Speeding Nano Progress by Accelerating the Spread of

Knowledge

Walt Warnick, Ph.D.Director, Office of Scientific and Technical Information

U.S. Department of Energy

Three Topics Relating to Nano Info Diffusion

Modeling – it’s possible

Metadata – numeric data, unlike textual data, requires metadata to ensure access

Stewardship – numeric data could follow model of textual STI management

OSTI’s missionTo advance science and sustain

technological creativity by making R&D findings available and useful to DOE

researchers and the American people.

OSTI’s creedKnowledge is contagious – it’s our job to make sure everyone

“catches” it!

OSTI corollary: If the sharing of knowledge – or knowledge diffusion – is accelerated,

scientific progress is accelerated

Science Progresses as Knowledge Is Shared

Diffusion of Feynman Diagrams

From: The Power of a Good Idea: quantitative modeling of the spread of ideas from epidemiological models, Luis M. A. Bettencourt, Ariel Cintron-Arias, Carlos Castillo-Chavez; David Kaiser

Discovery path of US and UK authors

The Spread of Knowledge about Feynman Diagrams

The Spread of Knowledge Is Consistent with Diffusion Models

Path of Best Trajectory

From Report for the Office of Scientific and Technical Information: Population Modeling of the Emergence and Development of Scientific Fields; Luis M. A. Bettencourt, Carlos Castillo-Chavez, David Kaiser, David E. Wojick

The Spread of Knowledge Can Be Accelerated

Paths of Acceleration

Bettencourt, Castillo-Chavez, Kaiser, Wojick

Metadata Is a Must (when it comes to numeric data)

Numeric databases and other non-text databases must have metadata to enable searchability and retrieval

Numeric databases must have a steward and be consistent with the proven model of text data centers

Holders of numeric data must be encouraged to harmonize practices

Promoting access, preservation

and interoperability

In cooperation with several World Data Centers, TIB has assigned DOIs for scientific primary data.

Over 400,000 data sets in the field of earth science have been registered; goal is to have a worldwide DOI registration agency for primary data.

The TIB assigns DOIs only for "collections," large data sets, and databases. It does not attempt to treat each data file individually.

Ensuring Access to Numeric Data

A DOI registry is one approach

An example: German National Library for Science and Technology (TIB)

Defense Technical Information Center (Department of Defense) Office of Research and Development & Office of Environmental

Information (Environmental Protection Agency) Government Printing Office NASA Scientific and Technical Information Program National Agricultural Library (Department of Agriculture) National Archives and Records Administration National Library of Education (Department of Education) National Library of Medicine (Department of Heath and Human

Services) National Science Foundation National Technical Information Service (Department of Commerce) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (Department of

Energy) USGS/Biological Resources Discipline (Department of Interior)

Management of Scientific Text Is a Model for Numeric Data

Each agency has an organization to manage STI(Numeric data would need specialist administrator, or steward)

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Textual Research Results Are Available Through Interagency Portal

Provides access to 50 million pages of science information in a single query

www.science.gov

A parallel approach could be developed for numeric data

Establishing Ground Rules for Metadata Enables Access to Data

Overcome barriers of

organizations

Search for Nano Should Reach Text and Numeric Data

Data Preservation Dilemma

• Many critical science and official collections must be sustained for the foreseeable future

• Critical collections: – Community reference data

collections (e.g. Protein Data Bank)– Irreplaceable collections (ARM data

related to climate change)– Experimental research data (BaBar/other event data)

“…the progress of science and useful arts … depends on the reliable preservation of knowledge and information for generations to

come.”

“Preserving Our Digital Heritage”Library of Congress

NSB raises the right questions

No plan for preservation (i.e., no steward) often means that data is lost or damaged

In Summary: Three Points on Nano Info Diffusion

Modeling – it’s possible

Metadata – numeric data, unlike textual data, requires metadata to ensure access

Stewardship – numeric data could follow model of textual STI management