Why you should care about open data: Open Access Week thoughts on why research data rarely are reused

Scholarly knowledge-sharing includes sharing research data, but while the supply of data is growing rapidly, demand exists in only a few research communities. This appears to be caused by factors related to trust, application, and practices. When collecting one’s own data, a researcher knows its origins, transformations, analyses, assumptions, strengths, limitations, access conditions, and likely longevity, but researchers may not have that information about data acquired from other parties. Librarians, archivists, and data scientists assist scholars with managing, curating, and disseminating their data, recommending practices with reuse in mind whenever possible. This lecture is by Christine L. Borgman, professor and Presidential Chair in Information Studies at UCLA