlibrary.org/2018/11/07/tool-library/">up to three tools at a time</a> for one week. </p>
<h2>Open data</h2>
<p>Some libraries serve as places to learn more about how to take advantage of open data – particularly since the January passage of the <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/15/transparency-seeking-open-government-data-act-signed-into-law/">OPEN Government Act</a>. The new law requires federal agencies to make the data they have on anything – from health to crime – available to the public by publishing it in a machine-readable format, such as an Excel file, that allows for use and reuse. The benefits of accessing these data include informed debate, better decision-making and the development of innovative new services.</p>
<p>The Chapel Hill Public Library in North Carolina offers <a href="https://www.chapelhillopendata.org/page/home1/">Chapel Hill Open Data</a> in partnership with the town. The library also organizes open data events for academics, business entrepreneurs, civic hackers or anyone who’s interested in transparency and open data use.</p>
<h2>Unique collections</h2>
<p>Even with all of this technology, libraries are also places where the public can learn about and appreciate the unique and artistic sides of life.</p>
<p>The art gallery at the Hillsboro Public Library in Oregon opened in 2013 to serve as a community cultural space. Since then, the library <a href="http://starj.com/direct/woman_s_passion_for_painting_flows_again+5021flows+576f6d616e27732070617373696f6e20666f72207061696e74696e6720666c6f777320616761696e">displays local art</a> for two-month exhibitions between November and August.</p>
<p>Since its first growing season in 2014, the <a href="http://www.duluthlibrary.org/adults/duluth-seed-library/">Duluth Public Library’s Seed Library</a> in Minnesota has offered the community varieties of tomato, pepper, bean and pea seeds. In addition to the seeds themselves, the library has education and resources about growing and saving seeds and organic gardening. Typically, <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-sharing-economy-for-plants-seed-libraries-are-sprouting-up-106432">seed library</a> patrons return some seeds from their harvest to make the library self-sustaining.</p>
<p>Virginia’s Arlington Public Library has an <a href="https://library.arlingtonva.us/borrow/american-girl/">American Girl doll collection</a> available for people to borrow along with related books.</p>
<h2>Health care</h2>
<p>No library service will be of much use if you’re not in good health. </p>
<p>Recognizing this, the <a href="https://www.freelibrary.org/">Free Library of Philadelphia</a>, one of the largest public library systems in the world, offers myriad health-related options for its patrons. For instance, the library loans health equipment such as <a href="https://know.freelibrary.org/Record/2088121">blood pressure monitors</a>. It also has <a href="https://libwww.freelibrary.org/blog/post/3598">resources to help people</a> find health care, sign up for federal benefits and get free or low-cost food.</p>
<p>Beyond traditional health care, the Free Library of Philadelphia also has a <a href="https://libwww.freelibrary.org/programs/culinary/">Culinary Literacy Center</a> that offers a wide range of programs for eaters of all interests and tastes. At the Parkway Central Library branch, nurses and social workers are on-site every weekday to talk about mental and physical health, answer questions, check your blood pressure and help schedule an appointment with doctors.</p>
<p>But this is not the only library focusing on health. The <a href="http://miamipl.okpls.org/">Miami Library</a> in Oklahoma has made health literacy a central part of its operations, offering everything from diabetes prevention to yoga classes, as well as healthy cooking demonstrations and even a community garden.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111895/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mila Gascó-Hernández receives funding from The Institute of Museums and Library Services. This article is the result of the IMLS-funded project " Enabling Smart, Inclusive, and Connected Communities: The Role of Public Libraries", where she serves as the PI.</span></em></p>With advancements in technology, libraries are offering much more than something to read. A library researcher offers a sampling of some unexpected items that library patrons can check out these days.Mila Gascó-Hernández, Research Associate Professor and Associate Research Director for the Center for Technology in Government, University at Albany, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1131652019-03-13T10:40:04Z2019-03-13T10:40:04ZTrump’s executive order on drone strikes sends civilian casualty data back into the shadows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263390/original/file-20190312-86710-8qpzlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An unmanned U.S. Predator drone flies over southern Afghanistan.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Drone-Policy/c9e5f4c6d1c74964859ac5f72b7ab517/1/0">AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to drones and warfare, the U.S. seems to have forgotten some valuable historical lessons. </p>
<p>On March 6, <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/06/trump-civilian-deaths-drone-strikes-1207409">President Trump signed an executive order</a> that revoked the requirement, formulated under the Obama administration, that U.S. intelligence officials must publicly report the number of civilians killed in CIA drone strikes outside declared war zones. </p>
<p>In this decision, Trump is bringing the U.S. back to where it once was: the state of non-transparency that defined Obama’s first term.</p>
<p>As a researcher who has <a href="https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=5355">studied the ethics of war</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/can-we-wage-a-just-drone-war/260055/">written extensively on drones</a>, I recognize that the U.S. has returned to a time when the CIA drone program was not governed by ethics, but shrouded in mystery, a time when it discounted the importance of civilian casualties.</p>
<h2>Remembering the past</h2>
<p>One of the U.S. founding fathers understood the importance of civilian casualties.</p>
<p>In 1782, Benjamin Franklin, then U.S. ambassador to France, circulated a copy of a Boston newspaper with an article that detailed British atrocities against American civilians in the ongoing Revolutionary War. Franklin intended to have the article reprinted by British newspapers, which would get the story out to the British public and turn popular opinion against the government in power. </p>
<p>The catch: The story was completely fabricated. Franklin made it up based on anecdotes he had heard, counting on the supposition that the British public had little access to actual statistics on civilian casualties to ascertain its truth. </p>
<p>Recounted with pride today on the <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/the-founding-fathers-of-american-intelligence/art-1.html">CIA’s website</a>, Franklin’s antics touched off a public uproar in 18th-century Britain. The article was used by opposition Whig politicians to challenge continued British participation in the war. </p>
<p>This quaint historical anecdote reveals valuable moral lessons for today. On the one hand, it shows how civilian casualties are a tool of propaganda. On the other, it shows the role that the suffering of enemy civilians plays in establishing an eventual peace. </p>
<h2>The Obama era</h2>
<p>During Obama’s first term, there were hundreds of strikes in the tribal regions of Pakistan that the U.S. did not publicly acknowledge, with <a href="https://www.law.columbia.edu/human-rights-institute/counterterrorism/drone-strikes/counting-drone-strike-deaths">wildly divergent reports</a> of civilian casualties.</p>
<p>During Obama’s tenure, there was <a href="https://www-cdn.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Stanford-NYU-Living-Under-Drones.pdf">warranted backlash from the international human rights community</a> and <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg64921/pdf/CHRG-111hhrg64921.pdf">congressional hearings</a> at home. In the security realm, enemies of the U.S. such as al-Qaida and the Taliban used exaggerated reports of civilian deaths as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/18/obama-drone-war-isis-recruitment-tool-air-force-whistleblowers">propaganda</a> to recruit new members. </p>
<p>In discussions about how to end what some experts were calling the <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/49387/the-forever-war-by-dexter-filkins/9780307279446/">forever war,</a> <a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/2013/KOHSPEECH.pdf">a more disciplined and restrained use of drones</a> was seen as part of the solution. </p>
<p>This opposition led to Obama’s ethical turn, defending drones by way of the <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/23/remarks-president-national-defense-university">just war doctrine</a>. This centuries-old body of thought <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Just-War-Thinkers-From-Cicero-to-the-21st-Century-1st-Edition/Brunstetter-ODriscoll-Rosenthal/p/book/9781138122482">addresses the rights and wrongs of warfare: when a state can go to war and what it can do in war</a>. </p>
<p>When it came to drones, Obama was swayed by the principle of noncombatant immunity: the moral necessity of sparing civilians from the horrors of war whenever possible. He limited drone strikes to scenarios with near certainty that there would be no civilian casualties.</p>
<p>Obama also decided to provide greater transparency to the American public by reporting civilian casualties. This had a strategic purpose. According to one expert who served under Obama, former intelligence officer Ned Price, reporting allowed the U.S. to <a href="http://time.com/5546366/trump-cancels-drone-strike-rule/">“counter with facts and figures the misinformation and disinformation that terrorist groups and others issued to undermine our counter-terrorism operations around the globe.”</a> </p>
<h2>A step backward</h2>
<p>Obama’s ethical turn was a step forward. It emerged from <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/23/remarks-president-national-defense-university">his moral reckoning</a> with the act of killing and the tragedy of civilians getting caught in the crossfire. </p>
<p>The Trump administration’s reversal on reporting civilian casualties is a step backward. It says a lot about the value – or lack thereof – placed on the lives of those <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10402659.2015.1094319">living under drones</a>. Trump’s executive order insulates the U.S. public from the tragedy of civilian deaths. Removing civilian deaths from the public view dehumanizes them, and in the process, eliminates the common threads of humanity that make peace possible. </p>
<p>Without public accountability, I worry that the Trump administration is paving the way for a more robust use of drones. Perhaps it will be similar to or even more permissive than Obama’s policy during his first term, when the U.S. carried out <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/04/05/obamas-most-dangerous-drone-tactic-is-here-to-stay/">signature strikes,</a> which targeted unidentified militants based on their behavior patterns and personal networks rather than the threat they posed. Trump has already taken steps to remove <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/08/trump-war-terror-drones/567218/">targeting constraints</a> that had been codified under Obama. </p>
<p>Does discounting civilian casualties make the U.S. more secure in the long run? It’s an open question. The White House called the requirement <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-06/trump-cancels-u-s-report-on-civilian-deaths-in-drone-strikes">“superfluous” and claimed that it distracts “intelligence professionals from their primary mission,”</a> which is presumably protecting American security interests. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/03/06/us/politics/ap-us-trump-civilian-casualties.html">Despite the White House claims to the contrary</a>, research shows that such reporting is important for preventing civilian casualties. A lack of transparency leads to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15027570.2013.869390">the disproportionate use of drones</a>. Such a policy risks causing more civilian casualties, and has the potential to make more enemies than friends, diminish cooperation with allies in the global struggle against terrorist groups, and put the drone controversy back in the news in a negative way. </p>
<h2>Looking back and moving forward</h2>
<p>Franklin’s ruse demonstrates the power of using the tragedy of civilian casualties as propaganda. There is little doubt that U.S. enemies will use exaggerated reports of civilian casualties for propaganda purposes. Public transparency is a means to combat this propaganda, and perhaps more importantly, it provides a measure of checks and balance on the CIA. </p>
<p>More poignantly, Franklin abhorred the ease with which men kill and gloat about it. “Men,” <a href="http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-37-02-0277">he wrote later in 1782</a>, “I find to be a Sort of Being very badly constructed, as they are generally more easily provok’d than reconcil’d, more disposed to do Mischief to each other than to make Reparation … without a Blush they assemble in great armies at NoonDay to destroy, and when they have kill’d as many as they can, they exaggerate the Number to augment the fancied Glory.” </p>
<p>Amidst this exaggerated killing, Franklin saw a common connection shared between enemies: the suffering of civilians. This made, in his mind, peace between enemies a genuine possibility. </p>
<p>With Trump’s executive order, the American public risks being lulled into ignorance about the plight of civilians living under drones, and does so at the peril of perpetual war with future enemies of America’s own making.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113165/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel R. Brunstetter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Civilian casualty counts are a powerful tool for propaganda – and for establishing peace.Daniel R. Brunstetter, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of California, IrvineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1130212019-03-08T11:44:13Z2019-03-08T11:44:13ZThe US government might charge for satellite data again – here’s why that would be a big mistake<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262466/original/file-20190306-100790-n9xqh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Landsat view of Mount St. Helens in 2011.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://remotesensing.usgs.gov/gallery/image_collections?img:281:3">U.S. Geological Survey</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Landsat is one of <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/NSTC/2014_national_plan_for_civil_earth_observations.pdf">the most important U.S. satellite systems</a>. Since the program’s launch in 1972, Landsat satellites have provided the longest-running terrestrial satellite record and collected <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/9/1363">more than 5.6 million images</a>. </p>
<p>For a long time, the U.S. government charged a fee for every Landsat image. But this changed on Oct. 1, 2008, when the U.S. Geological Survey <a href="http://www.usgs.gov/landsat">opened the Landsat archive</a> and made it free for everyone to use. </p>
<p>This open data policy has led to a dramatic increase in the use of Landsat data. Studies have used Landsat data to map <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6160/850">global forest loss</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20584">surface water extent</a>, <a href="http://doi.org/10.2788/253582">human settlements</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2012.748992">land cover</a>, among other features. </p>
<p>However, the free and open Landsat data policy is now under scrutiny. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-04874-y">An April 2018 news report</a> revealed that the Department of the Interior was considering putting a price on Landsat data again. The decision will come sometime this year.</p>
<p>This potential policy change is concerning. The <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/land-resources/nli/landsat/2018-2023-landsat-science-team?qt-science_support_page_related_con=3#qt-science_support_page_related_con">USGS-NASA Landsat Science Team</a>, of which <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9ODFYW4AAAAJ&hl=en">I am a member</a>, published a study on Feb. 27 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.02.016">highlighting the major benefits</a> of Landsat’s free data policy. For the Landsat program to remain successful, free and open data is the key. </p>
<h2>1. Encouraged more data use and research</h2>
<p>Before the free data policy, the USGS and private sector sold at most 3,000 Landsat images per month. At the time, a single Landsat image cost approximately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2012.01.010">US$600</a>.</p>
<p>In the first full year of free data policy, users downloaded more than 1 million images. That number has shot up over time, with more than 20 million images downloaded in 2017.</p>
<p>The number of Landsat-related scientific publications also increased rapidly. More than four times as many scientific publications came out in 2017 as did in 2005.</p>
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<p>The free data policy has opened the doors for new research. The use of Landsat data to track landscape changes over time increased rapidly after the new policy, which has advanced remote sensing science in a variety of ways. With the denser Landsat data, scientists can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2018.1452075">create better land cover maps</a>; more accurately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2017.06.013">detect landscape changes</a>; and map <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/3/034008">natural resources</a> in near real-time. </p>
<p>Landsat data is also archived by several commercial cloud computing services, such as Google Earth Engine and Amazon Web Services. This allows less-established institutions to use Landsat data and lets people share the code they used to analyze images more easily. Charging a fee for Landsat data would jeopardize the continued availability of Landsat data in private sector archives.</p>
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<h2>2. Created economic benefits</h2>
<p>In a 2014 paper, <a href="https://www.fgdc.gov/ngac/meetings/december-2014/ngac-landsat-economic-value-paper-2014-update.pdf">the National Geospatial Advisory Committee</a> analyzed 16 economic sectors – such as water consumption, wildfire mapping and agriculture – in which Landsat data has lead to substantial productivity savings. </p>
<p>Just for the year of 2011, the estimated economic benefit of Landsat data was more than $1.7 billion for U.S. users and $400 million for users outside the U.S. </p>
<p>For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency provides crop insurance to U.S. farmers. More than <a href="https://www.fgdc.gov/ngac/meetings/december-2014/ngac-landsat-economic-value-paper-2014-update.pdf">1.2 million policies are issued every year</a>. One in five policies are issued in areas subject to flooding, leading to higher premiums. </p>
<p>Before Landsat data was used for mapping crop flood zones, the flooding areas were very broad, causing many farmers with little potential for flooding to pay a lot more. Today, the flood rate maps are updated constantly based on newly collected Landsat images. These detailed zones reduced the cost to farmers by more than $300 million per year. The researchers estimated that the Risk Management Agency would have to raise premiums for more than 200,000 policies each year, if it could not use Landsat data.</p>
<h2>3. Tightened international partnerships</h2>
<p>In the past, some proportion of the Landsat data was downloaded directly from the ground stations. The Landsat satellites did not have enough capability to store the data. In areas without a U.S. ground station, data was not downloaded to a U.S. archive, but into international cooperator ground stations. </p>
<p>The U.S. Landsat Global Archive Consolidation program collects this internationally stored data, then reprocesses it into a central archive, where it is made available to all users free of charge. </p>
<p>Since this initiative launched in 2010, it has ingested <a href="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0034425719300719-gr2_lrg.jpg">large amounts of satellite data that were not available in the U.S. archive before</a>. This has made historical Landsat data more accessible, while greatly increasing the temporal and spatial coverage of the U.S. satellite data archive. </p>
<p>Without the free Landsat data, this initiative would likely never have existed. The discontinuation of the open policy could affect its continued success. </p>
<p>What’s more, Landsat’s open policy stimulated other international Earth observation programs, such as the Copernicus Program of the European Union, to <a href="http://newsletter.copernicus.eu/article/free-and-open-data-policy-copernicus">make their data free</a>. If the Landsat program reverts to asking users to pay for data, our group worries that it may indirectly encourage other programs to do the same.</p>
<p>The program also encouraged international satellite programs to collaborate so that their databases worked together and followed similar standards. This has made it easier for scientists to combine data from multiple satellite systems for analysis. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262687/original/file-20190307-82681-es0ytp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Landsat imagery shows how Hurricane Irma churned up sediment in the Florida Keys in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://remotesensing.usgs.gov/gallery/image_collections?img:723:3">U.S. Geological Survey</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Keeping Landsat free and open</h2>
<p>The U.S. is a global leader in the collection and application of Earth observation remote sensing data. Open access to Landsat, as well as other satellite data, has become the norm. </p>
<p>Officials at the Department of the Interior are exploring the possibility of recovering some of Landsat’s operation costs from users. This is understandable. However, if Americans want to continue enjoying its societal benefits, then our group feels that the data needs to remain free and open.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zhe Zhu receives funding from USGS and Climate Corporation.</span></em></p>Since 2008, Landsat data has been free for the world to use, spurring new applications and scientific research. But that door could soon slam shut.Zhe Zhu, Assistant Professor of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1119562019-03-06T11:40:28Z2019-03-06T11:40:28ZUS takes tentative steps toward opening up government data<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261952/original/file-20190304-92298-1uc0ll9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Open data offers great promise, but also some risk.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/open-data-security-issues-key-golden-583784431">rawf8/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the beginning of this year, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4174/text">President Trump signed into law</a> the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary Government Data Act, requiring that nonsensitive government data be made available in machine-readable, open formats by default.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://kelley.iu.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/profile.cshtml?id=ANGRAYMO">researchers</a> <a href="https://spea.indiana.edu/faculty-research/directory/profiles/faculty/full-time/cate-beth.html">who</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YtgRGx0AAAAJ&hl=en">study</a> data governance and cyber law, we are excited by the possibilities of the new act. But much effort is needed to fill in missing details – especially since these data can be used in unpredictable or unintended ways. </p>
<p>The federal government would benefit from considering lessons learned from open government activities in other countries and at state and local levels. </p>
<h2>Cracking the door toward open data</h2>
<p>Open government is the governing doctrine which holds that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. The doctrine has drawn increased attention in recent years, as a growing list of nations agree to participate in a global voluntary commitment towards democratic reforms, <a href="https://www.opengovpartnership.org/">via the Open Government Partnership initiative</a>. </p>
<p>America was one of the Open Government Partnership’s eight founding countries in 2011, and the Open Government Partnership was an outgrowth of domestic open government initiatives <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/open">launched</a> in the first months of the Obama presidency.</p>
<p>In December 2009, Obama <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/open/documents/open-government-directive">issued a directive</a> requiring federal agencies to proactively publish government information online in open formats and to take other steps toward building a culture of openness around data. </p>
