Tools and Apps
Is It Open Data? [Completed]
IIOD? is a web service to contact data providers and request information on the open status of data sets.
PyBOSSA [Ongoing]
PyBossa is a free, open-source, platform for creating and running crowd-sourcing applications that utilise online assistance in performing tasks that require human cognition, knowledge or intelligence such as image classification, transcription, geocoding and more! An example is our Open Access journal licence classifier app.
Data Digitiser [Ongoing]
A tool for transcribing documents and tables that are not currently machine-readable. Suggested applications for this tool ranged from the transcription of Brazilian census data to input of tables from economics articles to allow comparisons across multiple articles that examine the same variables. Demo and code are available – please help contribute!
Publications, Guidelines and Datasets
Panton Principles for open data in science [Ongoing]
Guidelines for open data in science authored by John Wilbanks, Peter Murry-Rust, Cameron Neylon, Rufus Pllock and members of the working group. Associated projects include the Panton Discussions, interviews with prominent figures in open science and Panton Papers covering various aspects of open data in science in more detail (in draft).
Crowdsourced survey of ‘open access’ publishers, publications, licenses and fees [Ongoing]
A publisher by publisher listing of open access policies and fees. We hope to turn this into a useful website on a per journal basis which will help authors choose an open access or hybrid journal in which to publish and will highlight those whose licensing or terms and conditions do not comply with the BBB definition of open access. If you would like to assist with this project we would love to hear from you.
The Open Research Data Handbook [Ongoing]
The aim of the Handbook is to provide an introduction to the processes, tools and other areas that you need to consider if you wish to make your research data openly available.
The main target audience is people who are actively engaged in research – for example doctoral students, scientists and other academics. Many of the chapters will be applicable across all academic disciplines, but our particular focus is on research data in the sciences.
Response to the Hargreaves Report [Completed]
The working group submitted a formal response in conjunction with iCommons to the UK government regarding the recommendations made in the Hargreaves Report on copyright reform, specifically that academic publishers should allow text mining of the scientific literature.
You can view the draft response and final submission .
Response to the UK Business Innovation and Skills Committee call for evidence on Open Access [Completed]
We submitted a response to the BIS call for evidence on aspects of RCUK’s Open Access policy, highlighting the vital role and value of re-use in academic research. We also strongly endorsed the usage and enforcement of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY) for RCUK funded research, as it maximises re-use potential.
PLoS Biology Community Pages Profile [Completed]
This article describes and contextualises working group projects with a focus on the Panton Principles for open data in science and Is It Open Data?
