TOMORROW at Virtual SciDatCon 2021: Data Policy and Data Stewardship – 24 October 2021

Virtual SciDataCon 2021 Day Six (Mon 19 October), there are two themes: the strand Exploring Core Interoperability continues with an extremely important double session on ‘FAIR Vocabularies’, while the strand on  Data for the SDGs concludes with three sessions, including a discussion of what the Data Together organisations are doing in relation to the SDGs.

The sessions are listed below to make it easier to register if you have not done so already.

Exploring Core Interoperability 

Scientific Vocabularies: needs, status, validity, governance and sustainability, Monday 25 October, 11:00-12:30 UTC and 13:00-14:30 UTC: REGISTER

To maximize semantic interoperability, shared or harmonized terminology is essential: internationally-agreed controlled vocabularies allow different domains to express agreement, and thereby globally integrate data and share a common understanding of the meaning across the natural, social and health sciences, which transcends their traditional boundaries within a humanities context. But harmonisation of the vocabularies is not enough: vocabularies also need to be sustainable and properly governed to enable the inevitable evolution over time as new concepts become relevant, definitions are revised, and older concepts are retired or replaced. It is essential to know which vocabularies to use for a particular purpose, and whether the vocabularies we select are fit for purpose, and most importantly, whether they have been endorsed by an authoritative source (e.g., Science Unions, Scientific Societies). There will be two sessions. The first will be focused on the scientific validity of the vocabulary, the context it addresses, the community and processes required to govern and sustain it over time, i.e., vocabulary scope, content and governance. The second session will focus on the technical aspects of building, preserving and making a vocabulary FAIR and accessible online.

Data for the Sustainable Development Goals and Disaster Risk Reduction

Fishing from an ocean of data to foster the development of a knowledgeable and ocean friendly society, Monday 25 October, 11:00-12:30 UTC: REGISTER

An interactive workshop: The goal of the workshop is to explore the role of researchers and citizens in supporting community led action on marine sustainability, marine pollution, climate action, and community resilience through engagement and outreach. Co-designed in collaboration with European partners and community representatives, the workshop will explore opportunities and challenges in communication of scientific information to general public. A series of short introductions from the panel (including live links and/or recorded video messages from community groups) will precede group work on creation of dedicated ocean related actions to promote effective transfer of ocean related knowledge to citizens.

Data Science and Systems Analysis, Monday 25 October, 13:00-14:30 UTC: REGISTER

Systems analysis is applicable to a wide variety of problems facing our planet. Its many applications are spurred by the dramatic amount of data available and the remarkable new tools for using data to make better decisions and influence policy. This session will explore the interplay between data science/data analysis and systems analysis by focusing on complex socio-technological systems involving interactions of people and man-made devices with the natural environment, and specifically examining the challenges posed by destructive impacts from changing climates, droughts and floods, earthquakes, and other natural events, as well as by human activities including technological catastrophes, acts of terror, and cyber-attacks. The world-wide COVID-19 pandemic illustrates the vulnerability of our human and economic systems, challenging the ability of our healthcare system to provide needed services, the resilience of our supply chains to provide needed goods, and the ability of our social infrastructure to provide for economic well-being– all examples of issues that systems analysts address. We will explore the use of advanced approaches of Big Data collection and deep analytical processing to explore these problems of systems analysis.

Data Together Activities Evaluating Landscape Mapping concepts for the SDGs, Monday 25 October, 16:00-17:30 UTC: REGISTER

This session will explore the Data Together (CODATA, GO FAIR, RDA, WDS) organisations’ respective activities in relation to data for the SDGs. Given their commitment to open data science and the FAIR Principles, each organization can contribute to the availability of data, data management and re-use of data. Collectively they contribute to the broader global call for SDG data and as a group, they can synergize their impact for future SDG evaluations. In addition to identifying collective strengths and opportunities for collaboration, this session will identify challenges in facilitating the use of data and data science towards assessing and achieving the SDGs. Important topics for discussion include the role of data repositories, the necessary data granularity, data integration and interoperability, statistical concerns including QA/QC and linkage with national level data. A panel discussion will consider the following questions: What is the largest challenge that a data science organization such as yours faces in getting data science from repositories incorporated into SDG evaluations? What are some of your most significant successes? What are the top three ways your organization would prioritize to expand and enhance the data availability of science data to inform SDGs?

CODATA and WDS are very grateful to SpringerNature for sponsorship of Virtual SciDataCon 2021. This sponsorship has assisted us in running the conference without a cost-recovery access charge, for which we are extremely grateful.

Virtual SciDataCon 2021 is organised by CODATA and the World Data System, the two data organisations of the International Science Council – PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE – FULL PROGRAMME – please note that registration is free, but participants must register for each session they wish to attend.