Science Library Pad

Departmental Open Science Plans for the Government of Canada

Government of Canada science departments are to create Open Science Plans, per the Chief Science Advisor's Roadmap for Open Science.

These plans are linked on the Government's science.gc.ca site:

Departmental Open Science Action Plans

Chief Science Advisor in Budget 2017

Canada's Chief Science Advisor and associated office get a mention in Budget 2017.

Budget 2017 proposes to establish an annual budget of $2 million for the Chief Science Advisor and related secretariat.

There's some additional text but nothing substantially beyond what has already been established in mandate letters and the job advertisement.

As part of her/his mandate, the Chief Science Advisor will provide advice on how to ensure that government science is open to the public, that federal scientists are able to speak freely about their work, and that science is effectively communicated across government.

The Chief Science Advisor will be responsible for providing advice to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Science, and will serve primarily in an advisory and coordinating capacity.

above from Budget 2017 - Strengthening Science in Government

Previously:
December 5, 2016  Canadian National Chief Science Advisor competition announced

LIGO Open Science Center as a model for communication and engagement

I am really impressed with the work that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration has done to demonstrate the possibilities of open science communication and engagement.

The LIGO Open Science Center includes the following elements:

• data, including usage notes and data releases with accompanying documents
• some data releases have associated DOIs, e.g. event GW150914 data has doi:10.7935/K5MW2F23
• tutorials on how to work with the data, including a variety of cloud and downloadable software options
• some of the tutorials are Jupyter (iPython) notebooks, which combine data and code
• a way to query and extract time-based metadata (timeline) including an offer to host data
• a webservice to query and extract data (MySources)
• software examples and downloadable packages
• examples of data analysis projects including
  an online course
• list of publications with links to both final publications and preprints, plus (sometimes) science summaries
• the science summaries are sometimes even available in multiple languages

The one thing that I have been unable to find is a clear license for data use, although they do provide guidance on how to cite data that you use.

Going beyond the Open Science Center, they have many other channels of communication and engagement.

They did a Reddit AMA on the 2nd gravitational wave detection and they have a running crowdsourcing/citizen science project on Zooniverse called Gravity Spy.  As well there is a page listing just the papers related to the detection events; the page indicates open access papers clearly, but doesn't link to preprints.

They also have the usual social media, including YouTube with documentaries, public talks, podcasts, panels, and classes.

Taken all together, this provides a really good example of the scope that open science covers - it's not just releasing data, it's releasing accompanying software, tutorials, and analysis examples, as well as providing summaries of the science and reaching out through many different channels to engage the public.  (And this is just at the publication stage of the research lifecycle; there are many other stages at which open science applies.)

You can't just release the data, you have to also teach the data.  You can't just release the science, you have to also explain the science.

All of these activities require a whole set of skills in software, websites, plain language explanation and public engagement, beyond just the scientific expertise in and of itself.

---

If we take the observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger (event GW150914) as an example, you can, just from the LIGO site (not counting the multiple news reports available)

• start with a step-by-step explanation of LIGO and gravitational waves
• read a science summary (in English, French, Chinese, German, Japanese and Spanish)
• read the full scientific paper as it is open access with a CC-BY license
• read the preprint that was posted to arXiv (although in this case it appears likely the preprint and full paper are the same, as they're from the same day)
• see what other LIGO documents are related to the full scientific paper
• access the data including being able to cite the data using a DOI, and learn how to work with the data using the Jupyter notebook software tutorials

Many preprint services

Preprints have long circulated in some disciplines.  As the science publication and rewards systems evolve to permit greater use of preprints, the number of discipline-specific preprint services continues to increase.

The two best-established ones are:

1. https://arxiv.org/ (physics including particularly astrophysics and high-energy physics; mathematics; computer science)
2. http://biorxiv.org/ (biology)

(The X is a Chi, incidentally. This is a kind of physics humour.)

Two more are in the process of being established:

• http://www.chemrxiv.org/ (chemistry)
• http://asapbio.org/ (life sciences)

In terms of publisher-based preprint services, Nature had one called Nature Precedings which is now closed.

PeerJ has PeerJ Preprints.

