Scientists from one hundred and thirty countries want to redo existing world data centres and services in order to create a World Data System. The group of scientists is know as the General Assembly of the International Council for Science (ICSU).

The reasons cited for this change include:

• More scientific data and information is now available than at any other time in history and the volume
  is increasing daily.
• long-term stewardship availability of this data is largely uncertain and a large amount of valuable scientific data remains in-accessible to many members of the scientific  community.
• To provide  full and open access to scientific data and products for the global community.

What do people in the position to make decisions about the sharing of scientific data have to say about this?

Ray Harris, chair of the expert Committee that produced the report said, ‘Data is the lifeblood of
science and there are many exciting developments, which mean that access to scientific data both for
science and for policy making should be much easier.  However, in many areas there is little order and
the origin and reliability of what one finds on the web can be almost impossible to determine’.
‘A more strategic and systematic international approach, together with significant financial investment
at the national level, is urgently required if we are to realise the full benefit of science for society,’
Harris continued.

Dave Carlson, the Director of the programme office for the International Polar Year (IPY)—a major,
ICSU-sponsored, interdisciplinary research programme that is using and generating enormous
amounts of data—added: ‘There are more than 200 IPY research projects, funded to the tune of 1.5
billion Euros, and its major legacy should be the data that will inform polar research for years to come.
But we still don’t know how most of this data will be handled’.

ICSU will be implementing the recommendations for a World Data System over the next three years. The report cand more information on the General Assembly are available at: www.icsu.org/3_mediacentre/GA_29.html

Who knows what kind of advances this sharing of research might yield.