Liberating data in South Africa: the move to open accessLiberating data in South Africa: the move to open access

Locating the power of in-between conference, Pretoria, 1 – 2July 2008.Locating the power of in-between conference, Pretoria, 1 – 2July 2008.

HSRC as a knowledge hubHSRC as a knowledge hub

• The HSRC is a knowledge-intensive research organization whose function is • to generate new knowledge, transfer and apply it, • and transmit it to others through a variety of

means, including web, books and reports. • service a network of scientists, • provide different stakeholders in the SADC

region with access to:• credible data and information, • informed specialists, that will enable them to

make evidence based decisions on planning and policy,

Other driversOther drivers

• OECD declaration –Promoting access to publicly funded research

• Dept. of Science & Technology – address the ‘innovation chasm’ btw research results and socio economic outcomes

Objective of HSRCs digital curation programme

Objective of HSRCs digital curation programme

Facilitate widespread open access data-sharing which will enable researchers, enable citizens, which in turn,convey tremendous scientific, economic and

social benefits

What is data curation?What is data curation?

'The activity of managing and promoting the use of data from its point of creation to

ensure it is fit for contemporary purpose, and available for discover and re-use’.

E-science : Curation Report: Data Curation for e-science in UK, JISC, 2003

The ProblemThe Problem

• Data volumes are increasing exponentially• Data is becoming more complexed• Lack of culture of sharing• Limited access• “it’s there but where do you find it?”• Gaps in research• Lack of incentives in publishing data• Bandwidth – digital divide increases• Data not preserved for long term

Why the effort? Why the effort? • Data increasingly used as evidenceevidence.

• Shift towards e-researche-research• Re-useRe-use for new research.• To perform further analysisfurther analysis.• To aggregateaggregate data over time.• To enrichenrich existing data.• IntegrateIntegrate data with later findings for longitudinal analysis.• ComplianceCompliance to the needs of publishers, donors and

legislation.• To validatingvalidating published results.• On the occasions that it is difficult or too costly to recreaterecreate

unique data.• That it is cheapercheaper to maintain expensively created data

than re-generate• In case of technology obsolescencetechnology obsolescence.• Open accessOpen access to publicly funded research..

Network of Data and Information Centres (NEDIC)

Network of Data and Information Centres (NEDIC)

Team South Africa approach

Statistical agencies

Science councils

universities

TaskTask

• Coordinate efforts• Share expertise and knowledge• Design common standards for data

sharing• Preservation innovations and

technology• We are part of the universe• Lobbing

SuccessesSuccesses

• Institutional based Data Curation Centres

• Open access institutional repositories• Management of data:

• Preservation

• Sharing

• Quality• Change management

Making sense of dataMaking sense of data

• Data meaningless without context• Linkage• Metadata of many kinds• Workflow!

• Ethics and rights control access• Weak in expressing this long-term

• Collaboration tools• Annotation, discussion, review• Re-use leading to change and development

• “Publication”• Not just in “print”• Underlying data should be “published”, too

• Citation

Questions?Questions?