<p>This initiative launched the <a href="http://data.gov">Data.gov</a> website that publishes government databases, as well as <a href="https://petitions.whitehouse.gov">WeThePeople.gov</a>, for petitioning the government; <a href="http://challenge.gov">Challenge.gov</a>, for competing to help the government solve problems; and <a href="http://USASpending.gov">USASpending.gov</a>, disclosing and tracking the federal budget. </p>
<p>Open government data have already produced <a href="https://www.data.gov/impact/">direct impacts</a> on Americans’ daily lives. For example, detailed city profiles offer information such as demographics, crime rates, weather patterns and home values. These data, in turn, allow developers to build more robust applications for individuals, such as a health inspection score app or <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/">AccuWeather</a>, which provides minute-by-minute precipitation forecasts.</p>
<p>Because the Obama administration’s efforts toward openness were driven by executive orders and not legislation, they faced possible rollback by later administrations. The Trump administration’s early removal of <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-web-pages-erased-and-obscured-under-trump/">climate science-related data</a> on agency websites, for example, raised concerns among researchers and others about its commitment to transparency and accountability.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261953/original/file-20190304-92292-atk8k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261953/original/file-20190304-92292-atk8k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261953/original/file-20190304-92292-atk8k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261953/original/file-20190304-92292-atk8k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261953/original/file-20190304-92292-atk8k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261953/original/file-20190304-92292-atk8k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261953/original/file-20190304-92292-atk8k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261953/original/file-20190304-92292-atk8k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After the Trump administration took office, some pages on climate change, among other topics, were removed from the White House website.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation US</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Trump administration has, however, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/fueling-american-innovation-economic-growth-open-data/">recognized the value</a> of government data for driving innovation and economic growth, holding federal grantees accountable and improving the effectiveness of public services. </p>
<h2>Enter the OPEN Government Data Act</h2>
<p>The OPEN Government Data Act, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4174">signed into law on Jan. 14</a>, enjoyed broad bipartisan support in Congress and built directly on the Obama era agenda for openness. </p>
<p>Taking effect in January 2020, the act requires government agencies to make their data freely and publicly available in open formats and machine-readable, unless other considerations – such as intellectual property, privacy or national security concerns – indicate otherwise. </p>
<p>Agencies must also develop strategic plans for managing their data; develop a comprehensive and metadata-enriched inventory of their data, minus some national security-related data; and appoint a chief data officer to manage agency data and maximize its value to the government and the public. </p>
<p>In February, the White House issued America’s fourth <a href="https://open.usa.gov/assets/files/NAP4-fourth-open-government-national-action-plan.pdf">National Action Plan</a>. This plan echoes the OPEN Government Data Act and emphasizes the need to make federally funded science publicly available in the interest of economic growth, innovation and public health.</p>
<h2>A change in culture</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.federaltimes.com/it-networks/2019/02/07/what-comes-after-legally-mandated-open-data/">As Democratic Rep. Derek Kilmer of Washington said</a> in an interview to Federal Times, “Passing the OPEN Government Data Act was a big step, but it wasn’t the last step.” </p>
<p>While the law requires that all agencies designate a nonpolitical chief data officer, only a few agencies currently have filled this role. Even the existence of a data officer does not guarantee success; the key will be whether the data officers can build a robust agency culture of data sharing and openness.</p>
<p>“There’s, I think, naturally, a tendency within government or any other large institution to favor risk aversion and opacity,” Christian Troncoso, policy director at Business Software Alliance, <a href="https://www.fedscoop.com/future-open-government-data-act-relies-largely-cdos/">commented to Fedscoop.com</a>. “People take a sort of siloed view of what they’re working on and don’t necessarily appreciate the fact that the data they may be generating in the course of a project could also be helpful to their colleagues within the agency, certainly, but then to their colleagues across government as well.” </p>
<p>Several features of the act are designed to promote data sharing and best practices in data management. For example, the Office of Management and Budget must create guidance for agencies and a council of agency chief data officers, and collaborate with others to build an online repository of open data tools and standards. </p>
<p>But, in practice, the act may still leave significant room for agency discretion in judging data to be restricted or too costly or not worth making open. This could lead to serious gaps in open data. While open government data is a lofty goal, without coordinated implementation, it may suffer from unrealized potential.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261955/original/file-20190304-92286-oqmxgb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261955/original/file-20190304-92286-oqmxgb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261955/original/file-20190304-92286-oqmxgb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261955/original/file-20190304-92286-oqmxgb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261955/original/file-20190304-92286-oqmxgb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261955/original/file-20190304-92286-oqmxgb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261955/original/file-20190304-92286-oqmxgb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261955/original/file-20190304-92286-oqmxgb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Open data could lead to privacy issues, as shown in a 2014 study on New York City taxi data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/grand-central-along-42nd-street-traffic-102953573">dibrova/shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Keeping data secure</h2>
<p>The OPEN Government Data Act requires agencies to walk a fine line between making data as open as possible, but as closed as necessary due to, for example, <a href="https://www.theagilityeffect.com/en/article/open-data-cyber-security-impossible-equation/">cybersecurity</a> concerns over sensitive information. </p>
<p>Federal law already limits some disclosures. For example, under <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-bill/5215">the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act</a>, statistical agencies face strict rules for protecting personally identifiable information. Employees at agencies such as the Census Bureau face fines and potential jail time for improper disclosure of data. </p>
<p>Existing laws have contributed to a culture of withholding data when sensitive data are present within the data set. But the OPEN Act could lead to new tensions between openness and privacy, because expanding the universe of open data increases the risk that data that appear anonymized will become personally identifiable.</p>
<p>For example, in 2014, a London researcher <a href="https://skift.com/2014/04/16/london-transports-bike-share-privacy-slip-raises-concerns/">was able to trace an individual’s movements</a> from Transport for London’s open data. With just a little more information, the researcher claims he could have easily identified the individual. </p>
<p>In 2014, another group of researchers successfully <a href="https://research.neustar.biz/author/atockar/">deanonymized New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission data</a>. The researchers were able to track specific taxi medallion numbers and, in some cases, specific passenger trips. </p>
<p>While these instances were part of a small number of reported concerns, we are concerned how other data releases may lead to unintended consequences, such as open data being used to track the movements of individuals. Appropriately, the OPEN Government Data Act calls on OMB and agencies to consider the risks of reidentification from data pooling as they carry out their open data activities. </p>
<p>But, it seems to us that truly deidentifying data is an increasingly elusive goal. The act also requires agencies to collect and analyze information on how their data are being used. While this makes sense in the broader context of maximizing the usefulness of government data, it raises its own privacy issues. Implementation choices will be key – and the role of data officers will be critical.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111956/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beth Cate received funding from The Privacy Projects in connection with the production of a chapter on the Supreme Court's information privacy jurisprudence, for inclusion in Bulk Surveillance: Systematic Government Access to Private Sector Data, James X. Dempsey and Fred H. Cate eds. (Oxford Univ. Press 2018). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anjanette Raymond and Scott Shackelford do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new act requires that all nonsensitive government data be made available publicly by January 2020. But the plan could open up new privacy issues.Anjanette Raymond, Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics; Director, Program on Data Management and Information Governance, Ostrom Workshop, Indiana UniversityBeth Cate, Clinical Associate Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana UniversityScott Shackelford, Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics; Director, Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance; Cybersecurity Program Chair, IU-Bloomington, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/982492018-06-20T04:37:48Z2018-06-20T04:37:48ZWhat will freight and supply chains look like 20 years from now? Experts ponder the scenarios<p>The Australian government is developing a <a href="https://infrastructure.gov.au/transport/freight/national-strategy.aspx">national freight and supply chain strategy</a>. As part of that effort, we created a set of scenarios describing what Australia’s future might look like 20 years from now. In evaluations by a large number of experts of all the future drivers of change we identified, two emerged as the most powerful and uncertain: widespread use of automation, and increased pressure to become environmentally sustainable.</p>
<p>We also explored what Australia should do to remain successful in each of these possible futures. Each scenario was crafted as a rich description of the future, full of elements relevant to supply chains and freight. </p>
<p>To illustrate what the world might look like in each of these futures, several “news articles” accompany the scenarios. They tell us of a fleet of robots that deliver parcels by air and ground directly to Australian homes. They describe a container of Australian wines travelling from Victoria to Shanghai without human intervention, using <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/technology/autonomous-ghost-ships-are-coming-to-revolutionise-freight-20170905-gyatcs.html">autonomous ships</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/autonomous-vehicles-1007">vehicles</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guilt-free-online-shopping-can-parcel-deliveries-ever-be-truly-carbon-neutral-77629">Guilt-free online shopping: can parcel deliveries ever be truly carbon-neutral?</a>
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<p>In one scenario, China has become the sole dominant power in its half of the planet. In another, the world economy has fragmented into blocks, with barely any trade between them. Cyber-attacks, terrorism and slander are used as weapons to disrupt supply chains in one scenario. In another, a whole new generation of consumers, the Alphas, demands high levels of service and fast delivery in everything they buy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223700/original/file-20180619-38819-18mkm61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223700/original/file-20180619-38819-18mkm61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223700/original/file-20180619-38819-18mkm61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223700/original/file-20180619-38819-18mkm61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223700/original/file-20180619-38819-18mkm61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223700/original/file-20180619-38819-18mkm61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223700/original/file-20180619-38819-18mkm61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223700/original/file-20180619-38819-18mkm61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Container terminals have long used autonomous vehicles and machinery, and autonomous ships are on the way.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:9-028_Rotterdam_ECT.jpg">Quistnix/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How did we create these scenarios?</h2>
<p>We started by asking 52 experts in freight and supply chains about things they expect will be different two decades from now. These interviews revealed more than 200 future drivers of change. We validated these in a survey with an even larger group of experts. </p>
<p>We then used 32 families of these drivers as the building blocks to create <a href="http://cscl.space/scenarios">four scenarios</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://cscl.space/scenarios/s1.pdf">The Rise of the Machines</a> – a world where technology dominates everything we do</li>
<li><a href="http://cscl.space/scenarios/s2.pdf">Enter the Dragon</a> – China is the dominant force in an increasingly fragmented world</li>
<li><a href="http://cscl.space/scenarios/s3.pdf">Flat, Crowded and Divided</a> – Australia’s population has soared, to the point that easy access to cheap labour
has nullified any hopes of a technological revolution</li>
<li><a href="http://cscl.space/scenarios/s4.pdf">Big Brother Goes Green</a> – the effects of climate change are increasingly real, and both governments and savvy consumers demand that companies meet high environmental standards. </li>
</ol>
<p>We made sure that each scenario was plausible and internally consistent. The scenarios were designed to be very different from the present and from each other, and to complement each other as a group.</p>
<p>While these scenarios are fun to read and thoroughly grounded in data, they are not predictions. Their purpose is not to forecast what the world <em>will</em> look like in 20 years. </p>
<p>Instead, the scenarios present us with several versions of what the world <em>might</em> look like. Their purpose is to help us <em>prepare</em> for what the future could bring. I like to think of scenario planning as a vaccine against future surprises.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-service-global-trade-todays-ships-and-cargo-are-smarter-than-ever-46032">To service global trade, today's ships and cargo are smarter than ever</a>
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</em>
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<p>The four scenarios served as the stage for a series of workshops conducted across Australia with a total of 90 experts. In these workshops, the experts discussed the challenges and opportunities each scenario presents for Australia’s freight and supply chains. They proposed ways for Australia to be successful in each scenario, and compared notes on suggestions that worked well across multiple scenarios.</p>
<p>We collected more than 15,000 words’ worth of handwritten expert recommendations in our four workshops. We transcribed and analysed all of them, and prepared a complete summary of the most frequent and robust ideas. These are included in our project’s <a href="https://infrastructure.gov.au/transport/freight/freight-supply-chain-priorities/research-papers/files/Scenario_planning_report.pdf">final report</a>.</p>
<h2>So what do the experts recommend?</h2>
<p>In the experts’ recommendations, it is easy to identify three major themes that are common to all four scenarios.</p>
<p>The first is the ever-growing importance of data. For Australia to be successful in <em>any</em> of the futures we envisioned, large amounts of relevant, timely and reliable data must be gathered and shared. This will require open and common data standards to be developed. The need to protect confidentiality will have to be balanced with the need to share data.</p>
<p>The second major theme is the need to educate for the future. Training in robotics, automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and data analysis should be widely available. A focus on science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) should start in Year 1. Workers who are displaced by new technologies should be retrained, so they can re-enter the workforce.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coming-soon-to-a-highway-near-you-truck-platooning-87748">Coming soon to a highway near you: truck platooning</a>
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<p>The third major theme is the need to rethink regulation. For Australia to be successful in any of the futures we explored, it is necessary to simplify, standardise and harmonise regulations across levels of government and geographies. Regulations, and the process to create them, must become more flexible and agile, so as to promote innovation.</p>
<p>There are other robust recommendations that, according to the experts, are necessary in all four scenarios. </p>
<p>One is to make exports a strategic priority of national importance. Making exports faster and easier was recommended. </p>
<p>Another is the need for cities to include logistics in their plans from the start, not as an afterthought.</p>
<p>The many insights obtained in our project are informing the freight and supply chain strategy that the Australian government is creating. These will help those making long-term decisions to avoid future surprises that might not have been anticipated without a systematic examination of the many possible futures before us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98249/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research project described in this article was funded by the Australian Government's Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities.</span></em></p>Supply-chain experts see reliable data, STEM education and smarter regulation as essential for Australia to succeed in an increasingly automated world under pressure to be environmentally sustainable.Roberto Perez-Franco, Senior Research Fellow – Supply Chain Strategy, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/955212018-05-01T03:50:02Z2018-05-01T03:50:02ZSoft terms like ‘open’ and ‘sharing’ don’t tell the true story of your data<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216798/original/file-20180430-135851-u9os0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Advances in machine learning may allow data that is de-identified now to be re-dentified in the future. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Turnbull government today announced the creation of a new <a href="https://www.mhs.gov.au/media-releases/2018-05-01-government-response-productivity-commission-inquiry-data-availability-and-use">National Data Commissioner</a> to oversee the implementation of greater data access and “sharing” in Australia.</p>
<p>This follows the government’s announcement late last year of a “<a href="https://ministers.pmc.gov.au/taylor/2017/australians-own-their-own-banking-energy-phone-and-internet-data">consumer data right</a>” relating to banking, energy, phone and internet transactions. This has been promoted as a means for Australians:</p>
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<p>(…) to compare offers, get access to cheaper products and plans to help them “make the switch” and get greater value for money.</p>
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<p>But we argue that the choice of words like “openness” and “sharing” hides the true nature of a rushed and risky proposal for our data. </p>
<p>It’s time the government used more accurate language and less spin, so we can have a realistic debate about its plans <em>before</em> our personal information is irrevocably exposed.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-should-strengthen-its-privacy-laws-and-remove-exemptions-for-politicians-93717">Australia should strengthen its privacy laws and remove exemptions for politicians</a>
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<h2>‘Open banking’ within 12 months</h2>
<p>For some years, the Australian government has pushed for <a href="http://sjm.ministers.treasury.gov.au/media-release/032-2016/">increased data disclosure and linking</a> in pursuit of efficiency and international competitiveness. It argues that access to more data will allow businesses to plan and adapt their offerings more efficiently, and that “big data” analytics will lead to increased innovation. </p>
<p>In 2017, the <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/data-access/report">Productivity Commission</a> backed this proposal – referring to the need for increased “openness” and “access”. It recommended increased disclosure and use of data, including our personal and sensitive information.</p>
<p>The Commission does concede we, the public, might be wary of exposing our information. As a result, it has suggested that to gain necessary acceptance or “social licence”, the government should create a new “consumer data right” allowing us to transfer our data to providers to get better offers.</p>
<p>The government is currently considering the <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/consultation/c2018-t247313/">Final Report of the Review into Open Banking</a>, released in February. This recommends opening up data within 12 months for financial services, followed by other sectors.</p>
<p>In our opinion, this haste seems to be driven by FOMO (fear of missing out) – a sense that the world is talking big data and Australia shouldn’t be left behind. </p>
<h2>Inadequate privacy protection</h2>
<p>What should be more troubling is that Australia already lags behind on the basic privacy protections that could make the planned data disclosure safe (or at least less risky). </p>
<p>Unlike most comparable countries advocating open data (including the US, UK and NZ), Australians have no right to take anyone to court for a serious invasion of our privacy.</p>
<p>This is the case even though the <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/serious-invasions-privacy-digital-era-alrc-report-123">Australian Law Reform Commission</a> recommended this back in 2014 (after a near-identical recommendation <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/sites/default/files/pdfs/108_vol1.pdf">in 2008</a>) and <a href="http://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/showCase/2001/HCA/63">the High Court</a> called for action in 2001.</p>
<p>What’s more, obligations under the Australian <a href="https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy-law/privacy-act/">Privacy Act</a> don’t apply to the overwhelming majority of businesses – and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-law-allows-governments-to-publish-your-private-information-74304">experts criticise</a> the weak enforcement of its already weak remedies. </p>
<p>In large part, the Privacy Act makes you responsible for protecting your privacy. Under the Australian law, if you continue to use a website after it has provided a link to its privacy policy, your consent is taken to be implied by that continued use. Consent does not even require ticking of a box in this context. </p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-law-allows-governments-to-publish-your-private-information-74304">How the law allows governments to publish your private information</a>
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<h2>Where’s the harm?</h2>
<p>While few of us have celebrity-level secrets that might make us obsess over protection from paparazzi, the reality is in future we could suffer from weak privacy protections far more than any celebrity or politician.</p>
<p>If open banking goes ahead under current law, here’s what’s likely. When you agree to transfer your banking information from your existing bank to another provider via an Application Programming Interface (API), that provider will require you to tick a box saying you agree to its terms and conditions.</p>
<p>Those terms will include a privacy policy saying you consent to the new provider storing your data, giving it to others, and using it for other things, including vague “marketing purposes”. Words in such policies typically state, for example: </p>
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<p>(…) we may collect your personal information for research, marketing, for efficiency purposes (…)</p>
