DATAD-R African Open Science Platform (AOSP)
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The document summarizes the African Open Science Platform (AOSP), which aims to coordinate open science activities across Africa. It discusses open science principles and the rationale for an African platform to increase collaboration, data reuse, and accelerate discovery. The AOSP is funded by the NRF of South Africa and managed by ASSAf. It focuses on establishing an open data forum, funding research infrastructure and projects, developing open data policies and training, and creating incentives for data sharing. Initial actions include workshops on policy, capacity building, and surveys to inform the platform's development.
DATAD-R African Open Science Platform (AOSP)
- 1. African Open Science Platform Presented by Susan Veldsman and Ina Smith 14 September 2017 DATAD-R
- 2. Agenda • What is Open Science? • Rationale for an African Open Science Platform • About the Platform • Focus areas • Next steps
- 3. Open Science Defined “Open Science is the practice of science: • in such a way that others can collaborate and contribute, • where research data, lab notes and other research processes are freely available, • under terms that enable reuse, redistribution and reproduction of the research and its underlying data and methods.” FOSTER Project, funded by the European Commission
- 4. Open Data, Open Science & Research Lifecycle (Foster)
- 5. Coordination “Several open science activities are underway across Africa, but a great deal will be gained if, in the context of developing inter-regional links, these activities were to be coordinated and developed through such a coordinating initiative.” - CODATA
- 6. Open Data Repositories (re3data - 16)
- 7. Accord on Open Data in a Big Data World • Open Science is fundamental to 21st Century discovery and needs to be supported • Values of open data in emerging scientific culture of big data • Need for an international framework • Proposes a comprehensive set of principles • Provides a framework & plan for African data science capacity mobilization initiative • Proposes African Platform Call to Endorse
- 8. Value of an African Platform • Collective view of Open Science activities • Create awareness & showcase African research • Contribute to global knowledge base • Increase return on investment (re-use) • Identify lack of data/opportunities/gaps
- 9. • Identify needs e.g. skills development, infrastructure, policy formulation, etc. • Act as conduit for links with international open data and open science programmes and standards • Cross-use data across disciplines/studies • Establish relationships between data • Manage Intellectual Property (IP)
- 10. • Make data more discoverable/visible (metadata) • Encourage collaboration between scientific & private sectors, citizens • Participate in collective problem-solving • Allow verification of existing data, predict trends • Accelerate discovery – speed is everything (e.g. outbreaks like Ebola) • Attract funders
- 11. About AOSP • Funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) (SA Dept of Science and Technology) • Directed by CODATA (ICSU) • Managed by Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) • Through ASSAf hosting ICSU Regional Office for Africa (ICSU ROA)
- 12. AOSP Governance • Advisory Council (Chair: Prof Khotso Mokhele) • Terms of Reference • Technical Advisory Board • Terms of Reference • Platform Office (ASSAf) & ICSU/CODATA Office • CODATA Executive Director (Dr Simon Hodson) • 2x Senior Project Managers (Ina Smith & Susan Veldsman) • Project plan • Capacitate on network • Reports to funder • Workshops, meetings, presentations • 1x Junior Project Officer (ASSAf)
- 13. Key Stakeholders • Global Network of Science Academies (IAP) • International Council for Science (ICSU) • Regional Office for Africa (ROA) • Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) • World Data System (WDS) • The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) • Research Data Alliance (RDA) • Association of African Universities (AAU)
- 14. • Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) • African Research Councils (incl. DIRISA, funders) • African Universities • African Governments • NRENs (Internet Service Providers for Education) • Pan African Parliament • Other
- 15. 4 Focus Areas Establish African Open Data Forum / Platform Funded Research Data Infrastructure Initiatives Funded, co-designed transdisciplinary research projects Co-design African Open Data Policies Develop Incentives Frameworks Develop Research Data Science Training African Research Data Infrastructure Roadmap Activities require low funding for coordination, secondment, contributions in kind and evaluation. Activities require higher investment for coordination, co- design implemenatation and evaluation.
- 16. Policy Framework • Uganda Draft Open Data Policy • White Paper on Open Research in South Africa • National Research Foundation (NRF) • White Paper on Open Research Data Strategy in Botswana • Kenya Open Science Policy • OECD Principles & Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding
- 17. Infrastructure Framework • RDM, Repositories (cloud), Internet Connectivity • NRENs • Centres for High Performance Computing • SADC Cyberinfrastructure Framework • SKA telescope: Explore five untold secrets of the cosmos. These include how the very first stars and galaxies formed just after the Big Bang.
- 20. Capacity Building Framework • Research Data Management Planning: DMPRoadmap • Repositories: Figshare, re3data, Zenodo, DSpace, Dataverse • Command Line Interpretation: UNIX Shell • Software Development: GitHub, Mercurial • Data Organisation: Spreadsheets • Data Cleaning: OpenRefine • Data Management & Databases: SQL, Hadoop • Data Analysis & Visualisation (incl. programming): R, Python, ggplot2, MATLAB, R Markdown
- 21. Incentives Framework • Mechanisms that acknowledge publication of datasets and to promote data sharing
- 22. Actions & Deliverables Year 1 • AOSP Side Event to the SFSA 2016 - Launch • AOSP Workshop AAU 2017 - Policy • Madagascar Meeting & Workshop 2017 – Policy & Capacity Building • Botswana National Open Data Open Science Forum 2017 - Policy • UbuntunetConnect Ethiopian Workshops 2017 – Policy & Infrastructure • Database & Networks – Surveys etc
- 23. Closing Remarks • Collaborate & learn – strength in diversity • Data the new “gold” – predict trends (Prof Joseph Wafula) • Trusted data managed in a trusted way • Exploit data for the benefit of society (Min Naledi Pandor, Min of Science & Tech (SA) • Tell the African story, in an African way • Scientific highway to consolidate and promote the Pan African science agenda
- 24. Stay in Touch! • susan@assaf.org.za • Web: http://africanopenscience.org.za/ • Mailing list • Facebook • Twitter: #aosp_official
Editor's Notes
- #16: Promote development & adoption of data policies, principles, practices, standards Determine infrastructure available Address issues of incentives, best practice, benefits Foster training & capacity building activities Create an awareness, stimulate dialogue (frontiers)
- #20: The NSRC cultivates collaboration among a community of peers to build and improve a global Internet that benefits all parties. We facilitate the growth of sustainable Internet infrastructure via technical training and engineering assistance to enrich the network of networks. Our goal is to connect people.
- #23: SFSA Side Event & Panel Discussion (December 2016) Visit http://africanopenscience.org.za/ Advisory Council & Technical Advisory Board Planning Phase Next (Year 1): Expanding network, contacts, information on initiatives Identify/train representatives on national level (each country actively producing data, with research interest) Awareness - coordinate national workshops to introduce AOSP, open approaches – existing initiatives (conferences, w/s) Desktop research to identify initiatives on national level & populate database Engage with African stakeholders