Many funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, and journal publishers, such as Nature, are now requiring researchers to share data produced during the course of their research. When researchers share their data, other researchers can reuse it to answer new questions, opening up new interpretations and discoveries. Sharing data may also lead to sharing research processes, workflows and tools and may make research articles and papers more useful and citable by others. In addition, many academic researchers are proponents of openly providing access to data. Both Science Commons and the Panton Principles recommend that data be contributed to the public domain.  

In conjunction with Open Access Week, the University Libraries are sponsoring a talk, The Open Data Revolution: Challenges and Innovations, where three campus researchers will speak on how they have shared data in their research and the implications of open data on the way research will be done in the future.

Speakers:  
-Jennifer Barton, UA Associate Vice President for Research & Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Topic: “Open Data Challenges in Interdisciplinary Research”

-Bonnie Hurwitz, Program Director, Health Informatics, UA Arizona Health Sciences Center
Topic: “Innovation in Health Care Delivery through Open Source Research”

-Sudha Ram, McClelland Professor, Management Information Systems, UA Eller College of Management
Topic: “The Emerging Role of Social Media in Data Sharing and Management”