There are also a bunch of services hosted by the Open Science Framework:

• socarxiv https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/
• engrxiv https://osf.io/preprints/engrxiv/
• psyarxiv https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/
• agriXiv https://osf.io/preprints/agrixiv

Obviously if this continues we will get to a point where we need meta-preprint services to combine all of the preprint services.

Funding sources and supporters are quite diverse.  It's not clear to me that there are enough funders currently in place to sustainably fund a proliferation of preprint servers.  It's also not really clear to me what ASAPbio will cover that bioRxiv doesn't cover already.

arXiv is a Cornell University Library initiative with membership and private finding.  (See arXiv - Business and Governance Information and Cornell University Library - New sponsorship model broadens arXiv membership.)

bioRxiv is a Cold Springs Harbour Library initiative with private funding.  (See bioRxiv - Preprint server bioRxiv receives additional major funding.)

chemRxiv is an American Chemical Society (ACS) initiative.

ASAPbio is an initiative with a mix of public support and private funding.  (See ASAPbio - Nature - Heavyweight funders back central site for life-sciences preprints.)  Funders supporting ASAPbio's principles include the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).

UPDATE 2017-05-08: ASAPbio appears to have a particular focus on a completely open-source repository.  There's information about the most recent ASAPbio meeting as of this writing in Research Ideas and Outcomes - Technical aspects of preprint services in the life sciences: a workshop report by Daniel Mietchen.

bioRxiv is currently closed source, but the Chan Zuckerberg funded improvements are supposed to be made open source.

There is a new preprint archive hosted by the Open Science Framework

• https://osf.io/preprints/lawarxiv

with more info at http://lawarxiv.info/

ENDUPDATE

Wellcome Trust will accept preprints in grant applications.

HHMI recognizes preprints "as evidence of productivity and will accept them for purposes such as laboratory head reviews."

Most, but not all publishers will now accept manuscripts that have previously been posted online as preprints.

---

Please feel free to comment, particularly if there are important preprint servers I have missed or nuances of funding I haven't covered.

 

 

Ontario Chief Science Officer

In the Ontario September 2016 Mandate letter: Research, Innovation and Science it provides some information about the Chief Science Officer (CSO):

• Defining the role of the Chief Science Officer to lead the government’s efforts to advance both basic and applied science and working with the Secretary of the Cabinet to recruit that individual by spring 2017. Consulting with and engaging the scientific community and the broader public as you develop the mandate of the Chief Science Officer.
• Working with educators, communities, other ministries and the Chief Science Officer to promote science literacy throughout the province.

The Ontario provincial Chief Science Officer is expected to be supported by team.  The competition (recruitment) for the CSO has not yet been announced.

See also:
December 5, 2016  Canadian National Chief Science Advisor competition announced

Canadian National Chief Science Advisor competition announced

Canada's Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan has announced the competition is open for the position of Chief Science Advisor (CSA) to the Canadian government.

Applications can be made through the Governor in Council appointments process.  Closes January 27, 2017.

The news release provides additional information:

• The Chief Science Advisor will report to both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Science.
• The Chief Science Advisor will be responsible for providing scientific advice to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Science and members of Cabinet.
• The office [of the CSA] will be supported by a team of scientists and policy experts.

Video of the announcement is available on Facebook.

The role of the CSA (formerly called "Chief Science Officer") is as indicated in the Ministerial Mandate Letter.

The letter says "Create a Chief Science Officer mandated to ensure that government science is fully available to the public, that scientists are able to speak freely about their work, and that scientific analyses are considered when the government makes decisions."

The job posting says "The Chief Science Advisor's main function will be to advise the government on how to ensure that government science is fully available to the public, that scientists are able to speak freely about their work, and that scientific analyses are considered when the government makes decisions."

Open Science in Canada's 2016-2018 Open Government Plan

Following a consultation, the final version of Canada's 2016-2018 Open Government Plan for the Open Government Partnership has been released.

http://open.canada.ca/en/content/third-biennial-plan-open-government-partnership

This includes a commitment on open science, the second Canadian plan to have such a commitment.

Commitment 14: Increase Openness of Federal Science Activities (Open Science)

How will it be done:

Horizontal implementation of the federal open science initiative began in 2012. Under the new Plan, the Government of Canada wants to build on past work by taking bold steps to make government-funded science open and transparent to Canadians. Reflecting the importance of citizen engagement and collaboration, deliverables will focus on increasing the accessibility of government science, helping to ensure Canadians are informed of opportunities to engage in federal science and technology (S&T) activities, and exploring ways to enhance the impact of government data and information.

