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Preface | Data for Science and Society: The Second National Conference on Scientific and Technical Data | U.S. National Committee for CODATA | National Research Council

U.S. National Committee for CODATA
National Research Council
 


Preface




     Many of the major scientific challenges we face today require the combined expertise from multiple disciplines. Complex issues such as the understanding of global climate change, the advance of biotechnology, and progress on various types of problems facing society can be addressed only by combining and using data that in the past have been available to researchers in one field only.

     In conjunction with several federal science agencies, the U.S. National Committee for CODATA organized the Second National Conference on Scientific and Technical Data: Data for Science and Society to address important multidisciplinary issues in managing and using scientific and technical (S&T) data and to improve the visibility of these issues nationally. The main focus was on promoting the availability and usefulness of S&T data to all users, both in research and in the broader society, using examples of ground-breaking and innovative applications and highly creative partnerships. Three main challenges were addressed in this context:

  1. How can access to and use of S&T data for interdisciplinary basic and applied research be improved?

  2. How can access to and use of S&T data by other sectors and applications areas outside research (e.g., in business, education, media/entertainment, general public understanding) be improved?

  3. How do we measure and evaluate productivity and performance in the management and use of S&T data within disciplines, across disciplines, and in other sectors and applications areas?

     The conference was held on March 13-14, 2000, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., and included a set of plenary presentations by invited speakers, as well as contributed poster presentations and technical demonstrations. These proceedings from the conference include only the invited plenary presentations. These presentations have been edited and reviewed according to standard National Research Council procedures, although they are included in this volume as the contributions of each individual speaker.



Copyright 2001 the National Academy of Sciences

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