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<p>The new provider, and subsequent recipients, may combine that data with other personal information about you – collected from data aggregating giants like Acxiom, Facebook and Google – and use it to create a 360-degree, “<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40447841/you-are-being-exploited-by-the-opaque-algorithm-driven-economy">God-like view</a>” of you as an individual.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/academics-call-on-facebook-to-make-data-more-widely-available-for-research-95365">Academics call on Facebook to make data more widely available for research</a>
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<p>This can be used to create scores, psychographic <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF17/20171129/106659/HHRG-115-IF17-Wstate-PasqualeF-20171129.pdf">profiles and predictions</a> based on your spending, friends, health, race, sexual orientation, political affiliation, and lifestyle choices.</p>
<p>Such aggregated data could potentially be used to exploit, manipulate or discriminate against you based on your needs and weaknesses. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/consultation/c2018-t247313/">Final Report of the Review into Open Banking</a> accepted these plans would increase data security risks from hacking, improper disclosure and access. It recommended some improvements to consumer consent processes.</p>
<p>But it didn’t recommend <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3150138">the essential change</a> to substantive privacy law: to give us the right to sue, or increased penalties for breaches, or to give us a right to have our data deleted once it’s been used for its original purpose.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/data-access/report">Productivity Commission</a> proposed anonymisation or de-identification of your data to reduce risks. But advances in big data and machine learning for <a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2835776.2835798">re-identification</a> overtake attempts to de-identify, so data previously thought safe to release later becomes unsafe.</p>
<p>Attending a recent blockchain conference in Sydney, we heard a computer scientist say that, given a choice, he wouldn’t agree to the release of his anonymised medical record because he’s sure it will be re-identified – as his record – within the decade. </p>
<h2>Not ‘openness’, not ‘sharing’</h2>
<p>It’s misleading to talk of these data practices as “openness” and “sharing”. These are just feel-good marketing terms to evoke positive emotions and hide reality. </p>
<p>The government’s proposal does not make data more open. It encourages us to consent to vast exposure of our personal information, including to those who may use it against us, for example, through vulnerability-based marketing. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22271&LangID=E">UN’s Special Rapporteur on Privacy</a> has noted that open data originally referred to governments making information about <em>government</em> and “the world we live in” more accessible to citizens; but it’s now used to refer to governments and corporations releasing personal information about <em>citizens</em>.</p>
<p>It’s also misleading to call this sharing. “Sharing” suggests a safe relationship with someone you know and trust; a friendly interaction which ends with you taking back your book or your bike or your holiday photos.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-stop-haemorrhaging-data-on-facebook-94511">How to stop haemorrhaging data on Facebook</a>
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<p>It does not reflect an irrevocable transfer of your personal information to an unknown corporation – which can keep it indefinitely, use it as they see fit, and give it to other countries and entities regardless of your interests. </p>
<p>Instead of talking about some undefined social licence for opening up data and sharing our personal information, the Australian government should start a more transparent discussion. It should use neutral words with practical meaning and known legal implications, like collection, use, storage, transfer and disclosure. The government should also highlight the risks of weak data protection. </p>
<p>This would be a real conversation about one stakeholder seeking to gain the trust of another, and what it would take for the trust-seeker to be viewed as trust-worthy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95521/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katharine Kemp receives funding from The Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation. She is a Member of the Advisory Board of the Future of Finance Initiative in India, the Centre for Law, Markets & Regulation and the Australian Privacy Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Vaile has previously conducted and supported research in areas related to privacy and/or open data funded in part or in whole by the Australian Research Council, ACCAN, auDA and by federal and state government bodies. He is a committee or board member of not-for-profit, industry and professional organisations including the Australian Privacy Foundation, Internet Australia, NSW Law Society, AUSTRAC, and the Association of Marketing and Social Research Organisations. The views expressed here are his alone.</span></em></p>Words matter – not just for building trust and understanding, but for weighing up legal issues. So maybe “open” and “shared” aren’t the right words to use when we refer to our data.Katharine Kemp, Lecturer, Faculty of Law, UNSW, and Co-Leader, 'Data as a Source of Market Power' Research Stream of The Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation, UNSW SydneyDavid Vaile, Teacher of cyberspace law, and leader of the Data Protection and Surveillance stream of the Allens Hub for Technology Law and Innovation, UNSW Faculty of Law, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/932572018-04-03T10:47:05Z2018-04-03T10:47:05ZHalf of Earth’s satellites restrict use of climate data<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212742/original/file-20180330-189807-9kpl5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dust storms in the Gulf of Alaska, captured by NASA’s Aqua satellite.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=91267">NASA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scientists and policymakers need satellite data to understand and address climate change. Yet data from more than half of unclassified Earth-observing satellites <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/open-space">is restricted in some way</a>, rather than shared openly. </p>
<p>When governments restrict who can access data, or limit how people can use or redistribute it, that slows the progress of science. Now, as <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-budget-would-slash-science-across-agencies/">U.S. climate funding is under threat</a>, it’s more important than ever to ensure that researchers and others make the most of the collected data. </p>
<p>Why do some nations choose to restrict satellite data, while others make it openly available? My book, “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/open-space">Open Space</a>,” uses a series of historical case studies, as well as a broad survey of national practices, to show how economic concerns and agency priorities shape the way nations treat their data. </p>
<h2>The price of data</h2>
<p>Satellites can collect comprehensive data over the oceans, arctic areas and other sparsely populated zones that are difficult for humans to monitor. They can collect data consistently over both space and time, which allows for a high level of accuracy in climate change research. </p>
<p>For example, scientists use data from the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/prolific-earth-gravity-satellites-end-science-mission/">U.S.-German GRACE satellite mission</a> to measure the mass of the land ice in both the Arctic and Antarctic. By collecting data on a regular basis over 15 years, GRACE demonstrated that land ice sheets in both Antarctica and Greenland have been losing mass since 2002. Both <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/land-ice/">lost ice mass more rapidly</a> since 2009. </p>
<p>Satellites collect valuable data, but they’re also expensive, typically ranging from US$100 million to nearly $1 billion per mission. They’re usually designed to operate for three to five years, but quite often continue well <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2014.03.009">beyond their design life</a>. </p>
<p>Many nations attempt to sell or commercialize data to recoup some of the costs. Even the <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/satellite-data">U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> and the <a href="https://earth.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> – agencies that now make nearly all of their satellite data openly available – attempted data sales at an earlier stage in their programs. The <a href="https://landsat.usgs.gov/landsat-data-access">U.S. Landsat program</a>, originally developed by NASA in the early 1970s, was turned over to a private firm in the 1980s before later returning to government control. Under these systems, prices often ranged from <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/23324">hundreds to thousands of dollars per image</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="IpN0F" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/IpN0F/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>In other cases, agency priorities prevent any data access at all. As of 2016, more than 35 nations have been involved in the development or operation of an Earth observation satellite. In many cases, nations with small or emerging space programs, such as <a href="http://www.narss.sci.eg">Egypt</a> and <a href="https://www.lapan.go.id/">Indonesia</a>, have chosen to build relatively simple satellites to give their engineers hands-on experience. </p>
<p>Since these programs aim to build capacity and demonstrate new technology, rather than distribute or use data, data systems don’t receive significant funding. Agencies can’t afford to develop data portals and other systems that would facilitate broad data access. They also often mistakenly believe that demand for the data from these experimental satellites is low.</p>
<p>If scientists want to encourage nations to make more of their satellite data openly available, both of these issues need to be addressed.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211212/original/file-20180320-31617-hkd95k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211212/original/file-20180320-31617-hkd95k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211212/original/file-20180320-31617-hkd95k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211212/original/file-20180320-31617-hkd95k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211212/original/file-20180320-31617-hkd95k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211212/original/file-20180320-31617-hkd95k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211212/original/file-20180320-31617-hkd95k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211212/original/file-20180320-31617-hkd95k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Landsat 8, an American Earth observation satellite.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/services/missions/earth/LDCM.html">NASA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<h2>Promoting access</h2>
<p>Since providing data to one user doesn’t reduce the amount available for everyone else, distributing data widely will maximize the benefits to society. <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/open-data-project-aims-to-ease-the-way-for-genomic-research-1.10507">The more that open data is used</a>, the more we all benefit from new research and products.</p>
<p>In my research, I’ve found that making data freely available is the best way to make sure the greatest number of people access and use it. In 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey sold 25,000 Landsat images, a record at the time. Then Landsat data was made openly available in 2008. In the year following, the agency <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2012.01.010">distributed more than 1 million Landsat images</a>. </p>
<p>For nations that believe demand for their data is low, or that lack resources to invest in data distribution systems, economic arguments alone are unlikely to spur action. Researchers and other user groups need to raise awareness of the potential uses of this data and make clear to governments their desire to access and use it. </p>
<p>Intergovernmental organizations like the <a href="http://www.earthobservations.org/">Group on Earth Observations</a> can help with these efforts by connecting research and user communities with relevant government decision-makers. International organizations can also encourage sharing by providing nations with global recognition of their data-sharing efforts. Technical and logistical assistance - helping to set up data portals or hosting foreign data in existing portals - can further reduce the resource investment required by smaller programs. </p>
<h2>Promise for future</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/news/earth-observing-companies-push-for-more-advanced-science-satellites-1.22034">Satellite technology</a> is improving rapidly. I believe that agencies must find ways to take advantage of these developments while continuing to make data as widely available as possible. </p>
<p>Satellites are collecting more data than ever before. Landsat 8 collected more data in its first two years of operation than Landsat 4 and 5 collected over their combined 32-year lifespan. The Landsat archive currently grows by <a href="https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/imaging-the-past/">a terabyte a day</a>. </p>
<p>This avalanche of data opens promising new possibilities for big data and machine learning analyses – but that would require new data access systems. Agencies are embracing cloud technology as a way to address this challenge, but many still struggle with the costs. Should agencies pay commercial cloud providers to store their data, or develop their own systems? Who pays for the cloud resources needed to carry out the analysis: agencies or users?</p>
<p>Satellite data can contribute significantly to a wide range of areas – climate change, weather, natural disasters, agricultural development and more – but only if users can access the data.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93257/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mariel Borowitz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are more satellites than ever before, orbiting Earth and collecting data that’s crucial for scientists. Why do some nations choose not to share that data openly?Mariel Borowitz, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/927242018-03-13T15:25:48Z2018-03-13T15:25:48ZCould the open government movement shut the door on Freedom of Information?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210004/original/file-20180312-30961-1wb53gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One government transparency movement may now be threatened by the other</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For democracy to work, citizens need to know what their government is doing. Then they can hold government officials and institutions accountable.</p>
<p>Over the last 50 years, Freedom of Information – or FOI – laws have been one of the most useful methods for citizens to learn what government is doing. These state and federal laws give <a href="http://www.right2info.org/access-to-information-laws">people the power to request</a>, and get, government documents. From everyday citizens to journalists, FOI laws have proven a powerful way to uncover the often-secret workings of government.</p>
<p>But a potential threat is emerging – from an unexpected place – to FOI laws. </p>
<p>We are scholars of government administration, ethics and transparency. And our research leads us to believe that while FOI laws have always faced many challenges, including <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/law/us-law/blacked-out-government-secrecy-information-age">resistance, evasion, </a> and poor <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/16520">implementation and enforcement</a>, the last decade has brought a different kind of challenge in the form of a new approach to transparency.</p>
<h2>Technology rules</h2>
<p>The new kid on the block is the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7844280.stm">open government</a> movement. And despite the fact that it shares a fundamental goal with the more established FOI movement – government transparency – the open government movement threatens to harm FOI by cornering the already limited public and private funding and government staffing available for transparency work.</p>
<p>The open government movement is <a href="http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1140&context=yhrdlj">driven by technology</a> and seeks to make government operate in the open in as many ways as possible. </p>
<p>This includes not just letting citizens request information, as in FOI, but by making online information release an everyday routine of government. It also tries to open up government by including citizens more in designing solutions to public policy problems. </p>
<p>One example of this hands-on approach is through <a href="https://www.participatorybudgeting.org/">participatory budgeting initiatives</a>, which allows citizens to help decide, via online and in-person information sharing and meetings, how part of the public budget is spent. Thus, while open government and FOI advocates both want government transparency, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740624X10000663">open government</a> is a broader concept that relies more on technology and encourages more public participation and collaboration. </p>
<p>One type of open government initiative is data portals, such as <a href="https://www.data.gov/">Data.gov</a>. Governments post lots of data that anyone can access and download for free on topics such as the environment, education and public safety. </p>
<p>Another popular open government reform is crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing asks the general public to come up with ideas to solve government problems or collect data for government projects. Two popular crowdsourcing initiatives in the U.S. are Challenge.gov and citizen science projects, such as the ones for <a href="https://www.epa.gov/citizen-science">Environmental Protection Agency</a> where citizens are testing water quality.</p>
<p>Advocates of FOI and open government talk about them in similar ways and indeed participate in many of the same initiatives such as the <a href="https://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/ogp-steering-committee/civil-society-members">Open Government Partnership</a>. That initiative is a global partnership of countries that develop multiple types of open government practices like anti-corruption programs, open budgets or crowdsourcing events. </p>
<h2>Movements complement each other</h2>
<p>The open government movement could help FOI implementation. Government information posted online, which is a core goal of open government advocates, can reduce the number of FOI requests. Open government <a href="https://www.opengovpartnership.org/theme/access-information">initiatives</a> can explicitly promote FOI by encouraging the passage of FOI laws, offering more training for officials who fill FOI requests, and developing technologies to make it easier to process and track FOI requests.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210006/original/file-20180312-30969-1k4ug89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210006/original/file-20180312-30969-1k4ug89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210006/original/file-20180312-30969-1k4ug89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210006/original/file-20180312-30969-1k4ug89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210006/original/file-20180312-30969-1k4ug89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=250&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210006/original/file-20180312-30969-1k4ug89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=250&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210006/original/file-20180312-30969-1k4ug89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=250&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There’s a lot to the Freedom of Information Act.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">U.S. Department of Justice</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the other hand, the relationship between open government and FOI may not always be positive in practice. </p>
<p>First, as with all kinds of public policy issues, resources – both money and political attention – are inherently scarce. Government officials now have to divide their attention between FOI and other open government initiatives. And funders now have to divide their financial resources between FOI and other open government initiatives.</p>
<p>Second, the open government reform movement as well as the FOI movement have long depended on nonprofit advocacy groups – from the <a href="https://www.nfoic.org/">National Freedom of Information Coalition</a> and its state affiliates to <a href="https://sunlightfoundation.com/">the Sunlight Foundation</a> – to obtain and disseminate government information. This means that the financial stability of those nonprofit groups is crucial. But their efforts, as they grow, may each only get a shrinking portion of the total amount of grant money available. <a href="http://www.freedominfo.org/2018/01/editorial-note-readers/">Freedominfo.org</a>, a website for gathering and comparing information on FOI laws around the world, had to suspend its operations in 2017 due to resources drying up. </p>
<p>We believe that priorities among government officials and good government advocates may also shift away from FOI. At a time when open data is “hot,” FOI programs could get squeezed as a result of this competition. Further, by allowing governments to claim credit for more politically convenient reforms such as online data portals, the open government agenda may create a false sense of transparency – there’s a lot more government information that isn’t available in those portals. </p>
<p>This criticism was leveled recently against <a href="https://sunlightfoundation.com/2013/09/23/why-kenyas-open-data-portal-is-failing-and-why-it-can-still-succeed/">Kenya</a>, whose government launched a high-profile open data portal for publishing data on government performance and activities in 2011, yet delayed passage of an FOI law until 2016. </p>
<p>Similarly, in the United Kingdom, <a href="http://www.information-age.com/francis-maude-id-like-to-make-foi-redundant-2111138/">one government minister said in 2012,</a> “I’d like to make Freedom of Information redundant, by pushing out so much data that people won’t have to ask for it.” </p>
<h2>Open data, no substitute for FOI</h2>
<p><a href="https://webfoundation.org/2015/07/why-is-the-uks-review-of-the-freedom-of-information-act-a-cause-for-concern/">But the World Wide Web Foundation</a>, the founder of the global open data ranking system called the <a href="https://opendatabarometer.org/">Open Data Barometer</a>, reported in 2015 that the United Kingdom government was using its first place ranking in the Barometer to “justify a (government) mandate to review, and allegedly limit, the Freedom of Information Act.” </p>
<p>Open government programs not mandated by law are easier to roll back than legislatively mandated FOI programs. In the U.S., the Trump administration took down the White House <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2017/04/14/trump-admin-killing-open-data-portal/">open data portal</a>. The move was immediately condemned by open government advocates, to no avail. In other cases, new open government efforts could hinder existing FOI implementation due to a limited number of staff members assigned to transparency work. </p>
<p>One indication of this is a 2015 <a href="http://cidac.org/los-retos-de-implementar-una-ley-de-transparencia/">Mexican</a> <a href="http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/nacion/politica/2017/05/5/dan-prorroga-sujetos-para-transparentar-su-informacion">reform</a> that increased the categories of information that government agencies were required to post in the online <a href="http://www.plataformadetransparencia.org.mx/web/guest/sistema-portales">Portal de Obligaciones de Transparencia</a>. </p>
<p>But the job of identifying and digitizing this information was given to agencies’ existing FOI response units – without any additional staff or resources. This led to severe <a href="http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/entrada-de-opinion/articulo/carlos-matute/nacion/2017/05/5/la-plataforma-nacional-de-transparencia-y">administrative burdens</a> and, in some cases, <a href="http://diagnostico-transparencia.cide.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Informe_INAI_20170928.pdf">slower response times</a> to FOI requests. Meanwhile, the updated portal was criticized for a <a href="http://www.proceso.com.mx/490390/dia-internacional-los-archivos-poco-festejar">complicated interface</a> and <a href="http://www.proceso.com.mx/500269/nosotrxs-exige-aclaracion-al-inai-evitar-sesgos-politicos">unreliable</a> or <a href="http://www.sinembargo.mx/22-08-2017/3290756">missing</a> information.</p>