Underscoring the Government’s commitment to open science at the recent meeting of G7 Science and Technology Ministers, Canada supported a recommendation to establish an international working group on open science. This group would focus on sharing open science policies, exploring supportive incentive structures, and identifying good practices for promoting increased access to the results of publicly funded research, including scientific data and publications.

Milestones:

Science-based Departments and Agencies

• Create a Chief Science Officer mandated to ensure that government science is fully available to the public, that scientists are able to speak freely about their work, and that scientific analyses are considered when the Government makes decisions.  
• Increase the public availability of data and publications produced from federal Science and Technology (S&T) activities.
• Increase engagement with Canadians on federal S&T activities, including, as appropriate:
  • Enhanced communication of scientific participation opportunities in support of federal S&T activities; and
  • Targeted consultations on best practices for increasing the impact of federal S&T activities.
• Develop metrics to track collective federal progress on open science activities.

Granting Councils and Grants and Contributions

• Develop and implement an open access policy for scientific research funded through grants and contributions.
• Work toward the development of policies on digital data management for research funded through the Granting Councils.

Lead Departments:

Environment and Climate Change Canada; Innovation, Science, and Economic Development

Disclaimer: I work on the open science commitment.

See the previous open science commitment C.1 in the 2014-2016 Open Government Action Plan.

Previously:
June 16, 2016  consultation on draft 2016-2018 Open Gov Action Plan for Canada

 

LIBER 2016 conference livestream

Livestream information

http://liber2016.org/programme/live-streaming/

direct link (requires Flash)

https://connectpro.helsinki.fi/liber2016

login as guest

The stream started on Wed June 29, 2016 at 13.00 local [Finland] time (EEST, +3 GMT) = 6am Eastern time and completed at 8am Eastern time.

I have made a Storify of my tweets from June 29 https://storify.com/scilib/liber-2016-wed-june-29-2016

Livestream on Thursday June 30 and Friday July 1 will begin at 09h local time = 2am Eastern time.

You can see the programme at http://liber2016.org/programme/full-programme/

There is a particular focus on open science.

Twitter

• @LIBERconference
• #LIBER2016

consultation on draft 2016-2018 Open Gov Action Plan for Canada

The Government has launched the final consultation phase on the 2016-2018 Open Government Action Plan, Canada's third plan for the international Open Government Partnership.

http://open.canada.ca/en/consultations/canadas-new-plan-open-government-2016-2018

You can provide feedback to the draft plan by commenting on the page or by emailing [email protected]

UPDATE: Consultation closes June 30, 2016.  ENDUPDATE

It includes an open science commitment, building on the 2014-2016 commitment.

2016-2018 Commitment 14: Increase Openness of Federal Science Activities (Open Science)

Disclaimer: I work on the open science commitment.

Twitter:

• @TBS_Canada
• #opengovcan

Previous Plans

• Open Government Action Plan 2012-2014 (first plan)
• Open Government Action Plan 2014-2016 (second plan)
• 2014-2016 open science commitment

Plans run according to the Open Government Partnership Canada calendar, from July to June across two years (e.g. the third plan will run from approximately July 2016 to June 2018).

Previously:
April 5, 2016  Open Government in Canada - 2016 consultations and Google Hangout
February 2, 2016  Canada - Open Science 2014-2015 assessment for OGP/OGAP

immediate open access as the default by 2020 - European Council

The European Council - Competitiveness Council met May 26-27, 2016 with a two hour discussion about open science on the 27th.

Their conclusions on "The transition towards an Open Science system" (document 9526/16) have been published, of which particularly notable are

12. AGREES to further promote the mainstreaming of open access to scientific publications by

continuing to support a transition to immediate open access as the default by 2020, using the

various models possible and in a cost-effective way, without embargoes or with as short as

possible embargoes, and without financial and legal barriers, taking into account the diversity

in research systems and disciplines, and that open access to scientific publications should be

achieved in full observance of the principle that no researcher should be prevented from

publishing; ...

