Open Knowledge and the Benefits for University-based Research

Open Knowledge
and the benefits
for University-based
research
Anna Gerber
ITEE eResearch
The University of Queensland

Open Knowledge
Foundation
Promoting the creation, sharing and
application of Open Knowledge
https://okfn.org/

What is Open Knowledge?
"Open knowledge is what open data
becomes when it’s useful, usable and used."
- Open Knowledge Foundation

The Knowledge Hierarchy
Data => Knowledge
Knowledge => Action

Knowledge is
power em ment
Open

Why Open Knowledge?
! Empowering citizens, businesses, researchers
! Build on existing research, facilitate new discoveries
from old data
! Transparency
! Allow re-analysis, verification, repeatability
! Creating social and commercial value
! Visibility
! Encouraging research collaboration, participation
and engagement
! Citation

Why Not Open Knowledge?
! Personal vs Non-personal data
! Confidentiality
! Ethics
! Cultural sensitivity
! Legal reasons
! Commercial reasons

Open Knowledge within
Universities
! Research publications
! Published articles
! Pre-print articles and technical papers
! Published through open access publishers
or self-archived in institutional repositories
or field-specific repositories like arXiv.org
! Research data
! Raw data
! Processed data

The Open Definition
"Knowledge is open if anyone is free to
access, use, modify, and share it —
subject, at most, to measures that
preserve provenance and openness."
- The Open Definition
http://opendefinition.org/

Key Features of Openness
! Universal
! Access
! Reuse and redistribution

Universal
! Anyone means anyone!
! Not restricted by purpose or field of
endeavour
! Not subject to commercial restriction

Open Access
! Data and publications available as a
whole
! Available at reasonable cost (i.e. no
more than costs of reproduction,
distribution)
! Preferably available online

Reuse and redistribution
! Data and publications available in
convenient, standard formats
! Data available in modifiable, machine
readable formats
! Data available in bulk
! Data available under an open license
that permits re-use

Open Science
Panton Principles (1/2)
! Panton Principles
! http://pantonprinciples.org/
! When publishing data make an explicit
and robust statement of your wishes.
! Use a recognized waiver or license that is
appropriate for data.

Panton Principles (2/2)
! If you want your data to be effectively used and
added to by others it should be open as defined by
the Open Knowledge/Data Definition – in particular
non-commercial and other restrictive clauses should
not be used.
! Explicit dedication of data underlying published
science into the public domain via PDDL or CCZero is
strongly recommended and ensures compliance
with both the Science Commons Protocol for
Implementing Open Access Data and the Open
Knowledge/Data Definition.

Open Source
! Open access to tools for producing, processing,
analyzing and publishing research data are key
to the uptake of Open Knowledge in research
! Open Source Software
! Open Source Hardware
! Provide transparency as to how raw data was
processed
! Particularly important for data preservation:
ensuring long-term universal access to complex
data published via custom data formats

Open Learning
! Open educational resources (OER)
! Resources for teaching and learning provided
under open licenses
! Empower non-experts to understand how to
interpret and apply open research data to solve
problems

Open Access Policies
! Many Institutions and funding bodies
such as the ARC or NHMRC have Open
Access Policies
! Search policies by funding body:
! http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/juliet/
! UQ's Open Access for UQ Research
Outputs Policy
! Publications should be published via UQ
espace as soon as possible after
publication, within 12 months

Data is a
platform
Data becomes knowledge when it is
useful, usable, used

How to Publish Open
Research Data?
Before Data has been collected
1. Obtain permission to share data when obtaining informed consent
if working with human research
2. Be clear about who owns and has the right to publish the data
After Data has been collected
1. Decide whether it is useful or appropriate to publish the data
2. Anonymise data as appropriate
3. Select an open license
4. Make the data available
5. Make the data discoverable

Describing Open Data
! Metadata (data describing data) is
crucial for ensuring your research data
can be:
! Discovered
! Re-used
! Shared
! Cited
! Preserved
! Use standard metadata schemas such as Dublin
Core and open machine-readable formats for
the data itself to ensure your data will remain
usable long-term

Where to Publish?
! UQ eSpace
! Domain-specific data repositories
Need help?
! Talk to your librarian
! Read ANDS Guides
! http://www.ands.org.au/guides/index.html
! Read Open Data Handbook
! http://opendatahandbook.org/
! Learn about Open Knowledge from OKFN AU

What does the OKF do?
! Providing a bridge between open communities
! Promoting open knowledge
! Building networks through meetups & events
! Campaigning to open key data
! Developing open knowledge projects
! Providing infrastructure for open knowledge
projects e.g. web hosting, CKAN software

Bridging Communities
! Hackers
! Hackerspaces, Makerspaces, Developer Meetups
! Open Government
! Gov 2.0, GovCamp, AusGoal Practitioners
! Data Journalists
! Hacks/Hackers
! Researchers
! NeCTAR OpenStack, Universities
! Citizens
! OKF Volunteers

Software: CKAN
! Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network
(CKAN)
! Open Source Open Data Portal software
developed by OKFN
! Used by many open data portals worldwide e.g.
datahub.io project and data.gov.au

Software: Annotator
! Developed by OKFN for Open
Shakespeare project
! Extended by UQ eResearch to
support Open Annotation in the
context of humanities research
and scholarly editing

Meetups
Open Knowledge Brisbane
http://www.meetup.com/Open-
Knowledge-Brisbane-Meetup-Group/
Workshops, debates, social events

Events: GovHack
! 48 hour hackathon held annually each
July:
! 11 cities
! Over 1300 participants
! $256,000 in prizes
! Participants develop apps, web sites and
data visualisations using open
Government data
http://www.govhack.org/

Example GovHack Projects
! ~200 projects developed over 48 hour period:
! AussieMon – UQ student project - Australian native
animal card game (like Pokemon)
! When the heck am I? – overlays historical photos
! Stat.Map – 3D based visualisations of open spatial
data from ABS etc
! Show the gap – visualises disparity
between Indigenous and
Non-Indigenous Australians

UQ @ GovHack
! UQ student teams won several national and local
prizes including overall Best University Team

Events: Health Hack
Data hack for solving medical
research problems
http://www.healthhack.com.au/

AU Projects: Hipster Map
! Community-developed and
maintained map of "hipster" locations
around Melbourne
! http://hipstermelbourne.org/

Thanks
Contact:
Anna Gerber
ITEE eResearch, UQ
http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/eresearch/
a.gerber@uq.edu.au

Open Knowledge and the Benefits for University-based Research

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