We’re coming off of a big month which included a two-day Dryad board meeting, International Data Week in Denver, and the Open Access Publishers meeting (COASP) in Arlington, VA. Combined with Open Access Week, we’ve been basking in all things #openscience at Dryad.

International Data Week 2016

International Data Week was a collection of three different events: SciDataCon 2016, International Data Forum, and the 8th Research Data Alliance Plenary Meeting. While it was my first time attending RDA and SciDataCon, it wasn’t the first time for the many Dryad board members who have been actively participating in these forums for years.

Dryad staff had the pleasure of participating in a few panels over the week. As part of SciDataCon, Elizabeth Hull discussed protecting human subjects in an open data repository. In another, as part of the RDA 8th Plenary, I participated in a discussion of the challenges surrounding sustainability of data infrastructure. (The talk is available on the RDA website. The panel starts at minute 30).

Participating in IDW reminded me how important our diverse community of stakeholders and members are to furthering the adoption of open data. Dryad members create a community and support our mission. Our members benefit by receiving discounts on data publication fees and by relying on a repository that stays current in the evolving needs and mandates that surround open data. We work together to help make open data easy and affordable for authors.

Asking OA publishers to be more open

Following International Data Week, I had the opportunity to participate for the first time in the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association meeting, COASP 2016. Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC kicked off the meeting with a keynote that urged attendees to consider how they would complete the phrase “Open in order to . . .” as a way to ensure that we all keep our sights on working toward something more than just ‘open for the sake of open’. Some of other memorable talks addressed the challenges with mapping connections from articles to other related outputs, and discussed the growing interest in alternative revenue models to article processing charges (APCs). I had the privilege to deliver a keynote entitled “Be More Open” which highlighted the connections between Open Access and Open Data movement, and I encouraged OASPA to add open data policies to their membership requirements.

I’d like to thank the organizers and sponsors of International Data Week and COASP 2016 for making these important conversations possible. In addition, I would also like to encourage any interested stakeholders to join Dryad and support open data.