 

14. UNDERLINES that research data originating from publicly funded research projects could be

considered as a public good, and ENCOURAGES the Member States, the Commission and

stakeholders to set optimal reuse of research data as the point of departure, whilst recognising

the needs for different access regimes because of Intellectual Property Rights, personal data

protection and confidentiality, security concerns, as well as global economic competitiveness

and other legitimate interests. Therefore, the underlying principle for the optimal reuse of

research data should be: “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”.

A high-level summary of the discussion and conclusions can be found on pages 12-13 of document 9357/16, Outcome of the Council Meeting, including

The Commission is deploying efforts on the development of a European Open Science Agenda that will include three main lines of action:
– The setting up of an Open Science Policy Platform as a high-level expert group focusing on framework conditions for an open science-friendly environment
– The promotion of open access for the results of scientific research and underlying data, mainly with a pilot project on open research data under the Horizon 2020 research programme
– The setting of standards for the management, interoperability and quality of scientific data to progress towards a European Open Science Cloud

There is also a summary in the main results

Chairing the Council, Sander Dekker, State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands, made the following statement: "Open Science is a topic which is very dear to our hearts. During the Netherlands presidency, we have aimed at bringing Europe to the forefront of global change and at leading the transition to a new way of doing research and science based on openness, big data and cloud computing. ...

and in the press release "All European scientific articles to be freely accessible by 2020"

Netherlands State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science Sander Dekker ... "The time for talking about open access is now past. With these agreements, we are going to achieve it in practice." ...

From 2020, all scientific publications on the results of publicly funded research must be freely available. It also must be [possible] to optimally reuse research data. To achieve that, the data must be made accessible, unless there are well-founded reasons for not doing so, for example intellectual property rights or security or privacy issues.

and there is a brief summary video for the entire meeting.

The membership of the Open Science Policy Platform was also announced.  Feedback from civil society indicates some dissatisfaction that the membership is primarily institutional.

The video of the two-hour discussion is available, with key statements indicated in the sidebar (under "Live updates").  Click on "Open Science System" on the video page to go directly to the specific session, or go to 23:34 into the video (it is supposed to be possible to make a link to part of the webcast but it doesn't seem to be working).

Twitter and Hashtags

• #COMPET
• @EUCouncil
• @EU2016NL
• @SanderDekker
• @Moedas
• #openscience

Previously:
April 20, 2016  Open Science Cloud launched by European Commission

Open Science Cloud launched by European Commission

On April 19, 2016 the European Commission announced many initiatives under the umbrella of “Digitise Europe”.  Some are related to open science.

• Under European Cloud Initiative
• As of 2016: creating a European Open Science Cloud
• 2017: opening up by default all scientific data produced by future projects under the €77 billion Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
• The public and private investment needed to implement the European Cloud Initiative is estimated at €6.7 billion. The Commission estimates that, overall, €2 billion in Horizon 2020 funding will be allocated to the European Cloud initiative. The estimation of the required additional public and private investment is €4.7 billion in the period of 5 years.

Previously open scientific data was just a pilot in Horizon 2020, now it will become a requirement.

This is only one element of the larger open science initiative https://ec.europa.eu/research/openscience/index.cfm?pg=home

The next item coming from the open science initiative will be the Open Science Policy Platform which will support policy formulation and implementation https://ec.europa.eu/research/openscience/index.cfm?pg=open-science-policy-platform

It is also worth noting that on the Open Access side, the Amsterdam Call for Action on Open Science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam_Call_for_Action_on_Open_Science was issued as part of an Open Science Conference April 4-5, 2016 and is expected to go to the Competitiveness Council on May 27, 2016.  It currently calls for 100% open access in Europe by 2020.

BACKGROUND

• Press Release - European Cloud Initiative http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1408_en.htm
• Full Communication (13 pages) – European Cloud Initiative http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=15266
• Home page – European Cloud Initiative https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/european-cloud-initiative
• Home page – European Open Science Cloud https://ec.europa.eu/research/openscience/index.cfm?pg=open-science-cloud

Videos

• Günther OETTINGER, Member of the EC in charge of Digital Economy and Society http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?ref=I119779
• Carlos MOEDAS, Member of the EC in charge of Research, Science and Innovation http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?ref=I119778
• Q&A http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?ref=I119780

Twitter and Hashtags

• #DigitiseEU
• #OpenScience
• @OpenAccessEC
• @ICTscienceEU
• @DSMeu (Digital Single Market)
• @EU_eGov
• @Moedas
• @GOettingerEU

 

Open Government in Canada - 2016 consultations and Google Hangout

Minister Brison (President of the Treasury Board) will host a Google Hangout on Open Government, specifically on Canada's next national action plan for open government (as part of Canada's participation in the Open Government Partnership).

