Data-Intensive Research: Making better use of Research Data Malcolm Atkinson & David De Roure & 8 December 2009 Report from a fact-finding mission

Mission goal: learn how researchers use data 2 Acknowledgements: the UK e-Science Directors CIR authors, our teams, the EPSRC & all our hosts in the USA, they had the good ideas; all the opinions, observations and recommendations are our own.

Outline Cornucopia of data Yet to learn how to use it well Hot topic Research to politics Concepts Datascopes, Intellectual Ramps, Going the last mile Co-* Digital ecosystem Principles Recommendations Actions Survival in the Digital Revolution 3

Data-Intensive Research Events Bermuda agreement 1996, 97 & 98 SDSS Archive DB1999 Human Genome 2001 DI Comp. Environm’s2001 Fort Lauderdale2003 Hey&Trefethen D.Del.2003 Digital Curation Cen.2004 NSF DataNet call2007 XLDB series starts2007 SciDB starts2008 Yahoo DI workshop2008 Harnessing data2009 Beyond data del.2009 Gov’s use Linked D.2009 NSF CISE DI call th Paradigm book2009 JISC Research DM2009 e-IRG DMTF report2009 DIEW Japan2010

Sir Tim Berners-Lee

Datascopes for the mind 6 NRAO/AUI/NSF To see things in your data you could never see before Data to Information to Knowledge to Wisdom Changed our place in the universe

Example datascopes 7

Searching for an expression ≈ OTX1 AND (Pou3f2 OR (Brd4 AND Sim1)) 2903 ≈ 947 AND (1688 OR (1697 AND 3096)) Dmbx1 Match = Slide from Jano van Hemert

Intellectual ramps 9 Easy and low risk to start Progress to advanced skills For research data users No obligation Go as far as you want Find a service & relax

Dropbox as a Ramp Local folder synchronised and shared via cloud Condor job submitted by drag and drop Ian Cottam Results appear in Dropbox Slide from David De Roure

Intuitive interfaces e-Science Research Slide from Jano van Hemert Engineering economic ramps

Going the last mile 12

Slide from Jano van Hemert

Gene Expression Run C C2 Run C C C C6 Run C C C C10 Run C C C C14 Run C C * C * C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C * C * C18 Slide from Rob Kitchin

Walking a path together 15 co-shaping co-design co-creation co-constitution co-evolution co-construction co-  Finding a niche in the digital ecosystem

Alignment of paths to routine use Invention Proof of concept demonstration Local group use Filling a research niche Community use Established but still evolving Widespread and global use de facto standard 16 Competition for mind-share and resources

A data-intensive future e-Science Research Slide from Jano van Hemert

General Principles Support for research data should be in harmony with the evolving digital-data ecosystem Increase investment in analysing data to be commensurate with that for collecting data Co-evolve research practices with new methods and their supporting software Democratise research by improving education and access Smooth the path from foundational research, through invention and proof of concept to sustained use Expose the costs of computation and data to researchers 18

Recommendations Stimulate new thinking and international collaboration Invest and collaborate in creating shared methods and their supporting software for exploring and exploiting digital data Build intellectual ramps to new methods and provide convenient services for routine tasks Invest in the foundations for exploiting research data Develop a smooth path from method invention to their sustained and routine use 19

Actions 1.Workshops on DIR 2.DIR education 3.Ideas factory 4.Engage with current best practice 5.Immediate research challenges 6.DIR facilities 7.Boost reference data services 8.Foundational research 9.Green DIR 10.Coordination 20

Take home message Survival in the digital-data revolution depends on speed and appropriateness of adaptation 21

22 ADMIRE – Framework 7 ICT ? Picture composition by Luke Humphry based on prior art by Frans Hals

Contact David De Roure Carole Goble Visit wiki.myexperiment.org

Logo store