The Social Life of Data
Posted: November 8th, 2011 | Author: Sven | Filed under: Data Sharing, Research Data | Tags: Data Sharing, Open Data | 1 Comment »
Martin Hall, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford, addresses in his blogpost some interesting questions and positions related to open data:
First he states that access to and use of data may be shaped as much by social conventions as by available technology.
He quotes a report published by NESTA and RIN to illustrate what he means:
“Cultures vary in different disciplines, which can itself cause difficulties in cross-disciplinary work; but researchers are typically both co-operative and competitive. The key currency for securing competitive career rewards is publication of articles, conference papers and monographs; and many researchers regard the data and other resources that they create in the course of their research as their intellectual capital which they wish to exploit and mine in order to produce new publications over an extended period. Some researchers fear that openness involves a loss of control, and a risk of being scooped by others”.
