Vincent S Smith email
Natural History Museum,
Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK
Abstract
The fabric of science is changing, driven by a revolution in digital
technologies that facilitate the acquisition and communication of
massive amounts of data. This is changing the nature of collaboration
and expanding opportunities to participate in science. If digital
technologies are the engine of this revolution, digital data are its
fuel. But for many scientific disciplines, this fuel is in short
supply. The publication of primary data is not a universal or
mandatory part of science, and despite policies and proclamations to
the contrary, calls to make data publicly available have largely gone
unheeded. In this short essay I consider why, and explore some of the
challenges that lie ahead, as we work toward a database of everything.
