Doug Natelson over at Nanoscale Views has joined the open science debate. He raises some good questions about how open the access to the results of publicly supported research should be. This is followed by the great observation on the obligations of scientists beyond simply providing data.
That said we, as scientists have a lot to gain from greater transparency in how research is done. We have a chance to show the public that: :
- Science is hard - It will only take the casual reader 15 to 20 minutes to begin to realize the kind of work it will take just to understand the questions in any particular field.
- Barriers to entry are not insurmountable - There is no secret handshake or external licence that can be withheld. Being a scientist and doing science just takes a LOT of work.
- Anyone can be a scientist - By opening the tools of science for examination we can put these tools in to the hands of the general public. It may take years to learn the Matlab routines required to do analysis in your field but these same tools can be applied to simpler problems closer to peoples lives and the things they care about. DIY science is an open and growing field.
Too often we struggle for support from the general public because Scientists are viewed as a separate cast. The public come to view themselves as passive recipients of knowledge beyond even their ability to begin comprehend. No wonder we have to fight for every dollar of funding we get.
posted by Y.H.N.
As a practical matter, scientists are not obligated to make any interested citizen into an expert on their research.My response it that I believe that public funding or not that the data should be made available in all cases. Taking an example form the software community, having access to the Linux Kernel source code does not make one an operating system expert. In a similar manner having access to data from an experiment does not make a expert in data analysis.
That said we, as scientists have a lot to gain from greater transparency in how research is done. We have a chance to show the public that: :
- Science is hard - It will only take the casual reader 15 to 20 minutes to begin to realize the kind of work it will take just to understand the questions in any particular field.
- Barriers to entry are not insurmountable - There is no secret handshake or external licence that can be withheld. Being a scientist and doing science just takes a LOT of work.
- Anyone can be a scientist - By opening the tools of science for examination we can put these tools in to the hands of the general public. It may take years to learn the Matlab routines required to do analysis in your field but these same tools can be applied to simpler problems closer to peoples lives and the things they care about. DIY science is an open and growing field.
Too often we struggle for support from the general public because Scientists are viewed as a separate cast. The public come to view themselves as passive recipients of knowledge beyond even their ability to begin comprehend. No wonder we have to fight for every dollar of funding we get.
posted by Y.H.N.
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