This file is a submission to the World Conference of Scientists and Engineers (세계과학기술인대회), to take place on July 13-14, 2016, in Seoul.
Sharing as an enabler of scholarship
Daniel Mietchen
Open Knowledge Foundation Germany
daniel.mietchen (at) okfn.org
##Keywords open science, networked science, sharing, science policy, research communication
##Abstract Research is the process of systematically collecting information to expand the boundaries of scholarly knowledge. With the ongoing transition towards digital and Web-based research communication, the scholarly record has broadened in scope to include data, software and other research artifacts. Conversely, the Web has given rise to new forms of scholarship that transcend traditional boundaries between disciplines, jurisdictions, economic sectors or professional and amateur researchers.[1]
A key enabler of these new forms of scholarship is sharing: more research is shared more widely and more openly now than just a decade ago.[2] On the other hand, the incentive structures in academia – both globally and in Korea – are heavily biased against broad and open sharing.
In this contribution, I will examine examples of such open and sharing-enabled scholarship – like the Polymath Projects [3] in mathematics, the FoldIt project [4] in structural biology, the Zooniverse projects [5] in astronomy, the Praziquantel project [6] in drug discovery or the genome annotation of the 2011 E. coli O104:H4 outbreak [7] – to highlight factors that determine the success of such projects from the perspective of the different stakeholders as well as society as a whole. I will end by exploring the implications for research communication [8] as well as research policy [9].
##References
[1] Patil C, Siegel V (2009) This revolution will be digitized: online tools for radical collaboration. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2: 201‑205. doi: 10.1242/dmm.003285
[2] Watson M. When will ‘open science’ become simply ‘science’?. Genome Biology. 2015 May 19;16(1):101. doi: 10.1186/s13059-015-0669-2
[3] Gowers T, Nielsen M (2009) Massively collaborative mathematics. Nature 461(7266): 879‑881. doi: 10.1038/461879a
[4] Eiben CB, Siegel JB, Bale JB, Cooper S, Khatib F, Shen BW, Players F, Stoddard BL, Popovic Z, Baker D. Increased Diels-Alderase activity through backbone remodeling guided by Foldit players. Nature Biotechnology. 2012 Feb 1;30(2):190-2. doi: 10.1038/nbt.2109
[5] Cardamone C, Schawinski K, Sarzi M, Bamford SP, Bennert N, Urry CM, Lintott C, Keel WC, Parejko J, Nichol RC, Thomas D. Galaxy Zoo Green Peas: discovery of a class of compact extremely star-forming galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2009 Nov 1;399(3):1191-205. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15383.x
[6] Woelfle M, Olliaro P, Todd M (2011) Open science is a research accelerator. Nature Chemistry 3(10): 745‑748. doi: 10.1038/nchem.1149
[7] Rohde H, Qin J, Cui Y, Li D, Loman NJ, Hentschke M, Chen W, Pu F, Peng Y, Li J, Xi F. Open-source genomic analysis of Shiga-toxin–producing E. coli O104: H4. New England Journal of Medicine. 2011 Aug 25;365(8):718-24. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1107643
[8] Mietchen D, Mounce R, Penev L (2015) Publishing the research process. Research Ideas and Outcomes 1: e7547. doi: 10.3897/rio.1.e7547
[9] Alberts B, Kirschner MW, Tilghman S, Varmus H. Rescuing US biomedical research from its systemic flaws. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2014 Apr 22;111(16):5773-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1404402111