Data sharing

Remit The remit of this article as agreed with the Government Office for Science Foresight team is as follows:  ‘Clarify the use of the terms data, information and knowledge within the context of the study.  Review the availability of existing data relevant to the area of hazard event forecasting, risk and vulnerability; create a high-level inventory of data-sets and data sources (to include biological, geophysical, hydrological, meteorological, climatological), identify major gaps in data relevant to the subject area, identify major new data-sets and data types that may become available over the next ten year period, assess whether relevant commercially restricted data may exist within the private sector, and assess whether changes in economic conditions and scenarios are likely to impact significantly upon data sharing.  Identify current and future barriers to data sharing. These are expected to fall into: o a technical category (relating to infrastructure issues, availability of suitable data standards, ‘discoverability’ of data, analogue-only data, spatial and non-spatial, etc.) o the non-technical (relating to legal and licensing frameworks, intellectual property ownership issues, commercial considerations etc.), and o ‘cultural’ issues that inhibit the sharing and integration of data between science disciplines, and between scientists and risk/vulnerability specialists.  Identify best practice in sharing of spatial and non-spatial digital data-sets, the factors which have contributed to its development, and identify mechanisms and measures through which the adoption of such best practice can be increased to further the overall objectives of the project.  Using specific examples, review how the real and potential gains of more effective use and sharing of existing data (and data which may be generated in the future) may improve anticipation of and resilience to disasters’.