<p>Is it possible for open government and FOI to avoid the mistakes seen in the Mexican case? Some experts are optimistic. <a href="http://www.thegovlab.org/beth-noveck.html">Beth Simone Noveck</a>, who served as the first United States deputy chief technology officer and director of the White House Open Government Initiative from 2009 to 2011, <a href="http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1140&context=yhrdlj">suggests</a> that “in the long term, FOIA and open data may themselves converge as we move to a future where all government data sits in a secure but readily-accessible cloud.” </p>
<p>Such a happy convergence would require a commitment by government to have any new or merged systems reflect the goals of both FOI and open government. That would mean a system that both supported existing avenues for transparency while also adding new ones. As scholars, we are unclear which direction government will take and thus, whether the public interest will ultimately be served.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92724/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>During Sunshine Week, three scholars of government transparency look at a potential collision between the old freedom of information movement and the new open government movement. Is there room for both?Suzanne J. Piotrowski, Associate Professor, School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA), Rutgers University - NewarkAlex Ingrams, Assistant Professor, Tilburg UniversityDaniel Berliner, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/888052018-01-29T13:48:41Z2018-01-29T13:48:41ZHow open data can help the world better manage coral reefs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202433/original/file-20180118-158550-1q8cd1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Coral reefs are some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">NOAA Fisheries</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Coral reefs are critically important to the world but despite the ongoing efforts of scientists and campaigners, these stunningly beautiful ecosystems still face a <a href="https://theconversation.com/blue-planet-ii-can-we-really-halt-the-coral-reef-catastrophe-87286">variety of threats</a>. The most pervasive is, of course, climate change, which is putting their very future <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21707">in jeopardy</a>. </p>
<p>Climate change is a complex, worldwide problem that needs <a href="https://theconversation.com/curbing-climate-change-why-its-so-hard-to-act-in-time-80117">a global solution</a>. One part of which is good monitoring systems, that operate at a large scale. Broad scale datasets from these systems are required to understand how vulnerable ecosystems like coral reefs are changing, and to separate that information from natural variation. </p>
<p>Often, however, scientists that collect coral reef monitoring data do so in isolation. They work on independent research projects, or for relatively small programmes with specific local agenda, and so don’t always make their data available to the scientific community. The pressure on academic researchers to be the first to publish their findings also disincentives data sharing. So there can be a conflict of interest between the motivations of an individual scientist and the larger advancement of science. </p>
<p>More practically, getting data ready to share is time consuming, particularly when there aren’t standardised monitoring procedures or a good data management infrastructure in place. In the absence of good management, data can simply be lost as people move on, taking lab books, data sheets and external hard drives with them.</p>
<p>But these barriers can be overcome. Through, for example, open access journals that publish scientifically valuable datasets. Peer-reviewed, citable datasets with standardised meta-data promotes sharing and reusability, while also recognising the researchers behind it. </p>
<p>Given the now urgent need to find science-based solutions for coral reefs, we believe the benefits of open data far outweigh the costs. This is one of the reasons we recently published <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata2017176">our entire dataset</a> of coral reef habitats and fish assemblages in the western central Pacific. </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/250585106" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Counting fish at Jarvis Island, one of the most remote coral reefs on the planet (Kevin Lino/NOAA Fisheres)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Pooling data</h2>
<p>Our dataset was collected by scientific divers from the US national oceanic and atmospheric administration between 2010 and 2017. They were part of the interdisciplinary team that operates from NOAA ships to collect physical, chemical and biological data for the <a href="https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov/cred/pacific_ramp.php">pacific reef assessment and monitoring programme</a>. For seven years, these researchers surveyed fish assemblages and coral reef habitats at 39 islands and atolls in the United States affiliated western central Pacific. </p>
<p>The areas studied ranged from the remotest islands in the central Pacific – hundreds of kilometres from the nearest human civilisations – to highly populated, developed and urbanised islands such as Oahu and Guam. </p>
<p>These islands also have different biophysical conditions, such as temperature. This means that we have been able to quantify different threats relative to the natural background variability caused by environmental conditions. For instance, we can now understand the true effect of human depletion <a href="https://theconversation.com/measuring-coral-reef-fishes-by-taking-humans-out-of-the-picture-40213">on coral reef fishes</a>. We have also been able to set reasonable expectations for what <a href="https://theconversation.com/coral-reefs-physical-conditions-set-biological-rules-of-nature-until-people-show-up-37688">a healthy reef looks like</a> in different locations. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202442/original/file-20180118-158522-7oxfln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202442/original/file-20180118-158522-7oxfln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202442/original/file-20180118-158522-7oxfln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202442/original/file-20180118-158522-7oxfln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202442/original/file-20180118-158522-7oxfln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202442/original/file-20180118-158522-7oxfln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202442/original/file-20180118-158522-7oxfln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202442/original/file-20180118-158522-7oxfln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The areas studied by the NOAA divers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NOAA Fisheries</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When multiple large data sets like this are pooled, they become even more powerful, allowing researchers to tackle key questions, such as where coral reef “<a href="https://theconversation.com/there-are-bright-spots-among-the-worlds-coral-reefs-the-challenge-is-to-learn-from-them-62765">bright spots</a>” are and why they are thriving.</p>
<h2>Scientific advancements</h2>
<p>By making all data easily available like ours is, and working to improve comparability, we can speed up the scientific pace to better understand and manage coral reefs. Though we were required to make the NOAA data available under the <a href="https://opengovdata.io/2014/us-federal-open-data-policy/">United States Open Data Policy</a>, we believe it is important for the wider coral reef community to fully embrace this ideal. Coral reefs are so widespread that no one programme can hope to gather data across most of their range. <a href="https://jappliedecologyblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/jazz-band-ecosystem-monitoring/">Linking large and small-scale programmes</a> will improve the value of both: large datasets can give the big picture context, while <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-local-view-helps-fight-the-effects-of-climate-change-on-the-ocean-70180">localised programmes</a> can be more intensive or regularly repeated.</p>
<p>One <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14358">landmark study</a>, for example – which used open datasets from different sources – found that the majority of coral reefs are fished to under half of their maximum population. So a range of management target benchmarks were established. Another compiled 25 different datasets to report on the status of coral reef fish biomass at 37 different districts <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aqc.2832/abstract">in Hawaii</a>, covering almost the entire archipelago’s coastline. Not only does this collated data help local reef management, but it can be used for marine spatial planning and for assessing effectiveness of reef management elsewhere. </p>
<p>There are a certainly a number of challenges to bringing different datasets together. Scientists will have to work together to create a core set of community standards for how to calibrate across different methods, and what to monitor. But by doing this, the information we gather will be far more useful in addressing the coral reef crisis. A commitment to open data is an important part of this.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adel Heenan received funding from the NOAA coral reef conservation programme. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ivor D. Williams receives funding from the NOAA coral reef conservation programme.</span></em></p>If researchers shared their data, we could take a big step towards saving the world’s coral reefs.Adel Heenan, Postdoctoral fellow, Bangor UniversityIvor D. Williams, Coral Reef Ecologist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/875352017-11-21T14:30:08Z2017-11-21T14:30:08ZAfrica must keep its rich, valuable data safe from exploitation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195178/original/file-20171117-7588-k3w20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=70%2C52%2C824%2C802&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Data should be open, shareable - but not at the expense of African researchers and communities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s a data revolution underway in Africa. It’s being driven by major international research collaborations like the <a href="https://skatelescope.org/">Square Kilometre Array</a> (SKA) project. This and similar initiatives are producing volumes of data the continent has never witnessed before.</p>
<p>All of that data then needs to be carefully managed throughout every stage of the research project. That’s why <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215270/">data stewardship</a> – a job that didn’t exist in academia ten years ago – has today become the key to the integrity of any academic research enterprise. </p>
<p>Data stewardship refers to the person or people in an organisation responsible for describing data accurately, then arranging it so it’s easily found, understood in context and, ultimately, used appropriately.</p>
<p>High-profile projects like the SKA are supported by important national infrastructure initiatives, such as South Africa’s <a href="https://www.csir.co.za/national-integrated-cyber-infrastructure-system">National Integrated Cyber Infrastructure System</a>. These help to boost the country’s capacity for high levels of research data management.</p>
<p>The continent’s universities are also scrambling to provide necessary data services to researchers. This is important to make sure that academics comply with international funding agencies’ complex data management requirements. But there are more than technical or operational considerations to managing and sharing the huge volumes of data being sourced in Africa. </p>
<p>Political, ideological, cultural and historical factors also matter. Data is emerging as a powerful force in the digital economy. Will other nations and regions try to control the flow of information from Africa? That’s <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/term-3-scramble-africa-late-19th-century">what happened</a> the last time Africa had something valuable to offer in the form of oil reserves and minerals. </p>
<p>Africa must develop its capacity for data stewardship. This is a critical resource to refine the data according to “<a href="https://www.force11.org/group/fairgroup/fairprinciples">FAIR</a>” data principles outlined by global bodies. These call for data to be open, shareable and reusable – an important way to prevent the exploitation of Africa’s research data.</p>
<h2>Opening up access</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.africa.undp.org/content/rba/en/home/library/reports/the_africa_data_revolution_report_2016.html">Africa Data Revolution Report 2016</a>, backed by the United Nations Development Programme, argues that in the African context open data means not only sharing and reuse: it also requires inclusion. This means that the benefits of gathering and sharing data should accrue to all, from institutions to individual researchers and entire communities.</p>
<p>That principle differs sharply from the historical paradigms of data production, dissemination and usage in Africa. Census planning was an early example of data gathering on the continent. Far from being a neutral act, this <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12321499">data was used</a> to construct ideologies of race. It became a tool for exclusion and segregation, especially under colonial and apartheid rule.</p>
<p>This history explains why many researchers in Africa are now committing themselves to this principle of openness. South Africa’s research community is particularly sensitive to the benefits of sharing data openly to promote social, economic and political inclusion and the integration of marginalised
communities. </p>
<p>Those who <a href="https://icsu.org/cms/2017/04/open-data-in-big-data-world_long.pdf">support open data</a> see that it drives greater scientific integrity, global participation. They understand that it enables a strategic response to Africa’s societal challenges. The continent’s public health researchers and epidemiologists are <a href="https://www.nia.nih.gov/sites/default/files/2017-06/sharing-research-data-to-improve-public-health-in-africa_0.pdf">leading the way</a> here.</p>
<p>But of course, researchers have their reservations too. South Africa’s academics insist on the right to make the decision whether to share their data openly – and where to share it. Few universities have developed policies on research data management. These are necessary to guide research communities in collecting good, standardised data that can be shared at the end of a research project. </p>
<p>Another concern among African scholars is the problem of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/global-academic-collaboration-a-new-form-of-colonisation-61382">helicopter science</a>”. The risk in international research collaborations is that non-African partners tend to drive the research agenda. They gather uniquely African data and then export it for analysis and publishing elsewhere. The African partners then lose out on research incentives like peer recognition and reward. They also can’t, for instance, patent products based on that relinquished data in future.</p>
<p>These concerns must be taken seriously as Africa continues its data drive. A focus on collaboration among African universities and research institutions is crucial in developing national policies that both meet the FAIR principles of Open Data and ensure equity and fairness in research contracts. All of this work will ultimately offer greater protection against the risk of “helicopter science”.</p>
<h2>A collaborative ‘cloud’</h2>
<p>One example of this sort of crucial collaboration is work that’s been undertaken by Data Intensive Research Initiatives of South Africa <a href="https://www.dirisa.ac.za/">DIRISA</a>. The organisation plans to develop a shared data service from core funding awarded to a consortium of universities in the Western Cape province. </p>
<p>This consortium, established in late 2016, is known as <a href="http://www.researchsupport.uct.ac.za/ilifu">ILIFU</a>, a word which means cloud in isiXhosa. Part of the ILIFU project includes the deployment of the <a href="https://figshare.com/">cloud-based Figshare platform</a>. This offers an institutional repository for research data. It serves researchers who need a place to store and disseminate their data with discrimination. </p>
<p>The project is South Africa’s first national data infrastructure grant. It will give more access to research infrastructure, software and data to all the country’s researchers. That includes those from under-resourced communities, where access to this kind of infrastructure should “leave no one behind”.</p>
<p>The opportunity to work collaboratively in providing shared data infrastructure heralds another conscious mind shift for African research. We are beginning to see open data not as a commodity but as a source of renewable energy. It generates new value every time it’s reused – and, ultimately, it can power the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87535/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dale Peters does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A focus on collaboration among African universities and research institutions is crucial in developing national policies that meet the principles of open data while keeping it safe from exploitation.Dale Peters, Director: UCT eResearch, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/588032017-11-06T12:32:06Z2017-11-06T12:32:06ZWhy openness, not technology alone, must be the heart of the digital economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151298/original/image-20161221-4085-1qyx1j8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tyndale_Bible_John_5.jpg">Kevin Rawlings</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440 it was, just as the internet has been in our time, a revolutionary development. Before the printing press, it is estimated there were <a href="http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/educator/modules/gutenberg/books/legacy/">just 30,000 books in all of Europe</a>. Fifty years later, there were more than ten million. Over the next 500 years Gutenberg’s invention would transform our ability to share knowledge and help create the modern world. </p>
<p>Less than a century later on October 6, 1536, a man named <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/william_tyndale/">William Tyndale</a> was burnt at the stake as a heretic for producing <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/william-tyndales-new-testament">the Bible in English that bore his name</a>. Just 40 years old, Tyndale grew up in a world transformed by Gutenberg’s invention. Educated at Cambridge, Tyndale became a scholar and a priest. At that time it was forbidden and deemed heretical to translate the Bible from Latin. The reason was simple: control of the information in the Bible provided immense power. </p>
<p>Very few could read Latin, not even most aristocrats. By ensuring the Bible remained in Latin only the Pope and priests of the Catholic Church retained control of the information within it. This allowed the church to exert religious authority and also to maintain secular power and generate revenues, for example by inventing new “pay-for” sacraments with no scriptural basis – the most egregious of these were “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/indulgence">indulgences</a>” which permitted their purchaser automatic forgiveness of sins.</p>
<p>Tyndale had an independent mind. Inspired by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/william_tyndale/">Martin Luther’s call to reformation</a> he became a medieval information freedom fighter. Tyndale was committed to opening up information by translating the Bible into English. Between 1524 and 1527 he produced the first printed English translation of the Bible from abroad to avoid prosecution, which was secretly shipped back to England. Despite being banned and publicly burnt, his translation spread rapidly, giving ordinary people access to the Bible and sowing the seeds of the Reformation in England.</p>
<p>Fast-forward to today and we are living through another information revolution as digital technologies such as the internet change how information is created and communicated. Our world may seem very different from that of Gutenberg and Tyndale, but if we look deeper there is much we can learn.</p>
<p>Gutenberg’s technology may have laid the groundwork for change, but the printing press could very well just have been used to produce more Latin Bibles for priests – enabling only more of the same without changing the balance of power. It was Tyndale’s efforts to translate the Bible in order to democratise access to it that created real change: the printing press was just the means to carry his message to the masses. In doing so he empowered and liberated ordinary people and gave them the opportunity to understand, think and decide for themselves. This was open information as freedom, as empowerment, as social change.</p>
<p>Knowledge power in the 16th century came through control of the Bible. Today, in our data-driven world it’s much broader: everything from maps to medicines, sonnets to statistics. And so today we need to open up public data and information, making it freely available to anyone for any purpose, building insight and knowledge from it together.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Technology that no one can access is no more use than a book no one can read.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maksim Kabakou/Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>In fact we already have concrete examples of how this would work. For example, <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org">OpenStreetMap</a> is an open, global map service based on freely available sources. <a href="http://opentrials.net/">OpenTrials</a> is an open database of medical and clinical trials, open source software such as <a href="http://www.phonearena.com/news/Android-is-taking-over-the-world-80-of-all-smartphones-run-Googles-OS_id46001">Linux and Android powers 80% of all smartphones</a> and of course there is a vast amount of publicly-funded research made available through open journals.</p>
<p>Tyndale’s example highlights the crucial role of openness: too often we focus on technology and forget the structures of law, ownership and power that technology operates within. Dazzled by the astonishing pace of technological advance we can easily think that information technology is itself the solution. Instead we must think about the purpose, power and politics of information technology, and not presume some in-built positive aim. Put simply: the medium is not the message, and the internet’s open architecture will not itself guarantee a more democratic or open world – as the events of 2016 should demonstrate.</p>
<p>If we need reminding of this we need only look to radio or even cable TV. Discussions of radio from the 1920s sound eerily familiar to <a href="https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence">early utopian visions of the internet</a>: radio would revolutionise human communication, creating a peer-to-peer world where everyone could broadcast, enabling a new and better democracy. Radio may have delivered on its technological promise but not on its social one. Far from a peer-to-peer communications democracy, instead we have a one-way medium dominated by state broadcasters and a few huge corporations.</p>
<p>Likewise, take a look at the 21st century internet and it’s clear that the internet’s costless transmission enables the creation of information empires and <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21637338-todays-tech-billionaires-have-lot-common-previous-generation-capitalist">information “robber barons”</a> as much as it does digital democracy and information equality. Modern information technology offers unprecedented opportunities for surveillance, as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/19/extreme-surveillance-becomes-uk-law-with-barely-a-whimper">newly passed Investigatory Powers Act in the UK demonstrates</a>, and for the manipulation of information. It is just as easily used to exploit as to empower.</p>
<p>Which brings us back to Tyndale. He took the possibility the printing press offered and married it with openness. In doing so he created something truly transformative – modern versions of the Bible incorporate much of Tyndale’s translation. The same is true for us: in all areas, from databases to drug formula, we must combine the possibilities offered by digital technology with a policy of openness. Only by putting openness at the heart of the information age can we fully realise its potential – be that for creativity and collaboration, or for freedom and fairness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58803/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rufus Pollock is an Associate of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law at the University of Cambridge; the Founder and non-executive President of Open Knowledge International (<a href="https://okfn.org">https://okfn.org</a>), a not-for-profit dedicated to creating a world where knowledge creates power for the many, not the few, where data empowers us to make informed choices about how we live, what we buy and who gets our vote and where information and insights are accessible – and apparent – to everyone; and the co-Founder of Art / Earth / Tech a community of people seeking a wiser, weller world - <a href="https://artearthtech.com/">https://artearthtech.com/</a>.
