International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI) Annual Conference - Managing Data for Science

This 2009 ICSTI annual conference was essentially about ‘Data’ – the primary, often raw, quantified, initial outputs from research projects which are held in digital form in a variety of media formats and repositories throughout the world. In some cases the raw data is stored on disc in a researcher’s personal filing system never again to see the light of day. In other cases subject-based datasets have become huge accumulations which test the ability of the science community to handle and curate them. The social and economic loss to Science in general in not having a consistent international policy to manage data and datasets is huge, and is growing as more and more scientific areas become data-centric in their approach. In recent years it has therefore become evident that data has become a critical asset to researchers, and how access to such data is being made available and curated has become a dominant theme in scientific policy discussions. From humble beginnings as being seen as ‘supplementary information’ or as digital files which are used for one particular research experiment and then left fallow, recent years have witnessed a ‘data deluge’, a fire hose of data, which in many subject areas is challenging the refereed article as the primary source for new information. Data, along with text, does not consume itself in the ideas and innovations which are sparked off, but instead become an endless fuel for future creativity if managed effectively. And that is the challenge – to manage such an important research resource effectively for the benefit of the economy, society, Science and research in general. As such ICSTI is to be complimented for highlighting the Data issue and bringing together some leading international experts on the various aspects of data and dataset management at its annual Summer conference held in Ottawa, Canada, from 9th to 10th June 2009. Whilst there were many librarians in the 160 or so attendees, it is unfortunate that the publishing community was notable for its absence – even though data is becoming (in some sectors has already become) a vital element of research communication activity. In ignoring data, in sanctioning it to be handled by other stakeholders, the publishing community risks losing a major stake and role in the future of a significant part of the multimedia scientific/technical publication portfolio. The importance of the data issue, not just for the publishing industry but for the wider information community and end users at large, was addressed by a number of leading international authorities during this ICSTI conference. The local host and organiser of the conference was NRC-CISTI (National Research Council – Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information). Despite fears that the prevailing flu pandemic might take hold, and global economic recession may conspire to create difficulties for the organisers and reduce attendance levels, this was not the case and Ms. Pam Bjornson,