More on Open Data

Bill Hooker has written a nice article about ensuring that the data behind published scientific literature are made openly available.

Where are the data? Can I have them? What can I do with them? (17 Dec, 2006).

He takes a practical approach based on the perspective of a researcher. His title says it all.

…an Open Data addendum must at least answer my opening questions: it must point to the online, freely accessible location of the raw, un-hamburgered data; it should make clear that yes, you can have them; and it should state clearly what you can do with them.

Although he mentions “public repositories” for data, he does not address long-term preservation and usability issues.

• Jim Jacobs