Opportunities for Commercial Exploitation of Networked Science and Technology Public-Domain Information Resources

摘要

I would like to address, the importance of having access to data, both data that are proprietary and data that are in the public domain. I certainly agree with Paul David's comments that it is a mixture of relationships that is vital to the good of increasing our scientific knowledge. Why are data so important to us, and why do we worry so much about them? Clearly, when you start a research program, no matter what the topic or field, you have to know what information is available on the subject. You have to know all the data that have been accumulated on a particular subject to do good research. You have to be able to get your hands on them, access them, and actually use them. Ultimately, the process of research is really about generating new data, and so as you study the existing information, you build your own concepts and ideas and generate new data. The research process is one of data generation. Hopefully, if the research is successful, and you are able actually to accomplish something, the data turn into some new knowledge. Depending on your particular area or affiliation, you may want to invent the greatest new thing since sliced bread, maybe a new pharmaceutical or you have discovered some whole new unifying theory of whatever. Yet it is all based on the ability to get access to the right information at the right time. Information resources are vitally important to every project, and it does not matter as you work on your project where relevant data come from. In fact, it is hard to predict where the best data will be found for any particular project. Even at the time the new data are generated, it is not certain what those data will be used for. How often do you find a bit of information or data that are in the most obscure place, not related to the topic you are studying, but in fact are relevant to the new project that you are working on? The availability of data is ultimately important to the ability to generate good science.