He and these associated organisations have been the recipient of numerous grants including a 3 year Mead Research Fellowship in Economics at the University of Cambridge, a Shuttleworth Fellowship, FP7 and H2020 EU funding, and UK innovation and research funding as well as grants from foundations such as the Omidyar Network, Hewlett Foundation, Open Society Foundations and others.
</span></em></p>The printing press, like the internet, has been revolutionary. But technology alone is not enough – access to to it must be open to ensure its benefits are felt.Rufus Pollock, Associate Fellow, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/761222017-07-25T01:15:13Z2017-07-25T01:15:13ZA bold, bipartisan plan to return the US to the vanguard of 21st-century technological innovation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179513/original/file-20170724-28519-15xs1xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How can we ensure technology brings prosperity to us all?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/female-finger-touching-beam-light-surrounded-653381008">ra2studio/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Digital technologies like the internet and smartphones are transforming our lives and society. They are proving to be powerful tools for liberating individuals’ creative and entrepreneurial potential, as well as providing new educational opportunities and higher wages for marginalized people, both in the U.S. and around the globe. Unfortunately, in the U.S., <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/3-most-outdated-tech-laws/">outdated government</a> <a href="https://techliberation.com/2010/03/30/digital-due-process-protecting-americans%E2%80%99-privacy-by-restoring-constitutional-limits-to-government-in-ecpa/">regulations</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/consumers-lose-with-a-weak-consumer-financial-protection_us_591f427ae4b0e8f558bb2637">weak consumer protections</a> are <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250071583">undermining these opportunities</a>.</p>
<p>What’s more, the Trump administration has not yet made significant moves to address this growing crisis: As of this writing, <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/office-of-science-and-technology-policy-trump-jobs">five key White House positions are vacant</a>, without even acting directors or interim leaders to help the executive branch formulate U.S. science and technology policy. </p>
<p>As the founder of both the <a href="http://opentechinstitute.org">Open Technology Institute</a> and <a href="http://thexlab.org">the X-Lab</a> policy and innovation organization, I have spent years at the heart of <a href="http://business.time.com/2013/05/01/time-tech-40-the-ten-most-influential-tech-ceos/slide/sascha-meinrath-new-america-foundation/">many Washington, D.C. battles over technology policy</a>, <a href="http://radio.wpsu.org/post/take-note-privacy-digital-age-sascha-meinrath">fighting for ideas</a> that would <a href="https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/best-keynote-of-the-year-so-far-sascha-meinrath-on-policy-hacking/2009/03/31">best serve American workers</a> and <a href="http://law.emory.edu/eilr/_documents/volumes/26/2/symposium/meinrath-ammori.pdf">the general public</a>. As <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/05/19/the-new-digital-economy/">technology spreads</a> throughout nearly <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/03/10/public-predictions-for-the-future-of-workforce-automation/">every facet of our society</a>, including health care, transportation, education and electricity, the benefits tend to grab the headlines, while their <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/02/08/code-dependent-pros-and-cons-of-the-algorithm-age/">costs are often downplayed</a> or ignored outright. My work, and that of many other technology policy experts and public interest advocates, has focused on ensuring that the digital revolutions in our society and our economy bring the most freedoms and benefits to the most people, with as little oppression and harm as possible – a goal that is <a href="http://www.fourthadvisory.org/steering-board">shared by a vast majority of the general public</a> from across traditional political, socioeconomic, racial and cultural divides.</p>
<p>While many lament the <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/10/25/the-political-environment-on-social-media/">current state of political bickering</a>, my experience is that technology is a domain where panpartisan agreement is often possible. With this in mind, here are 10 big ideas that resonate <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2016/06/22/partisanship-and-political-animosity-in-2016/">across traditional political boundaries</a> – common ground that yields solid support among lawmakers and constituents spanning the ideological spectrum from the libertarian right to the progressive left.</p>
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<h2>Transition to a real sharing economy</h2>
<p>Today’s dominant business models hold great promise, <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/rawdeal/stevenhill">but also great peril, for millions of working-class Americans</a>. Many companies are using digital tools to shift work <a href="http://www.govtech.com/policy/Employee-or-Independent-Contractor-Its-the-Uber-Important-Question-of-Todays-Economy.html">from traditional full-time employees to part-time independent contractors</a>. At present, this lets them circumvent <a href="https://www.sba.gov/starting-business/hire-retain-employees/hire-contractor-or-employee">rules protecting full-timers’ health, safety and equal access to work</a>. We need true portability of benefits – including <a href="http://bostonreview.net/us/steven-hill-uber-economy-individual-security-accounts">better retirement savings plans</a> and <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/28/news/warren-buffett-single-payer-health-care/index.html">single-payer health insurance</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, we need to address the effects of disruptive technologies, like those that will <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/02/when-robots-take-bad-jobs/517953/">replace truckers with automated vehicles</a>, full-time taxi drivers with <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-ride-hailing-apps-like-uber-continue-cab-industrys-history-of-racial-discrimination-68462">part-time Uber and Lyft drivers</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-really-help-us-workers-we-should-invest-in-robots-71125">factory workers with robots</a>. We need <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Works-Progress-Administration">a modern-day Works Progress Administration</a> for the tens of millions who will soon become displaced workers. It can be a way to retrain workers, and at the same time make <a href="https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/">badly needed improvements</a> to roads, bridges and other key structures our economy depends on. With forethought, we can prevent mass unemployment and underemployment.</p>
<h2>Protect consumers from technological barriers</h2>
<p>In today’s post-industrial age, <a href="https://www.schneier.com/books/data_and_goliath/">software controls traditional mechanical, financial and agrarian practices</a>. But <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-20/should-america-s-tech-giants-be-broken-up">rather than spurring innovation</a> to improve people’s lives, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-cant-we-fix-our-own-electronic-devices-77601">technology is blocking progress</a> in key ways: for example, by <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/03/23/tractor-hack-farmers-are-harnessing-hacked-software-for-john-deere-repairs.html">preventing farmers from fixing their own tractors</a>. The <a href="https://www.publicknowledge.org/issues/patent-reform">progressive left</a> and <a href="http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/patent-nonsense/">libertarian right agree</a>: <a href="http://www.aei.org/publication/copyright-law-crony-capitalism-and-economic-growth-a-qa-with-derek-khanna">Major reforms to copyright</a> and <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/senate-gets-serious-about-patent-reform-patent-act">patent law</a> are desperately needed to foster innovation and empower consumers.</p>
<p>Our current laissez-faire regulatory environment may have worked well when these were fledgling markets filled with small-scale startups. But today’s technology sector is dominated by a handful of corporate behemoths who’ve routinely engaged in what critics contend is <a href="http://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/amazons-antitrust-paradox">anti-competitive behavior</a> and consumer-disempowering business practices <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings?items_per_page=100">only barely addressed by current governmental oversight</a>.</p>
<p>Businesses use complex algorithms that engage in <a href="https://theconversation.com/removing-gender-bias-from-algorithms-64721">harmful discrimination</a>, such as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/upshot/when-algorithms-discriminate.html">showing higher-paying online job advertisements to men than women</a>, or advertising arrest records services to people searching for “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/upshot/when-algorithms-discriminate.html">distinctly black names</a>.” Retailers even <a href="http://time.com/money/3534651/price-discrimination-travelocity-orbitz-home-depot/">charge different people different amounts for the same good or service</a>, meaning only the most tech-savvy consumers are able to get the lowest price.</p>
<p>These practices make it harder for marginalized people to climb out of poverty, and more difficult for working-class Americans to spend their hard-earned money efficiently. While <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-consumer-protection">consumer protection laws</a> clearly outlaw unfair pricing and require equal employment opportunities, the regulations enforcing these laws are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/08/31/how-the-worlds-biggest-tech-companies-could-wriggle-out-of-all-privacy-regulations/">increasingly obsolete and impotent</a>. It’s time to update these rules of the road to make sure they meaningfully protect everyone from digitally mediated discrimination.</p>
<h2>Free educational materials</h2>
<p>Today’s textbooks, worksheets and other educational materials are often <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/why-are-college-textbooks-so-absurdly-expensive/266801/">both outdated and expensive</a>. They lock teachers and students into one-size-fits-all lessons, rather than encouraging the localized, tailored educational experiences that <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/edu/105/4/932/">better meet the needs of students and teachers alike</a>.</p>
<p>There are plenty of free resources available for teachers to customize their lessons. Public copyright licenses like <a href="https://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons</a> can promote free sharing of useful information, much as <a href="https://opensource.org/licenses/alphabetical">open-source software</a> can accomplish all the same tasks without buying costly licenses. <a href="http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1153/2256">Textbook costs can be cut in half</a> if schools were allowed to buy so-called “open textbooks,” rather than paying shockingly high premiums to a handful of commercial publishers. And <a href="http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1153/2256">students learn just as well</a>. We should be requiring schools to incorporate open, customizable digital technologies to personalize educational materials and teaching methods to better meet individual student needs.</p>
<h2>Promote broadband competition</h2>
<p>Roughly <a href="http://www.telecompetitor.com/pew-u-s-smartphone-ownership-broadband-penetration-reached-record-levels-in-2016/">80 million Americans don’t have high-speed internet access</a> at home. The main reason for that is <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/12/28/lack-of-broadband-can-be-a-key-obstacle-especially-for-job-seekers/">high cost</a>. Things aren’t much better for the two-thirds of Americans who do have broadband: Collectively, they’ll be <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/oti/policy-papers/the-cost-of-connectivity-2014/">charged more than a quarter-trillion dollars</a> more for internet service by 2025 in comparison to what residents in other countries are paying.</p>
<p>These negative consumer impacts are a direct result of <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indusclient.php?id=B09">extensive lobbying by Comcast and other media and telecom companies</a>, who’ve created noncompetitive markets that hurt consumers and stifle innovation. </p>
<p>Policies that drive universal access to low-cost, high-speed connectivity are a must. Politicians of all stripes support <a href="https://theconversation.com/americas-broadband-market-needs-more-competition-71676">creating or increasing competition</a>, preventing price-gouging in communities served by monopoly broadband providers and encouraging companies to provide internet service in remote areas. It’s also worth <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/opinion/expect-a-cozy-trump-telecom-alliance.html">reexamining anti-trust laws</a> (and how they are enforced) to make sure they are properly applied, especially since telecommunications services have become critical Americans’ personal and working lives.</p>
<h2>Modernize the electricity grid</h2>
<p>The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that <a href="http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=105&t=3">6 percent of all electricity produced is lost in transmission</a>. Allowing people to generate power at their homes, through residential solar panels and wind turbines, helps keep power generation and ownership local while also <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/08/22/490932307/aging-and-unstable-the-nations-electrical-grid-is-the-weakest-link">making the entire electrical grid more robust</a>.</p>
<p>However, scaling up this approach, called distributed microgeneration, requires an electrical system that enables two-way metering – a smart utility system that <a href="https://www.smartgrid.gov/files/description_of_assets.pdf">credits customers for power generated and charges them for power consumed</a>. We also need <a href="https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/smartgrid/FinalSGDoc2010019-corr010411-2.pdf">open standards for interoperability</a> between battery-powered vehicles and local grids, to help store locally generated power. And we need <a href="https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/tax-incentives-energy-efficiency-upgrades-commercial-buildings">financial supports for consumers to deploy microgeneration solutions</a>, in much the same ways we’ve done for other energy efficiency efforts.</p>
<p>Modernizing our electrical grid means integrating a host of new digital technologies – from enhancing two-way communications among different components of the grid to enabling micro-payments among local consumers and micro-generators – all of which will improve efficiency while simultaneously lowering the cost of energy.</p>
<h2>Give users control of their data</h2>
<p>Mass surveillance – including of <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/technology/320357-nra-claims-nsa-illegally-created-a-gun-database">gun owners</a>, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/other/factsheet-nypd-muslim-surveillance-program">Muslims</a> and <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-police-idUSKBN1762KB">African-American</a> leaders – limits Americans’ freedom.</p>
<p>An increasing array of networked devices, such as fitness trackers, smart thermostats, smartphones and cars, <a href="https://www.schneier.com/books/data_and_goliath/">collect information on their users’ activities</a>. Consumer protections in the 21st century must ensure that we have <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/DigitalAge/Pages/DigitalAgeIndex.aspx">access to and control over our own data</a>.</p>
<p>We need to expand upon the work of pioneers in privacy-protecting devices like <a href="http://freedomboxfoundation.org/">Freedom Box</a> and <a href="https://www.silentcircle.com/products-and-solutions/devices/">BlackPhone</a>, to give individuals control of the data their activities generate. This also opens the door for innovators to develop smart connected devices that serve as part of a more free, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/09/internet-of-things-smart-devices-spying-surveillance-us-government">more privacy-protecting “Internet of Things.”</a></p>
<p>Because the Federal Trade Commission is <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-future/can-consumers-trust-ftc-protect-their-privacy">unwilling or unable to step in</a>, Congress will likely have to act – the way it did to <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/rulemaking-regulatory-reform-proceedings/childrens-online-privacy-protection-rule">protect children online</a> and <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/">patients’ medical records</a>. A comprehensive framework that places consumers in control of their data is essential in an era where <a href="http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/worlds-biggest-data-breaches-hacks/">companies increasingly fail to protect our private information</a>.</p>
<h2>Make software and data open to all</h2>
<p>The United States spends billions of dollars every year on information technology, and <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/transparency/Pages/OverviewOfAwards.aspx">tens of billions more on government-funded research and other grants</a>. This represents an enormous investment by American taxpayers. Yet <a href="http://www.jetlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/KimbroughGasaway_SPE_7-FINAL.pdf">the public often gets only limited access</a> to the tools, research and data that we have so generously funded.</p>
<p>Software, data and research results should be available to the citizen-investors who paid for its development. This will, in turn, stimulate innovation, improve efficiency and ensure that taxpayers <a href="https://www.data.gov/research/">get the value we deserve from the investments we make</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, reviews of grant applications should ensure applicants’ prior work has accomplished the results that were promised. We cannot afford technological “<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/8/alaska-kills-bridge-to-nowhere-that-helped-put-end/">bridges to nowhere</a>” that eat up money while providing no real tangible benefits or improved scientific understanding. </p>
<p>We must make smart government investments that avoid duplication of existing private and nonprofit open technology initiatives. This means focusing on support for innovations that maximally benefit the general public (and not just corporations and their major stockholders). Federal research money should be a public investment in a public good.</p>
<h2>Lay the groundwork for intelligent transportation</h2>
<p>As autonomous vehicles become more common, we’ll need to update laws about traffic, insurance and liability. New rules will protect the general public and <a href="http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/wiki/index.php/Automated_Driving:_Legislative_and_Regulatory_Action">create real opportunities for smart vehicles to prove their value</a>.</p>
<p>The first major effect from autonomous vehicles will be the <a href="https://medium.com/basic-income/self-driving-trucks-are-going-to-hit-us-like-a-human-driven-truck-b8507d9c5961">large-scale displacement of drivers</a> who currently work in the trucking and delivery sector. The country needs a transition plan for the country’s <a href="http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-automated-trucks-labor-20160924/">3.5 million professional truckers who may lose their jobs to autonomous vehicles</a> in the coming years. Without a plan for putting truckers back to work, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2d70469c-140a-11e7-b0c1-37e417ee6c76?mhq5j=e2">millions of American families will suffer economic disaster</a>. We cannot ignore the coming economic and social impacts of technological innovations.</p>
<h2>Standardize medical record storage and transmission</h2>
<p>Regardless of its other shortcomings, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has also built one of the most <a href="https://connectedcare.va.gov/">sophisticated electronic health platforms on the planet</a>. The rest of us, however, live with separate health information fiefdoms – databases controlled by large insurance companies like Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Community Health Systems. </p>
<p>Having all those data locked up in proprietary systems creates <a href="https://digitalguardian.com/blog/top-10-biggest-healthcare-data-breaches-all-time">tempting targets for hackers</a>. That’s bad, but much worse is how hard it is to <a href="http://health.usnews.com/health-news/best-hospitals/articles/2015/10/15/hospitals-are-moving-slowly-to-electronic-medical-records">transfer patients’ health records among doctors, hospitals and insurers</a>. We should use open and nonproprietary technologies to make electronic medical records more functional and eliminate redundant paperwork. It’s the 21st century: we shouldn’t have to keep <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/04/but-seriously-now-why-do-doctors-still-make-you-fill-out-forms-on-clipboards/360308/">filling out the same information on clipboards</a> every time we go to a doctor. </p>
<p>Even more importantly, the life and cost savings of an interoperable health IT system are staggering. If doctors knew what others were prescribing to their mutual patients, they could all but eliminate negative drug interactions that <a href="http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/814847_6">cost hundreds of dollars every time</a> they happen – not to mention causing over two million serious drug interactions leading to over <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/developmentapprovalprocess/developmentresources/druginteractionslabeling/ucm110632.htm">100,000 deaths every year</a>. With <a href="https://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm096386.htm">40 percent of Americans on four or more medications</a> at once, the direct savings from this improvement alone would be in the tens of millions of dollars a year (far more than enough to pay for the systems initial development and ongoing improvement).</p>
<h2>Focus government on technology</h2>
<p>Given its role in countless facets of our lives, technology can no longer be an afterthought in our governmental deliberations. The head of the National Institute of Standards and Technology should be empowered to <a href="http://csrc.nist.gov/">set executive branch technology and online security policies</a> and implement the best practices they’ve already developed. NIST should receive the budget and decision-making authority necessary to implement reforms across governmental units.</p>
<p>In addition, NIST should mandate the use of encryption by default for all government IT systems. And Congress should promote strong encryption in society at large by banning federal entities from demanding <a href="https://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/why-a-back-door-to-the-internet-is-a-bad-idea/?_r=0">back doors or other unbelievably bad ideas</a> that undermine our collective security. Together, these actions will help ensure that Americans’ communications and data are as secure as they can be.</p>
<p>We must forge a bold new trajectory for a 21st-century civil society – one that prioritizes individual liberty and consumer empowerment. Otherwise, the detrimental impacts of new digital technologies will continue to undermine our livelihoods, our happiness and the underpinnings of our democratic society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76122/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sascha Meinrath has been an Ashoka Fellow for Social Entrepreneurship since 2012. He serves as a board member for the Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee; Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband Coalition; Brave New Software Foundation; Bill of Rights Defense Committee; Acorn Active Media Foundation; and Freedom to Connect Foundation. He is also a member of the advisory councils for the Alliance for Affordable Internet, the Calyx Institute, FreedomBox Foundation, Loomio, and the Open Internet Tools Project.</span></em></p>Political and community leaders must act now to preserve the American middle class and adapt the US economy for the 21st century.Sascha Meinrath, Director of X-Lab; Palmer Chair in Telecommunications, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/811592017-07-20T06:18:25Z2017-07-20T06:18:25ZHow open data can help the Global South, from disaster relief to voter turnout<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178913/original/file-20170719-14920-ceu2p1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1441%2C1003&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Display of Colombia's main export countries on the "Globe of Economic Complexity" application provided by The Center for International Development (CID), Harvard University
