The current (11 February 2011) issue of Science is a special issue on Dealing with Data. It includes a collection of free, online articles that “highlights both the challenges posed by the data deluge and the opportunities that can be realized if we can better organize and access the data.” Some of the articles are drawn from three sister publications: Science Signaling, Science Translational Medicine and Science Careers.
From the issue’s introduction:
“Scientific innovation has been called on to spur economic recovery; science and technology are essential to improving public health and welfare and to inform sustainability; and the scientific community has been criticized for not being sufficiently accountable and transparent. Data collection, curation, and access are central to all of these issues.
…
As you will discover, two themes appear repeatedly: Most scientific disciplines are finding the data deluge to be extremely challenging, and tremendous opportunities can be realized if we can better organize and access the data.”
One of the great things about the “data deluge” is that there is something in it for almost all computer science researchers including areas like machine learning, data mining, NLP, visualization, semantic web, security and privacy, social media, high performance computing, HCI, etc. Here are some of the articles that caught our eye:
- Editorial: Making Data Maximally Available, B. Hanson, A. Sugden, B. Alberts
- Changing the Equation on Scientific Data Visualization, P. Fox and J. Hendler
- Ensuring the Data-Rich Future of the Social Sciences, G. King
- Metaknowledge, J. A. Evans and J. G. Foster
- Electronic Consent Channels: Preserving Patient Privacy Without Handcuffing Researchers, R. H. Shelton
- More than Words: Biomedical Ontologies Provide New Scientific Opportunities, C. Wald
and still more that look very interesting:
- Climate Data Challenges in the 21st Century, J. T. Overpeck et al.
- Challenges and Opportunities of Open Data in Ecology, O. J. Reichman et al.
- Challenges and Opportunities in Mining Neuroscience Data, H. Akil et al.
- The Disappearing Third Dimension, T. Rowe and L. R. Frank
- Advancing Global Health Research Through Digital Technology and Sharing Data, T. Lang
- More Is Less: Signal Processing and the Data Deluge, R. G. Baraniuk
- Access to Stem Cells and Data: Persons, Property Rights, and Scientific Progress, D. J. H. Mathews et al.
- On the Future of Genomic Data, S. D. Kahn
- Conquering the Data Mountain, N. R. Gough and M. B. Yaffe
- Power to the People: Participant Ownership of Clinical Trial Data, S. F. Terry and P. F. Terry
- Surfing the Tsunami, E. Pain
- Sharing Data in Biomedical and Clinical Research, K. Travis