The Data Observation Network for Earth (DataOne), supported by U.S. National Science Foundation, is inviting all scientists to participate in an on-line data assessment survey. The 23-question survey takes only 5-10 minutes to complete. Our "responses will help [them] better understand how scientists manage their data and will contribute to building better tools and processes for data preservation." For more information about the survey and to participate, visit http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/aaeg3cfe6. For more information about the DataONE foundation and their mission, visit About DataONE.

The White House recently released an Open Government Directive as another step to ensuring government data is available to the American people and to "promote informed participation by the public." In response to this, the directive states that "within 45 days each agency shall identify and publish online in an open format at least three high-value data sets and register those data sets via Data.gov." In addition, these newly registered datasets must be ones that were not previously available for public download.

Academia.edu launched a year ago to help researchers discover "who's researching what", view papers and presentations by fellow researchers, and stay connected in their community. They recently set up a Metadata mailing list. Visit this link: http://lists.academia.edu/See-members-of-Metadata; and sign up through a series of simple steps to view current members of the Metadata list.

The 9 September 2009 issue of Nature contains a series of articles on the current state of scientific data sharing. It includes an editorial on the "shameful" neglect of data sharing in the scientific research community, a feature story on "Empty Archives" investigating why data repositories aren't being used even after the technical infrastructure is in place, and two opinion papers, one on prepublication data sharing and one on postpublication data sharing.

Selected quotes from the various articles include:

Data's shameful neglect

Research cannot flourish if data are not preserved and made accessible. All concerned must act accordingly.

Beginning in September, 2009, the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) will build and deploy a worldwide network of sensors. This infrastructure project will enable the collection and distribution of data, which will be used to address many of the complex questions faced by the marine community.  Completion date for the network deployment is projected to be 2014.  Participation by the wider scientific community is encouraged.  To see how you can be involved, visit the OOI website.

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) recently revised and reaffirmed a position statement entitled "The Importance of Long-term Preservation and Accessibility of Geophysical Data." The significance of the role of formal metadata is clearly recognized, and endorsed.