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://globe.cid.harvard.edu/?mode=gridSphere&id=CO#">CID, Harvard University</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The modern era is marked by growing faith in the power of data. “Big data”, “open data”, and “evidence-based decision-making” have become buzzwords, <a href="http://www.undatarevolution.org/">touted</a> as solutions to the world’s most complex and persistent problems, from <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/data_disrupts_corruption">corruption</a> and <a href="https://www.tableau.com/about/blog/2017/3/fighting-famine-mobile-data-67499">famine</a> to the <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/3027117/big-data/big-datas-big-role-in-humanitarian-aid.html">refugee crisis</a>.</p>
<p>While perhaps most pronounced in higher income countries, this trend is now emerging globally. In Africa, Latin America, Asia and beyond, hopes are high that access to data can help developing economies by increasing transparency, fostering <a href="http://africaopendata.net/">sustainable development</a>, building climate resiliency and the like.</p>
<p>This is an exciting prospect, but can opening up data actually make a difference in people’s lives? </p>
<h2>Getting data-driven about data</h2>
<p><a href="thegovlab.org">The GovLab</a> at <a href="http://engineering.nyu.edu/">New York University</a> spent the last year trying to answer that question. </p>
<p>In partnership with the <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/GlobalDevLab">U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)</a>, the non-profit <a href="https://www.fhi360.org/projects/mobile-solutions-technical-assistance-and-research-mstar">FHI 360</a> and the <a href="http://webfoundation.org/">World Wide Web Foundation</a>, we scoured the evidence about what roles open data, particularly government data, can play in developing countries.</p>
<p>The results of our 12 in-depth case studies from around the world are now out. The report <a href="http://odimpact.org/">Open Data in Developing Economies: Toward Building an Evidence Base on What Works and How</a> offers a hard look at the results of open data projects from the developing world. </p>
<p>Our conclusion: the enthusiasm is justified – as long as it’s tempered with a good measure of realism, too. Here are our six major takeaways:</p>
<p><strong>1. We need a framework</strong> - Overall, there is still little evidence to substantiate the enthusiastic claims that open data can foment sustainable development and transform governance. That’s not surprising given the early stage of most open data initiatives.</p>
<p>It may be early for impact evaluation, but it’s not too soon to develop a model that will eventually allow us to assess the impact of opening up data over time. </p>
<p>To that end, the GovLab has created an evidence-based framework that aims to better capture the role of open data in developing countries. The Open Data Logic Framework below focuses on various points in the open data value cycle, from data supply to demand, use and impact.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178875/original/file-20170719-26705-196u0lq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178875/original/file-20170719-26705-196u0lq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178875/original/file-20170719-26705-196u0lq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178875/original/file-20170719-26705-196u0lq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178875/original/file-20170719-26705-196u0lq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178875/original/file-20170719-26705-196u0lq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178875/original/file-20170719-26705-196u0lq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178875/original/file-20170719-26705-196u0lq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Logic model of open data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The GovLab</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>2. Open data has real promise</strong> - Based on this framework and the underlying evidence that fed into it, we can guardedly conclude that open data does in fact spur development – but only under certain conditions and within the right supporting ecosystem. </p>
<p>One well-known success took place after <a href="http://odimpact.org/case-nepal-earthquake-recovery.html">Nepal’s 2015 earthquake</a> when open data helped NGOs map important landmarks such as health facilities and road networks, among other uses. </p>
<p>And in Colombia, the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture launched <a href="http://odimpact.org/case-aclimate-colombia.html">Aclímate Colombia</a>, a tool that gives smallholder farmers data-driven insight into planting strategies that makes them more resilient to climate change. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BIpa7QjAgIu","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Beyond these genuinely transformative experiences, we found several examples that ran into challenges. </p>
<p>A pair of education-information dashboards in <a href="http://odimpact.org/case-tanzanias-open-education-dashboards.html">Tanzania</a>, for example, were launched with good intentions (to improve student test scores by empowering families with information on school quality). But lacking long-term strategies to scale and sustain their use and impact, these efforts soon fizzled out. </p>
<p><strong>3. Open data can improve people’s lives</strong> Examining projects in a number of sectors critical to development, including health, humanitarian aid, agriculture, poverty alleviation, energy and education, we found four main ways that data can have an impact.</p>
<p>Open data can improve governance, as it did in Burundi when the country <a href="http://odimpact.org/case-burundi-open-rbf.html">made public</a> its results-based financing system. By linking development aid to pre-determined target results, this information increased transparency and accountability. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"862616345141059584"}"></div></p>
<p>Data can also empower citizens by enabling more informed decision-making. For example, by providing information on voter registration centres, <a href="http://odimpact.org/case-kenya-improving-voter-turnout.html">Kenya’s GotToVote!</a> system increased voter awareness – and, consequently, turnout.</p>
<p>By enabling economic growth and innovation, data also has the power to create opportunities. In Ghana, the <a href="http://odimpact.org/case-ghanas-esoko.html">Esoko platform</a> is helping smallholder farmers maximise the value of their crops by providing useful information about increasingly complex global food chains.</p>
<p>Finally, data can assist governments, NGOs, and citizens in solving major problems. <a href="http://odimpact.org/case-paraguays-dengue-prediction.html">Dengue has been endemic since 2009 in Paraguay</a>. Recently, open data helped researchers develop a new tool for predicting outbreaks of the disease.</p>
<p><strong>4. Data can be an asset in development</strong> While these impacts are apparent in both developed and developing countries, we believe that open data can have a particularly powerful role in developing economies. </p>
<p>Where data is scarce, as it often is in poorer countries, open data can lead to an inherently more equitable and democratic distribution of information and knowledge. This, in turn, may activate a wider range of expertise to address complex problems; it’s what we in the field call “open innovation”. </p>
<p>This quality can allow resource-starved developing economies to access and leverage the best minds around. </p>
<p>And because trust in government is <a href="http://ida.worldbank.org/theme/governance-and-institutions">quite low</a> in many developing economies, the transparency bred of releasing data can have after-effects that go well beyond the immediate impact of the data itself.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178873/original/file-20170719-11699-74exh4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178873/original/file-20170719-11699-74exh4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178873/original/file-20170719-11699-74exh4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178873/original/file-20170719-11699-74exh4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178873/original/file-20170719-11699-74exh4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178873/original/file-20170719-11699-74exh4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178873/original/file-20170719-11699-74exh4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178873/original/file-20170719-11699-74exh4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The unique features of open data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The GovLab</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>5. The ingredients matter</strong> To better understand why some open data projects fail while others succeed, we created a “<a href="http://odimpact.org/periodic-table.html">periodic table” of open data</a> (below), which includes 27 enabling factors divided into five broad categories.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178868/original/file-20170719-13593-17hxuph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178868/original/file-20170719-13593-17hxuph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178868/original/file-20170719-13593-17hxuph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178868/original/file-20170719-13593-17hxuph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178868/original/file-20170719-13593-17hxuph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178868/original/file-20170719-13593-17hxuph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178868/original/file-20170719-13593-17hxuph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Periodic Table of Open Data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The GovLab</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For those who can truly unlock the potential of open data – from practitioners to policy-makers – this table could serve as a checklist of the factors and ingredients to be considered and addressed. Researchers assessing the impact of an open data project can also use it to determine what variables made a difference.</p>
<p><strong>6. We can plan for impact</strong> Our report ends by identifying how development organisations can catalyse the release and use of open data to make a difference on the ground. </p>
<p>Recommendations include:</p>
<p>· Define the problem, understand the user, and be aware of local conditions;</p>
<p>· Focus on readiness, responsiveness and change management;</p>
<p>· Nurture an open data ecosystem through collaboration and partnerships;</p>
<p>· Have a risk mitigation strategy;</p>
<p>· Secure resources and focus on sustainability; and</p>
<p>· Build a strong evidence base and support more research.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>In short, while it may still be too early to fully capture open data’s as-of-yet muted impact on developing economies, there are certainly reasons for optimism. </p>
<p>Much like <a href="http://thegovlab.org/the-govlab-selected-readings-on-blockchain-technology-and-its-potential-for-transforming-governance/">blockchain</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-drones-can-improve-healthcare-delivery-in-developing-countries-49917">drones</a> and other much-hyped technical advances, it’s time to start substantiating the excitement over open data with real, hard evidence.</p>
<p>The next step is to get systematic, using the kind of analytical framework we present here to gain comparative and actionable insight into if, when and how open data works. Only by getting data-driven about open data can we help it live up to its potential.</p>
<p><em>This article was co-authored by <a href="http://www.thegovlab.org/team.html">Andrew Young</a>, Knowledge Director at the GovLab.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81159/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The GovLab received funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development and FHI 360 to complete the report featured in this article.</span></em></p>Can open data change the world? We looked beyond the hype to find out.Stefaan G. Verhulst, Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer of the Governance Laboratory, New York UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/809972017-07-19T17:01:16Z2017-07-19T17:01:16ZHere’s the three-pronged approach we’re using in our own research to tackle the reproducibility issue<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178674/original/file-20170718-31872-1uv1xdv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Step one is not being afraid to reexamine a site that's been previously excavated.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dominic O'Brien. Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you keep up with health or science news, you’ve probably been whipsawed between conflicting reports. Just days apart you may hear that “science says” coffee’s good for you, no actually it’s bad for you, actually red wine holds the secret to long life. As <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rnq1NpHdmw">comedian John Oliver put it</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“After a certain point, all that ridiculous information can make you wonder: is science bullshit? To which the answer is clearly no. But there is a lot of bullshit currently masquerading as science.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A big part of this problem has to do with what’s been called a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/reproducibility-5484">reproducibility crisis</a>” in science – many studies if run a second time don’t come up with the same results. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/533452a">Scientists are worried</a> about this situation, and <a href="https://www.nature.com/collections/byblhcfwhw">high-profile</a> international <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab2374">research journals</a> have raised the alarm, too, calling on researchers to put more effort into ensuring their results can be reproduced, rather than only striving for splashy, one-off outcomes.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/opinion/sunday/why-do-so-many-studies-fail-to-replicate.html">Concerns about</a> <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/03/psychologys-replication-crisis-cant-be-wished-away/472272/">irreproducible results</a> <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/future_tense/2016/04/biomedicine_facing_a_worse_replication_crisis_than_the_one_plaguing_psychology.html">in science resonate</a> <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/science-isnt-broken/">outside the ivory tower</a>, as well, because a lot of this research translates into information that affects our everyday lives. </p>
<p>For example, it informs what we know about how to stay healthy, how doctors should look after us when we’re sick, how best to educate our children and how to organize our communities. If study results are not reproducible, then we can’t trust them to give good advice on solving our everyday problems – and society-wide challenges. Reproducibility is not just a minor technicality for specialists; it’s a pressing issue that affects the role of modern science in society.</p>
<p>Once we’ve identified that reproducibility is a big problem, the question becomes: How do we tackle it? Part of the answer has to do with changing incentives for researchers. But there are plenty of things we in the research community can do right now in the course of our scientific work.</p>
<p>It might come as a surprise that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-015-9272-9">archaeologists are at the forefront</a> of finding ways to improve the situation. Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22968">recent paper in Nature</a> demonstrates a concrete three-pronged approach to improving the reproducibility of scientific findings.</p>
<h2>Going back to where it all started</h2>
<p>In our new publication we describe recent work at an archaeological site in northern Australia. The results of our excavations and laboratory analyses show that <a href="http://theconversation.com/buried-tools-and-pigments-tell-a-new-history-of-humans-in-australia-for-65-000-years-81021">people arrived in Australia 65,000 years ago</a>, substantially earlier than the previous consensus estimate of 47,000 years ago. <a href="http://theconversation.com/buried-tools-and-pigments-tell-a-new-history-of-humans-in-australia-for-65-000-years-81021">This date has exciting implications</a> for our understandings of human evolution.</p>
<p>A less obvious detail about this study is the care we’ve taken to make our results reproducible. Our reproducibility strategy had three parts: fieldwork, labwork and data analyses.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178680/original/file-20170718-10320-1sapmfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178680/original/file-20170718-10320-1sapmfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178680/original/file-20170718-10320-1sapmfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178680/original/file-20170718-10320-1sapmfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178680/original/file-20170718-10320-1sapmfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178680/original/file-20170718-10320-1sapmfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178680/original/file-20170718-10320-1sapmfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178680/original/file-20170718-10320-1sapmfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ben Marwick and colleagues excavating at Madjedbebe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dominic O'Brien. Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our first step toward reproducibility was our choice of what to investigate. Rather than striking out to someplace new, we reexcavated an archaeological site <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.03.014">previously known to have very old artifacts</a>.</p>
<p>The rockshelter site Madjedbebe in Australia’s Northern Territory had been excavated twice before. Famously, excavations there in 1989 indicated that people had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/345153a0">arrived in Australia by about 50,000 years ago</a>. But this age was not accepted by many archaeologists, who refused to accept anything older than 47,000 years ago.</p>
<p>This age was controversial from its first publication, and our goal in revisiting the site was to check if it was reliable or not. Could that controversial 50,000-years age be reproduced, or was it just a chance result that didn’t indicate the true time period for human habitation in Australia?</p>
<p>Like many scientists, archaeologists are generally less interested in returning to old discoveries, instead preferring to forge new paths in search of novel results. The problem with this is that it can lead to many unresolved questions, making it difficult to build a solid foundation of knowledge. </p>
<h2>Double-check the lab tests</h2>
<p>The second part of our reproducibility strategy was to verify that our laboratory analyses were reliable.</p>
<p>Our team used <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/luminescence-dating-cosmic-method-171538">optically stimulated luminescence</a> methods to date the sand grains near the ancient artifacts. This method is complex, and there are only a few places in the world that have the instruments and skills to date these kinds of samples.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178820/original/file-20170719-27696-r2h9i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178820/original/file-20170719-27696-r2h9i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178820/original/file-20170719-27696-r2h9i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178820/original/file-20170719-27696-r2h9i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178820/original/file-20170719-27696-r2h9i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178820/original/file-20170719-27696-r2h9i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178820/original/file-20170719-27696-r2h9i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178820/original/file-20170719-27696-r2h9i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zenobia Jacobs produced the new ages for the Madjebdebe site based on her work in the Luminescence Dating Laboratory at the University of Wollongong, Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Wollongong</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We first analyzed our samples in our laboratory at the <a href="http://smah.uow.edu.au/sees/facilities/UOW002889.html">University of Wollongong</a> to find their ages. Then we sent blind duplicate samples to another laboratory at the <a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/ipas/facilities/luminescence/">University of Adelaide</a> to analyze, without telling that lab our results. With both sets of analyses in hand, we compared them; it turned out in this case that they got the same ages as we did for the same samples.</p>
<p>This kind of verification is not a common practice in archaeology, but because this site was already controversial, we wanted to make sure the ages we obtained were reproducible.</p>
<p>While this extra work involved some additional cost and time, it’s vital to proving that our dates give the true ages of the sediments surrounding the artifacts. This verification shows that our lab results are not due to chance, or the unique conditions of our laboratory. Other archaeologists, and the public, can be more confident in our findings because we’ve taken these extra steps. This external checking should be standard practice in any science where controversial findings are at stake. </p>
<h2>Don’t let the computer be a black box</h2>
<p>After we completed the excavation and lab analyses, we analyzed the data on our computers. This stage of our research was very similar to what scientists in many other fields do. We loaded the raw data into our computers to visualize it with plots and test hypotheses with statistical methods.</p>
<p>However, while many researchers do this work by pointing and clicking using off-the-shelf software, we tried as much as possible to write scripts in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/517109a">R programming language</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178686/original/file-20170718-10283-q6g5bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178686/original/file-20170718-10283-q6g5bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178686/original/file-20170718-10283-q6g5bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178686/original/file-20170718-10283-q6g5bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178686/original/file-20170718-10283-q6g5bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178686/original/file-20170718-10283-q6g5bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178686/original/file-20170718-10283-q6g5bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178686/original/file-20170718-10283-q6g5bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Could be the enemy of reproducibility if it helps obscure the steps in data analysis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/erinkohlenbergphoto/5353222369">Erin Kohlenberg</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pointing and clicking generally leaves no traces of important decisions made during data analysis. Mouse-driven analyses leave the researcher with a final result, but none of the steps to get that result is saved. This makes it <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-computers-broke-science-and-what-we-can-do-to-fix-it-49938">difficult to retrace the steps</a> of an analysis, and check the assumptions made by the researcher.</p>
<p>On the other hand, our scripts contain a record of all our data analysis steps and decisions. They’re like an exact recipe to generate our results. Other researchers not using scripts for their data analysis don’t have these recipes, so their results are much harder to reproduce. </p>
<p>Another advantage of our choice to use scripts is that we can share them with the scientific community and the public. We follow <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4550">standard practices</a> by making our script files and main data files <a href="https://osf.io/qwfcz/">freely available online</a> so anyone can inspect the details of our analysis, or explore new ideas using our data.</p>
