Sharing Smithsonian Digital Scientific Research Data from Biology March 2011 Office of Policy and Analysis Washington, DC 20013 Contents Preface................................................................................................................................. v Acronyms .......................................................................................................................... vii Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ x Purpose and Methodology of the Study .......................................................................... x Background ..................................................................................................................... x Conclusions ................................................................................................................... xii Recommendations ........................................................................................................ xvi Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Purpose and Scope of the Study...................................................................................... 1 Methodology ................................................................................................................... 4 Terms and Definitions..................................................................................................... 5 Organization of the Report............................................................................................ 10 Findings: A Changing Digital Data-sharing Environment ............................................... 12 Small Science and Data Management........................................................................... 12 Forces of Change .......................................................................................................... 14 The ―Data Deluge‖ .................................................................................................... 15 Interdisciplinary Global Challenges ......................................................................... 16 Technology ............................................................................................................... 18 Legacy Data .............................................................................................................. 18 Ethical Imperatives ................................................................................................... 19 The Costs of Systematic Data Management ............................................................. 20 Responses to the Changing Environment ..................................................................... 20 Individual Organizations ........................................................................................... 21 Collaborations ........................................................................................................... 22 Professional Roles ..................................................................................................... 25 Top-Down and Bottom-Up ....................................................................................... 30 Policy ............................................................................................................................ 31 i Open Access.............................................................................................................. 32 U.S. Federal Agencies............................................................................................... 34 Funding Organizations .................................................................................................. 37 Findings: Functional Areas (Discovery and Access, Use, Preservation)......................... 39 Discovery and Access ................................................................................................... 39 Mediating Entities ..................................................................................................... 41 The Centrality of Metadata ....................................................................................... 44 Use ................................................................................................................................ 46 Long-term Preservation ................................................................................................ 49 Trusted Digital Repositories ..................................................................................... 50 The Economics of Preservation ................................................................................ 51 Preservation Decision Making .................................................................................. 51 Cross-Cutting Factors ................................................................................................... 53 Human Resources ..................................................................................................... 53 Cyberinfrastructure ................................................................................................... 56 Economics ................................................................................................................. 61 Findings: The Smithsonian ............................................................................................... 65 Background ................................................................................................................... 65 Collaborative Engagement ........................................................................................ 65 Legacy Data .............................................................................................................. 66 Discovery, Access, and Usability ............................................................................. 67 OCIO and Pan-Institutional Initiatives ......................................................................... 68 Scientific Computing Needs Assessment ................................................................. 71 Digitization Strategic Plan ........................................................................................ 71 Proposed Smithsonian Institution DataNet ............................................................... 73 Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) ............................................................ 74 Enterprise Digital Asset Network (EDAN) .............................................................. 75 Smithsonian Research Online ................................................................................... 76 Proposed Smithsonian Institution Geographic Information System (SIGIS) ........... 77 Individual Science Units ............................................................................................... 78 ii National Museum of Natural History ....................................................................... 78 National Zoological Park .......................................................................................... 82 Smithsonian Environmental Research Center .......................................................... 85 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute .................................................................. 88 Other Units .................................................................................................................... 91 Smithsonian Institution Archives .............................................................................. 91 Smithsonian Institution Libraries .............................................................................. 93 Collaborative Smithsonian Endeavors .......................................................................... 94 Barriers to Data Management and Sharing ................................................................... 99 Resources .................................................................................................................. 99 Culture..................................................................................................................... 104 Organization ............................................................................................................ 106 Taking Care of the Present, Looking to the Future ................................................. 107 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 109 Recommendations ........................................................................................................... 121 Appendix A: Selected Bibliography ............................................................................... 126 Appendix B: Organizations Interviewed for the Study................................................... 138 External Organizations................................................................................................ 138 Smithsonian Institution ............................................................................................... 139 Appendix C: Inter-organizational Efforts ...................................................................... 141 Appendix D: Additional International Initiatives .......................................................... 154 Other Nations and the European Union ...................................................................... 154 Canada....................................................................................................................