ICSU and the Challenge of Big Data in Science

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1 ICSU and the Challenges of Big Data in Science Elsevier Conference on Big Data, E-Science and Science Policy May 2012 Canberra Professor Ray Harris UCL

2 International Council for Science ICSU 121 national scientific bodies representing 140 countries Australian Academy of Science National Academy of Sciences Royal Society 31 international scientific unions International Astronomical Union International Union of Crystallography International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics

3 ICSU Universality of Science ICSU VISION a world where science is used for the benefit of all, excellence in science is valued and scientific knowledge is effectively linked to policy making. In such a world, universal and equitable access to high quality scientific data and information is a reality

4 The ICSU journey Panel Area Assessment on Scientific Information and Data, The Strategic Committee on Information and Data, World Data System, starting in 2009 Strategic Coordinating Committee for Information and Data,

5 Big data : Astronomy

6 Square Kilometre Array

7 Big data : Particle physics 150 million sensors 40 million times /sec 22 PB in 2012

8 CERN data distribution

9 Big data : Biomedicine Human Genome Project determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA UK Biobank 0.5 million people aged Measurements on individuals Blood, urine and saliva samples

10 Big data : Earth observation Canberra 3 January 2008

11 MTSAT Japan 11 April UTC

12 Big data : global data volumes Hilbert and Lopez, Science, 2011 If all the data used in the world were written to CD-ROMs and the CD-ROMs piled up in a single stack, the stack would stretch from the Earth to the Moon and a quarter of the way back

13 The big data challenge Data explosion and data overload By zetabytes (one ZB = bytes) of digital data created per annum Data complexity Changing expectations Digital divide

14 Panel Area Assessment (PAA) on scientific information and data Long term strategic leadership by ICSU on scientific data and information Professional data management in science Ensure universal and equitable access to data and information Do not forget the question of who pays

15 Sorbonne November 2007 Strategic Committee on Information and Data New World Data System created from WDCs and FAGS More prominent CODATA ICSU national members and unions more active in professional data and information management

16 World Data System : objectives Enable universal and equitable access to quality-assured scientific data, data services, products and information; Ensure long term data stewardship; Foster compliance to agreed-upon data standards and conventions; Provide mechanisms to facilitate and improve access to data and data products

17 World Data System : status Constitution Data policy Initial system architecture Formal membership criteria and assessment process International Programme Office Tokyo First WDS conference Kyoto September 2011 CODATA conference Taiwan October

18 WDS members so far Over 140 expressions of interest 58 applications for membership 35 regular members approved 1 network member 1 partner member 2 associate members

19 Example WDS members Antarctic Data, Hobart Climate, Hamburg Oceanography, Washington DC Renewable Resources and Environment, Beijing Solid Earth Physics, Moscow International Laser Ranging Service International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry

20 Strategic Coordinating Committee on Information and Data Communication of best practice on data management National and union members Explore and agree the terms used in Open Access Forum for the agreement of terms ICSTI and INASP for publications CODATA for science data Use the existing OECD principles for access to research data from public funding

21 Strategic Coordinating Committee on Information and Data Improve the process of creating data as a publication Increased recognition Behaviour modification Potential role for legal deposit libraries Use the CODATA and World Data System conferences more actively Every two years alternately

22 Strategic Coordinating Committee on Information and Data Practical help to the less economically developed countries Rich in opportunity, relatively low cost CODATA active WDS to seek active nodes in LEDCs Partnership, mentoring : ICSTI, INASP, CODATA, national and union members of ICSU Cooperation with commercial companies Mutual benefit ICSTI lead, eg Microsoft

23 Fourth paradigm First Paradigm. Observation, description, experimentation. eg Ptolemy, Ibn Battuta. Second Paradigm. Theoretical science. eg Newton. Third Paradigm. Simulation and modelling. eg climate models. Fourth Paradigm. Data-intensive science. eg International Virtual Observatory Alliance.