<p>It’s easy to understand why many researchers prefer point-and-click over writing scripts for their data analysis. Often that’s what they were taught as students. It’s hard work and time-consuming to learn new analysis tools among the pressures of teaching, applying for grants, doing fieldwork and writing publications. Despite these challenges, there is an accelerating shift away from point-and-click toward scripted analyses in many areas of science.</p>
<h2>Combating irreproducibility one step at a time</h2>
<p>Our recent paper is part of a new movement emerging in many disciplines to improve the reproducibility of science. Examples of recent papers that have made a commitment to reproducibility similar to ours have come from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22975">epidemiology</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0160">oceanography</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20470">neuroscience</a>.</p>
<p>We hope our example will inspire other scientists to be strategic about improving the reproducibility of their research. Some of these steps can be difficult for researchers: It means learning how to use unfamiliar software, and publicly sharing more of their data and methods than they’re accustomed to. But they’re important for generating reliable results – and for maintaining public confidence in scientific knowledge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80997/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Marwick receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the University of Wollongong, and the University of Washington. This work was supported in part by the University of Washington eScience Institute.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zenobia Jacobs receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>A team of archaeologists strived to improve the reproducibility of their results, influencing their choices in the field, in the lab and during data analysis.Ben Marwick, Associate Professor of Archaeology, University of WashingtonZenobia Jacobs, Professor, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/801722017-07-10T16:35:56Z2017-07-10T16:35:56ZUsing data visualisation to beat the call centre curse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177337/original/file-20170707-23720-q96r8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C35%2C2941%2C1908&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/isometric-office-cubicles-men-women-working-230150206?src=AUIZWsnHIiEeDHyVz2ktyw-1-87">Jesus Sanz/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever found yourself locked in a circular conversation about a missing bolt for your barbecue? Have you ever listened to classical hits for ten minutes while you wait to argue about a discrepancy on your bank statement? If so, then you will understand the pain of the call centre. The good news is that a dive into call data can help make the pain go away. </p>
<p>The past two decades have seen a massive expansion of the call centre industry. In the UK alone, there are now an <a href="https://www.unison.org.uk/at-work/energy/key-issues/call-centres/">estimated 5,000 in operation</a>, employing about a million workers and <a href="https://www.statista.com/forecasts/397597/united-kingdom-call-centers-revenue-forecast-nace-n8220">generating revenue of £2.3 billion</a>.</p>
<p>Some <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12691704">liken call centres</a> to the modern equivalent of factories; the public face and first contact in an economy now dominated by the services industries. Long wait times and extended conversations where customers are bounced from operator to operator have the potential to create negative, long-lasting impressions. These are situations everyone wants to avoid. </p>
<p>But how to make sense of all the calls? Across the UK, over <a href="https://www.unison.org.uk/at-work/energy/key-issues/call-centres/">a quarter of a million calls</a> provide more than 4m data points (or so-called “call events”) every day. When data is recorded at this scale, it is easy to get lost in the weeds and lose sight of the bigger picture.</p>
<h2>Call and answer</h2>
<p>But when we visualise this data, there is a way to sift through this massive amount of information to reveal larger trends and find trouble spots. We find ways to help callers and managers smooth the whole experience.</p>
<p>Our team created software to build images from 24 hours of anonymised call centre activity data of over 200,000 calls from a local company, QPC Ltd, which has a range of clients including Vodafone and Virgin. The sample image below may look complicated, but it shows how hot spots can be easily identified and targeted. Each tiny, individual rectangle represents a single phone call. And each rectangle, or cell, is ordered by the time at which the call started. The size and colour of the cells represents the length of each call.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176090/original/file-20170628-31284-43amhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176090/original/file-20170628-31284-43amhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176090/original/file-20170628-31284-43amhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176090/original/file-20170628-31284-43amhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176090/original/file-20170628-31284-43amhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176090/original/file-20170628-31284-43amhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176090/original/file-20170628-31284-43amhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sample image generated using the software. Red spots indicate problematic areas that users can zoom in to inspect.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These images can be modified to focus on call length, wait times, resolved calls and so on. And we can zoom in and out to get either a high level view or a detailed inspection of a particular record. The information gets broken down into more meaningful blocks of information. So each hour is broken into into six ten-minute blocks, and each call split into the period when the caller is listening to a pre-recorded message, the time queuing, and the time talking to an actual human.</p>
<p>If you have ever dialled in to a call centre you’ll know that there can be multiple times that all of these happen on a single call. And so we gave each of these “events” their own time stamps so we could better gather detailed information. </p>
<p><a href="http://cs.swan.ac.uk/%7Ecsbob/research/callCenter/treemap/roberts16interactive.pdf">This approach</a> is a simpler way to gather insights for those managing the call centre and trying to handle the huge flow of calls. Call centres can find patterns in caller behaviour and spot any outliers. They can identify when we, the callers, abandon ship and hang up in frustration. They can work out how to filter calls more sensibly, and discover the moments when wait times increase and decrease.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EOieJLjVxUA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Beating the odds</h2>
<p>Perhaps more importantly this data visualisation offers some simple tips to make callers lives easier too. Next time you grit your teeth and dive into a world of hold music and apologetic recorded messages, consider these three simple pieces of advice.</p>
<p><strong>Don’t call at lunchtime.</strong> Not only are you on your lunch break, so are a number of staff at the call centre. Expect to wait. Or to give up.</p>
<p><strong>Avoid evening calls.</strong> The rate of abandoned calls increases during the day and peaks in the evening from 8pm. </p>
<p><strong>Bite the bullet and call early.</strong> Our visualisation shows early morning calls yield the shortest queue and call times. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6g4dkBF5anU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>There are some <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2312/stag.20161370">worthwhile insights</a> behind this advice. Using the visualization software, we can observe a dense cluster of abandoned calls typically between 1.10pm and 1:15pm. Perhaps these are the callers who thought they could get everything done while unwrapping a ham sandwich, but who soon think better of it.</p>
<p>The number of abandoned calls is clearly linked to wait time. You might wonder who is calling in between midnight and 8am, and they might be thinking twice too, as callers during these hours are twice as likely to abandon as those that dial in during normal business hours. We also get impatient after 8pm, when the percentage of callers who abandon takes another sharp rise.</p>
<p>One reason that those evening calls start to clog up the system might be that this is when the furious are calling in. Staff at QPC Ltd identified a special group which calls in the evening, waits longer than 15 minutes to talk to an agent, and then speaks to the agent for up to 15 minutes. It thought this is indicative of dissatisfied customers, prepared to wait to get the point across, and stick around until they get results. The normal average call length is a little over five and a half minutes. </p>
<p>Just be thankful you are not in that small but unfortunate group which suffers more than five “queue events” and ends up speaking to the agent for more than an hour. The only hope is that the call centre managers can spot these outliers in the data and call them back to check the pain was all worth it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80172/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Timing your call can be crucial to fend off frustration.Robert Laramee, Associate Professor in Data Visualization, Swansea UniversityRichard Roberts, PhD Candidate in Data Visualisation, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/717152017-01-25T08:03:42Z2017-01-25T08:03:42ZMore lessons on fintech to come for Scott Morrison<p>This week, Treasurer Scott Morrison will be in Germany, as <a href="http://sjm.ministers.treasury.gov.au/media-release/002-2017/">part of the run up</a> to this year’s G-20 Summit, <a href="http://www.bundesbank.de/Redaktion/EN/Termine/G20/2017_01_25_konferenz.html">talking</a> to other finance ministers about “Digitising finance, financial inclusion and financial literacy”. The Treasurer is due to give a keynote speech on “Developments and challenges of fintech with a focus on Australia”.</p>
<p>Just before Christmas, ASIC <a href="http://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/media-centre/find-a-media-release/2016-releases/16-440mr-asic-releases-world-first-licensing-exemption-for-fintech-businesses/">released a document</a> with the new rules on how new fintech businesses can test certain services without holding an Australian financial services or credit licence. The waivers provide a “sandbox” for new fintech start-ups to play in without incurring the wrath of the regulator.</p>
<p>However, the restrictions for playing in the sandbox are actually <a href="http://download.asic.gov.au/media/4112096/licensing-exemption-for-fintech-testing-infographic.pdf">quite onerous</a>. First, and probably the biggest hurdle, is that would-be Warren Buffets must be a member of “one or more ASIC - approved external dispute resolution (EDR) schemes”, <a href="http://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/financial-services/dispute-resolution/asic-approved-dispute-resolution-schemes/">such as</a>the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The budding billionaires must also organise some professional indemnity insurance cover, of at least A$1 million. Not too many small firms will have the sort of money lying around to do both of those. </p>
<p>The things that the startups are allowed to do are fairly restrictive, with limits on the products that they may offer and the money they can manage with a “total customer exposure of no more than A$5 million”.</p>
<p>When in Europe the Treasurer will also visit London, where among other visits, he is due to meet with Internet royalty - none other than Sir Tim Berners Lee. He’s the inventor of the World Wide Web (www) and head of a new UK government initiative, called the <a href="https://theodi.org/">Open Data Institute</a>(ODI). </p>
<p>Among many areas that Berners-Lee and the ODI are looking at is Finance and particularly something called the <a href="http://theodi.org/open-banking-standard">Open Banking Standard</a>. This standard has the lofty goal of:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Unlocking the potential of open banking to improve competition, efficiency and stimulate innovation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>ODI describes the rationale for the standard:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The European Union is rapidly advancing legislation that will, upon implementation in the next two years, require UK banks (subject to consent from individuals and businesses) to open access to their customer data and payments capabilities.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It means the banks will be required to make (some of their) data available, or “open”, to all. But it won’t be everything, the example ODI gives is “financial product information”, basically the pamphlets that are available in bank branches today. But it’s a start.</p>
<p>Other data is considered “closed” or “shared” such as personal bank details or a company’s transaction data. Access to such sensitive data would, according to ODI, be subject to the consent of the individual or business to whom the data belongs and specific governance related to that. Access to the data would be through standardised application programming interfaces (APIs) and, subject to privacy constraints, data could be made available to banks and fintech developers.</p>
<p>The ODI approach promotes fintech development by allowing start-ups to develop new services and products that can access bank data directly rather than having to suck data out of banks and massage it locally. The data remains with the banks and customers, but the logic moves to the fintech developer.</p>
<p>The banks, in the UK or Australia, are not going to be happy. For example, a fintech could write a program to extract a customer’s data from their bank or credit card accounts and run a program to see how much better the customer would be if they moved their accounts to another bank, using real data rather than marketing promises. Customers, for example, could also set up alerts on their account balances not at the simple overdraft level but also using real rules taking into account upcoming expenses, such as holidays.</p>
<p>On the subject of bank accounts, the Treasurer should take note of how the UK banking system is actually implementing <a href="https://www.bacs.co.uk/DocumentLibrary/CASS_dashboard_-_published_20_Oct_16.PDF">bank account number portability</a> rather than still <a href="https://theconversation.com/simpler-account-switching-would-help-keep-our-banks-honest-66264">talking about it</a> as in Canberra. </p>
<p>But while fintech is a fascinating subject, I suspect other topics in global finance might just take up some of the visit, such as the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-24/donald-trump-tpp-federal-government/8207250">reversal of the global trade agenda</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-38720320">Brexit</a> both of which could be considered financial exclusion rather than inclusion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pat McConnell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia could follow the UK’s lead in fostering progress in the financial technology sector.Pat McConnell, Honorary Fellow, Macquarie University Applied Finance Centre, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/657142016-09-20T19:54:23Z2016-09-20T19:54:23ZASIC company data should be open and free – even Malcolm Turnbull agrees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138407/original/image-20160920-11134-rpmq10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">ASIC charges businesses and individuals around A$50 million each year for company searches.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian government is planning to privatise the management of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission database of companies. This is a potentially damaging move which goes against the government’s own open data policy.</p>
<p>On behalf of the Australian government, ASIC currently charges businesses and individuals around A$50 million each year for company searches. The information covers everything from details of shareholders and company officers (A$19 per document) and their roles and relationships with other bodies, to financial reports and records of charges over company assets (A$38 per document). </p>
<p>It is undoubtedly a great money-spinner to charge members of the public more than A$1 per page for a downloaded pdf document. However, the original legislative purpose of making information about companies publicly available was surely not so that the Australian government could profit from selling that information. Indeed, there is no public policy or economic rationale for the charges. </p>
<p>I am yet to meet an economist who argues that levying costs on public information about companies helps markets operate more efficiently. What we’re actually doing is segregating the market into those who can afford public information about companies and those who cannot.</p>
<p>The movement of company data from public to private hands is likely to entrench the charges for public information about companies. The corporate database is likely to be treated as nothing more than a cash cow. </p>
<p>Inevitably the focus will be on how to fatten the cow. The question asked will not be should we make [so much] money from public information, but how can we make more? The adverse economic consequences and lost productivity benefits that flow from costly public data will not enter the calculations.</p>
<h2>Malcolm Turnbull has supported open data</h2>
<p>In March 2014 Malcolm Turnbull, then communications minister, <a href="http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2014/03/turnbull-blasts-asic-putting-public-data-behind-paywalls/">made the following salient comments:</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>To be frank with you, I think it is really regrettable that ASIC’s data is behind a paywall.</p>
<p>I have to say as a matter of principle, I don’t think the government should be charging the public for data.</p>
<p>Obviously these are tough and troubled times from a budgetary point of view – and there will be all sorts of contractual issues – but really, the productivity benefits from making data freely available are so much greater than whatever revenues you can generate from them.</p>
<p>Our goal is … wherever possible to make that data accessible and free.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our prime minister’s reported comments are consistent with the Australian government’s own <a href="https://www.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/aust_govt_public_data_policy_statement_1.pdf">2015 Public Data Policy</a>. This commits to optimising the use and reuse of public data, releasing non-sensitive data as open by default, and collaborating with the private and research sectors to extend the value of public data for the benefit of the Australian public. </p>
<p>I know many accounting academics who wish to conduct research to inform public policy using the financial reports on ASIC’s database. They are prevented from doing so because they do not have a spare A$50,000 lying around to buy the data.</p>
<h2>Better corporate and tax regulation</h2>
<p>Academics are not the only ones who would benefit from making ASIC’s public data freely available. It would also help individuals to scrutinise corporate affairs and, in doing so, make valuable contributions to the Australian regulatory authorities. This is the Jerry Maguire principle of public administration: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzfc9rjow9g">help me, help you</a>.</p>
<p>In carrying out its regulatory functions, ASIC relies heavily on complaints and reports of corporate misconduct received from individuals. Let’s do a cause and effect analysis here: the higher the charges for corporate information, the lower the scrutiny of corporate affairs by individuals, the fewer complaints made to ASIC, the weaker and more untimely corporate regulation. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Economics/ASIC/Final_Report/index">The 2014 Senate inquiry report into the performance of ASIC</a> must have had such an analysis in mind when it recommended that ASIC charges be brought into line with other jurisdictions. Searching for public information about companies is free in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Economics/Completed_inquiries/2008-10/liquidators_09/report/index">The 2010 Senate inquiry report into insolvency practitioners</a> is archetypal of the public policy problem. This committee found overwhelming evidence of bad and illegal practices in the insolvency industry. These practices thrived while there was low scrutiny and costly and missing financial information. ASIC was unaware of the nature and extent of what was going on.</p>
<p>Similar to ASIC, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) relies on individuals to inform it of taxation misconduct by corporations. The same cause and effect analysis for complaints made to ASIC applies. </p>
<p>In carrying out its functions, the ATO is effectively hamstrung if individuals are unable to freely scrutinise the financial affairs of corporations and make timely complaints or reports. The heaving lifting of scrutiny and accountability in taxation falls on the few and the public purse is worse off because of it. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Economics/Corporate_Tax_Avoidance/Report_part_1">The 2015 Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance</a> was remarkable not so much for the outlandish evidence of aggressive tax avoidance, but the incredulous expressions of senators in the Sydney hearing room as the evidence emerged. It was almost possible to read their thoughts: how could it be that we, the elected representatives of the people, could have missed this disgraceful state of tax affairs and for so long? </p>
<p>The answer, of course, is that there was a lack of timely genuine scrutiny by the public. It finally fell to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/sep/12/journalists-urge-malcolm-turnbulls-government-not-to-privatise-asic-registry">investigative journalists such as Michael West</a> (then of Fairfax) to blow the whistle after acquiring the financial reports of various multinational companies.</p>
<h2>Cutting red tape for small business</h2>
<p>Small businesses – often described as the engine room of the Australian economy – could also benefit from freely available company data. Small businesses and contractors should be able to educate themselves about the affairs of their corporate customers without having to pay the government for the privilege. </p>
<p>Unsecured creditors should be able to view the charges held against a company’s assets by secured creditors so they too can make informed decisions.</p>
<p>Employees and their representatives should likewise be able to freely access public information about corporate employers. Employees have an active and ongoing economic interest in a company, not least because of the employee benefits they accumulate such as annual leave, long service leave and superannuation contributions. </p>
<p>It is inefficient for the Australian government to levy charges that discourage timely regular scrutiny of large companies by employees. The social costs can be high when a company fails. Uninformed employees are likely to suffer shock and dislocation. Meanwhile the government often incurs the cost of paying out accumulated employee benefits.</p>
<h2>In the public interest</h2>
<p>Keeping public information about companies locked up behind paywalls and maintained by private interests is not in the public interest.</p>
<p>Free public information about companies in public hands will contribute to higher transparency, better governance and accountability, and less secrecy, incompetence, fraud and corruption. If the ASIC corporate database is sold, the opposite effects are virtually certain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65714/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey Knapp does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Keeping public information about companies locked up behind paywalls and maintained by private interests is not in the public interest.Jeffrey Knapp, Lecturer/Accounting, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/615542016-08-04T01:29:23Z2016-08-04T01:29:23ZExpanding citizen science models to enhance open innovation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133010/original/image-20160803-12227-d71ph8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=342%2C8%2C4816%2C3548&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Imagine where working together on open data can get us?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-314041658/stock-photo-teamwork-concept-high-angle-view-of-businessmen-hands-forming-circle-and-holding-puzzle-pieces-on.html">Puzzle pieces image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the years, <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-citizen-science-16487">citizen scientists</a> have provided vital data and contributed in invaluable ways to various scientific quests. But they’re typically relegated to helping traditional scientists complete tasks the pros don’t have the time or resources to deal with on their own. Citizens are asked to count wildlife, for instance, or classify photos that are of interest to the lead researchers. </p>
<p>This type of top-down engagement has consigned citizen science to the fringes, where it fills a manpower gap but not much more. As a result, its full value has not been realized. Marginalizing the citizen scientists and their potential contribution is a grave mistake – it limits how far we can go in science and the speed and scope of discovery.</p>
<p>Instead, by harnessing globalization’s increased interconnectivity, citizen science should become an integral part of open innovation. Science agendas can be set by citizens, data can be open, and open-source software and hardware can be shared to assist in the scientific process. And as the model proves itself, it can be expanded even further, into nonscience realms.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132997/original/image-20160803-12223-n5ue2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132997/original/image-20160803-12223-n5ue2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132997/original/image-20160803-12223-n5ue2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132997/original/image-20160803-12223-n5ue2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132997/original/image-20160803-12223-n5ue2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132997/original/image-20160803-12223-n5ue2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132997/original/image-20160803-12223-n5ue2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132997/original/image-20160803-12223-n5ue2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Since 1900 the Audubon Society has sponsored its annual Christmas Bird Count, which relies on amateur volunteers nationwide.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsmtnprairie/5436727240">USFWS Mountain-Prairie</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Some major citizen science successes</h2>
<p>Citizen-powered science has been around for <a href="http://www.audubon.org/conservation/history-christmas-bird-count">over 100 years</a>, utilizing the collective brainpower of regular, everyday people to collect, observe, input, identify and crossmatch data that contribute to and expand scientific discovery. And there have been some marked successes.</p>
<p><a href="http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about/">eBird</a> allows scores of citizen scientists to record bird abundance via field observation; those data have contributed to over <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320713003820">90 peer-reviewed research articles</a>. <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/data/dyfi/">Did You Feel It?</a> crowdsources information from people around that world who have experienced an earthquake. <a href="https://theconversation.com/crowdsourcing-the-serengeti-how-citizen-scientists-classified-millions-of-photos-from-home-42930">Snapshot Serengeti</a> uses volunteers to identify, classify and catalog photos taken daily in this African ecosystem.</p>
<p><a href="https://fold.it/portal/">FoldIt</a> is an online game where players are tasked with using the tools provided to virtually fold protein structures. The goal is to help scientists figure out if these structures can be used in medical applications. A set of users determined the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.2119">crystal structure</a> of an enzyme involved in the monkey version of AIDS in just three weeks – a problem that had previously gone <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/19/aids-protein-decoded-gamers_n_970113.html">unsolved for 15 years</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.galaxyzoo.org/#/story">Galaxy Zoo</a> is perhaps the most well-known online citizen science project. It uploads images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and allows users to assist with the morphological classification of galaxies. The citizen astronomers discovered an entirely new class of galaxy – <a href="http://doi.org/10.1126/science.333.6039.173">“green pea” galaxies</a> – that have gone on to be the subject of over 20 academic articles. </p>
<p>These are all notable successes, with citizens contributing to the projects set out by professional scientists. But there’s so much more potential in the model. What does the next generation of citizen science look like?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132998/original/image-20160803-12230-1adv34h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132998/original/image-20160803-12230-1adv34h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132998/original/image-20160803-12230-1adv34h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132998/original/image-20160803-12230-1adv34h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132998/original/image-20160803-12230-1adv34h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132998/original/image-20160803-12230-1adv34h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132998/original/image-20160803-12230-1adv34h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132998/original/image-20160803-12230-1adv34h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People can contribute to crowdsourced projects from just about anywhere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Summer_-_Nazareth_College_(8510602468).jpg">Nazareth College</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Open innovation could advance citizen science</h2>
<p>The time is right for citizen science to join forces with open innovation. This is a concept that describes partnering with other people and sharing ideas to come up with something new. The assumption is that more can be achieved when boundaries are lowered and resources – including ideas, data, designs and software and hardware – are opened and made freely available.</p>
<p>Open innovation is collaborative, distributed, cumulative and it develops over time. Citizen science can be a critical element here because its <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/magazine/professional-amateurs.html?_r=0">professional-amateurs</a> can become another significant source of data, standards and best practices that could further the work of scientific and lay communities. </p>
<p>Globalization has spurred on this trend through the ubiquity of internet and wireless connections, affordable devices to collect data (such as cameras, smartphones, smart sensors, wearable technologies), and the ability to easily connect with others. Increased access to people, information and ideas points the way to unlock new synergies, new relationships and new forms of collaboration that transcend boundaries. And individuals can focus their attention and spend their time on anything they want.</p>
<p>We are seeing this emerge in what has been termed the “solution economy” – where citizens find fixes to challenges that are traditionally managed by government. </p>
<p>Consider the issue of accessibility. Passage of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act aimed to improve accessibility issues in the U.S. But more than two decades later, individuals with disabilities are still dealing with substantial mobility issues in public spaces – due to street conditions, cracked or nonexistent sidewalks, missing curb cuts, obstructions or only portions of a building being accessible. These all can create physical and emotional challenges for the disabled. </p>
<p>To help deal with this issue, several individual solution seekers have merged citizen science, open innovation and open sourcing to create mobile and web applications that provide information about navigating city streets. For instance, <a href="http://healthland.time.com/2013/10/14/wheelchair-inaccessible-the-story-behind-an-app-that-maps-obstacles-for-the-disabled/">Jason DaSilva</a>, a filmmaker with multiple sclerosis, developed <a href="https://www.axsmap.com/">AXS Map</a> – a free online and mobile app powered by Google Places API. It crowdsources information from people across the country about wheelchair accessibility in cities nationwide. </p>
<h2>Broadening the model</h2>
<p>There’s no reason the diffuse resources and open process of the citizen scientist model need be applied only to science questions.</p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://www.sciencegossip.org/">Science Gossip</a> is a <a href="https://www.zooniverse.org/">Zooniverse</a> citizen science project. It’s rooted in Victorian-era natural history – the period considered to be the <a href="http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Victorian_era">dawn of modern science</a> – but it crosses disciplinary boundaries. At the time, scientific information was produced everywhere and recorded in letters, books, newspapers and periodicals (it was also the beginning of mass printing). Science Gossip allows citizen scientists to pore through pages of Victorian natural history periodicals. The site prompts them with questions meant to ensure continuity with other user entries.</p>
<p>The final product is digitized data based on the 140,000 pages of 19th-century periodicals. Anyone can access it on <a href="http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/">Biodiversity Heritage Library</a> easily and for free. This work has obvious benefits for natural history researchers but it also can be used by art enthusiasts, ethnographers, biographers, historians, rhetoricians, or authors of historical fiction or filmmakers of period pieces who seek to create accurate settings. The collection possesses value that goes beyond scientific data and becomes critical to understanding the period in which data was collected.</p>
<p>It’s also possible to imagine flipping the citizen science script, with the citizens themselves calling the shots about what they want to see investigated. Implementing this version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-citizen-science-empower-disenfranchised-communities-53625">citizen science in disenfranchised communities</a> could be a means of access and empowerment. Imagine Flint, Michigan residents directing expert researchers on studies of their drinking water.</p>
<p>Or consider the aim of many localities to become so-called <a href="http://www.techrepublic.com/article/smart-cities-6-essential-technologies/">smart cities</a> – connected cities that integrate information and communication technologies to improve the quality of life for residents as well as manage the city’s assets. Citizen science could have a direct impact on community engagement and urban planning via data consumption and analysis, feedback loops and project testing. Or residents can even <a href="http://datasmart.ash.harvard.edu/news/article/prioritizing-resident-engagement-when-implementing-the-internet-of-things-8">collect data on topics important to local government</a>. With technology and open innovation, much of this is practical and possible.</p>
<h2>What stands in the way?</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most pressing limitation of scaling up the citizen science model is issues with reliability. While many of these projects have been proven reliable, others have fallen short.</p>
<p>For instance, <a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/515321a">crowdsourced damage assessments</a> from satellite images following 2013’s Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines faced challenges. <a href="http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/clay-westrope-28042014-065633-phl-osm-damage-assessment-final-report-to-submit.pdf">But according to aid agencies</a>, remote damage assessments by citizen scientists had a devastatingly low accuracy of 36 percent. They overrepresented “destroyed” structures by 134 percent.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132999/original/image-20160803-12207-ni26bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132999/original/image-20160803-12207-ni26bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132999/original/image-20160803-12207-ni26bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132999/original/image-20160803-12207-ni26bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132999/original/image-20160803-12207-ni26bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132999/original/image-20160803-12207-ni26bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132999/original/image-20160803-12207-ni26bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132999/original/image-20160803-12207-ni26bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crowds can’t reliably rate typhoon damage like this without adequate training.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/54329415@N00/10850549285">Bronze Yu</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reliability problems often stem from a lack of training, coordination and standardization in platforms and data collection. It turned out in the case of Typhoon Haiyan the satellite imagery did not provide enough detail or high enough resolution for contributors to accurately classify buildings. Further, volunteers weren’t given proper guidance on making accurate assessments. There also were no standardized validation review procedures for contributor data.</p>
<p>Another challenge for open source innovation is organizing and standardizing data in a way that would be useful to others. Understandably, we collect data to fit our own needs – there isn’t anything wrong with that. However, those in charge of databases need to commit to data collection and curation standards so anyone may use the data with complete understanding of why, by whom and when they were collected.</p>
<p>Finally, deciding to open data – making it freely available for anyone to use and republish – is critical. There’s been a strong, popular push for government to open data of late but it isn’t <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/2014/10/29/measuring-the-value-of-open-data/">done widely</a> or <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/2014/11/06/the-transparency-tragedy-of-open-data/">well enough</a> to have widespread impact. Further, the opening of of nonproprietary data from nongovernment entities – nonprofits, universities, businesses – is lacking. If they are in a position to, organizations and individuals should seek to open their data to spur innovation ecosystems in the future.</p>
<p>Citizen science has proven itself in some fields and has the potential to expand to others as organizers leverage the effects of globalization to enhance innovation. To do so, we must keep an eye on citizen science reliability, open data whenever possible, and constantly seek to expand the model to new disciplines and communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61554/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kendra L. Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This method of crowdsourcing science legwork is ready to expand into other disciplines – and maybe the amateurs themselves can start calling some of the shots.Kendra L. Smith, Policy Analyst at the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/622552016-07-13T23:28:45Z2016-07-13T23:28:45ZHow Twitter gives scientists a window into human happiness and health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130477/original/image-20160713-12380-gpiq61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Each tweet that relays an emotion, opinion or idea joins millions of others. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-425100925/stock-photo-social-media-social-network-concept-communication.html?src=V70GaXnxrTad7K9Ohy05YA-1-33">"Globe" via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since its public launch 10 years ago, Twitter has been used as a social networking platform among friends, an instant messaging service for smartphone users and a promotional tool for corporations and politicians.</p>
<p>But it’s also been an invaluable source of data for researchers and scientists – like myself – who want to study how humans feel and function within complex social systems. </p>
<p>By analyzing tweets, we’ve been able to observe and collect data on the social interactions of millions of people “in the wild,” outside of controlled laboratory experiments.</p>
<p>It’s enabled us to develop tools for monitoring the <a href="http://www.hedonometer.org">collective emotions of large populations</a>, find the <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0064417">happiest places in the United States</a> and much more. </p>
<p>So how, exactly, did Twitter become such a unique resource for computational social scientists? And what has it allowed us to discover?</p>
<h2>Twitter’s biggest gift to researchers</h2>
<p>On July 15, 2006, Twittr (as it was then known) <a href="https://gigaom.com/2006/07/15/valleys-all-twttr/">publicly</a> <a href="http://www.bizstone.com/2006/07/let-there-be-twttr.html">launched</a> as a “mobile service that helps groups of friends bounce random thoughts around with SMS.” The ability to send free 140-character group texts drove many early adopters (myself included) to use the platform. </p>
<p>With time, the number of users <a href="http://www.statista.com/statistics/282087/number-of-monthly-active-twitter-users/">exploded</a>: from 20 million in 2009 to 200 million in 2012 and 310 million today. Rather than communicating directly with friends, users would simply tell their followers how they felt, respond to news positively or negatively, or crack jokes.</p>
<p>For researchers, Twitter’s biggest gift has been the provision of large quantities of open data. Twitter was one of the first major social networks to provide data samples through something called Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which enable researchers to query Twitter for specific types of tweets (e.g., tweets that contain certain words), as well as information on users. </p>
<p>This led to an explosion of research projects exploiting this data. Today, a Google Scholar search for “Twitter” produces six million hits, compared with five million for “Facebook.” The difference is especially striking given that Facebook has roughly <a href="http://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/">five times as many users as Twitter</a> (and is two years older). </p>
<p>Twitter’s generous data policy undoubtedly led to some excellent free publicity for the company, as interesting scientific studies got picked up by the mainstream media.</p>
<h2>Studying happiness and health</h2>
<p>With traditional census data slow and expensive to collect, open data feeds like Twitter have the potential to provide a real-time window to see changes in large populations.</p>
<p>The University of Vermont’s <a href="http://compstorylab.org">Computational Story Lab</a> was founded in 2006 and studies problems across applied mathematics, sociology and physics. Since 2008, the Story Lab has collected billions of tweets through Twitter’s “Gardenhose” feed, an API that streams a random sample of 10 percent of all public tweets in real time. </p>
<p>I spent three years at the Computational Story Lab and was lucky to be a part of many interesting studies using this data. For example, we developed a <a href="http://www.hedonometer.org">hedonometer</a> that measures the happiness of the Twittersphere in real time. By focusing on geolocated tweets sent from smartphones, we were able to <a href="http://hedonometer.org/maps.html">map</a> the happiest places in the United States. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we found <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0064417">Hawaii to be the happiest state and wine-growing Napa the happiest city</a> for 2013.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130034/original/image-20160711-9277-1y6iuyy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130034/original/image-20160711-9277-1y6iuyy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130034/original/image-20160711-9277-1y6iuyy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130034/original/image-20160711-9277-1y6iuyy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130034/original/image-20160711-9277-1y6iuyy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130034/original/image-20160711-9277-1y6iuyy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130034/original/image-20160711-9277-1y6iuyy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130034/original/image-20160711-9277-1y6iuyy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map of 13 million geolocated U.S. tweets from 2013, colored by happiness, with red indicating happiness and blue indicating sadness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0064417">PLOS ONE</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These studies had deeper applications: Correlating Twitter word usage with demographics helped us understand underlying socioeconomic patterns in cities. For example, we could link word usage with health factors like obesity, so we built a <a href="http://panometer.org/instruments/lexicocalorimeter/">lexicocalorimeter</a> to measure the “caloric content” of social media posts. Tweets from a particular region that mentioned high-calorie foods increased the “caloric content” of that region, while tweets that mentioned exercise activities decreased our metric. We found that this simple measure <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1507.05098">correlates with other health and well-being metrics</a>. In other words, tweets were able to give us a snapshot, at a specific moment in time, of the overall health of a city or region.</p>
<p>Using the richness of Twitter data, we’ve also been able to <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/srep02625">see people’s daily movement patterns in unprecedented detail</a>. Understanding human mobility patterns, in turn, has the capacity to transform disease modeling, opening up the new field of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002616">digital epidemiology</a>. </p>
<p>For other studies, we looked into whether travelers express greater happiness on Twitter than those who stay at home (answer: they do) and if <a href="http://www.uvm.edu/storylab/2012/07/13/if-youre-happy-and-we-know-it-are-your-friends/">happy individuals tend to stick together in a social network</a> (again, they do). Indeed, <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/8/2389.abstract">positivity appears to be baked into language itself</a>, in the sense that we have more positive words than negative words. This wasn’t the case just on Twitter but across a variety of different media (e.g., books, movies and newspapers) and languages. </p>
<p>These studies – and thousands of others like them from around the world – were possible only thanks to Twitter.</p>
<h2>The next 10 years</h2>
<p>So what can we expect to learn from Twitter over the next 10 years? </p>
<p>Some of the most exciting work currently involves connecting social media data with mathematical models to predict population-level phenomena such as disease outbreaks. Researchers have already had some success in augmenting disease models with Twitter data to forecast influenza, notably the <a href="http://fluoutlook.org">FluOutlook</a> platform developed by Northeastern University and the Institute for Scientific Interchange. </p>
<p>Still, a number of challenges remain. Social media data suffer from a very low “signal-to-noise ratio.” In other words, the tweets that are relevant to a particular study are often drowned out by irrelevant “noise.” </p>
<p>Therefore, we must continuously be conscious of what’s been dubbed “<a href="http://gking.harvard.edu/files/gking/files/0314policyforumff.pdf">big data hubris</a>” when developing new methods and not be overconfident of our results. Connected with this should be the aim to produce interpretable “glass-box” predictions from these data (as opposed to “black-box” predictions, in which the algorithm is hidden or not clear). </p>
<p>Social media data are often (fairly) criticized for being a small, <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.7400">unrepresentative sample</a> of the wider population. One of the major challenges for researchers is figuring out how to account for such skewed data in statistical models. While <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/social-networking-usage-2005-2015/">more people are using social media every year</a>, we must continue to try to understand the biases in this data. For example, the data still tend to overrepresent younger individuals at the expense of older populations.</p>
<p>Only after developing better bias correction methods will researchers be able to make fully confident predictions from tweets.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62255/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lewis Mitchell receives funding from Data to Decisions CRC. </span></em></p>On Twitter’s 10th birthday, we look at how researchers have used the platform for a range of studies, from predicting the next flu outbreak to identifying the happiest city in America.Lewis Mitchell, Lecturer in Applied Mathematics, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.