Google Hangout

• Wednesday April 6, 2016 at 1pm Eastern (13h)
• hashtag #OpenGovCan
• Twitter @TBS_Canada
• check open.canada.ca for more information

UPDATE 2016-04-10: Video of the 30 minute Hangout is available.

UPDATE 2016-04-11: Transcript of the Hangout will be posted to http://open.canada.ca/en/consultations/hangout160406  ENDUPDATE

Consultations

From March 31 to May 15, 2016 the government is running an online ideas consultation ("ideas market") where open government ideas for the Action Plan 2016-2018 can be submitted, upvoted, searched, and commented upon.

You can see the current ideas and submit your own at

Help shape Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government 2016–18

You can sort ideas by date, most popular, and most commented, but there aren't separate URLs for those options.

There will also be in-person consultations and you can email a detailed submission to [email protected]

The draft plan will be online in June 2016 for consultation.

Separately, from May 1 to July 1, 2016 there will be online and in-person consultations about the Access to Information Act.

Budget

In Chapter 7 Open and Transparent Government of Budget 2016,

Expanding Open Data Initiatives

The Government is committed to accelerating and expanding open data initiatives and to better involving Canadians in policy-making. Budget 2016 proposes to provide $11.5 million over five years to double the Treasury Board Secretariat’s budget for open government activities. This funding will allow the Treasury Board Secretariat to enhance its capacity to support engagement with Canadians, to design and deliver an ambitious open government strategy and to accelerate the provision of digital content.

Table 7.1 Open and Transparent Government indicates this $11.5 million will be allocated as $2.5 million in 2016-2017 and $2.5 million in 2017-2018, with the remaining $6.5 million from 2018-2021.

Presentations and Information

Minister Brison presented at the Canadian Open Dialogue Forum.

You can see the presentation on YouTube, from 41:40 to 1:02:48

https://youtu.be/HS9JXTj4ZBw?t=41m40s

The speaking notes are available, along with a news release.

The Action Plan 2016-2018

In his speaking notes and as delivered, Minister Brison indicates

Strategy on Open Government

Beginning today, Canadians can go to open.canada.ca to tell us their views on what should be in the next strategy on Open Government.

We’ll also be holding in-person discussions and using the technology at our disposal to consult with Canadians in a number of cities across the country.

The details of this process are available at open.canada.ca.

The plan resulting from the consultation will be released in the summer. It will cover the full range of open government actions, from open data all the way to open science.

Previous Plans

• Open Government Action Plan 2012-2014 (first plan)
• Open Government Action Plan 2014-2016 (second plan)

Plans run according to the Open Government Partnership Canada calendar, from July to June across two years (e.g. the second plan runs from July 2014 to June 2016).

Previously:
February 2, 2016  Canada - Open Science 2014-2015 assessment for OGP/OGAP
November 6, 2014  Open Science in Canada's 2nd Open Gov Plan

Disclaimer: I work on the Open Science commitment of Action Plan 2014-2016.

Data archiving and sharing - Le partage du savoir - Dominique Roche - Les années lumière

Canada's national French language public radio Radio-Canada has a science show, Les années lumière.

Every episode has some standard segments, including Doc / Post-Doc, which is an interview with a doctoral or post-doctoral researcher.

For February 21, 2016 the researcher was Dominique Roche, specifically about his research on Policies and practices surrounding data archiving and sharing.

You can see his academic home page at Université de Neuchâtel: http://www2.unine.ch/ethol/lang/en_GB/dominique_roche

and his Twitter is @dom_roche

Relevant papers on this topic are:

• Data deposition: Fees could damage public data archives - Nature 502, 171 (10 October 2013) - doi:10.1038/502171a - Published online 09 October 2013 (closed access)
• Troubleshooting Public Data Archiving: Suggestions to Increase Participation - Roche DG, Lanfear R, Binning SA, Haff TM, Schwanz LE, Cain KE, et al. (2014) Troubleshooting Public Data Archiving: Suggestions to Increase Participation. PLoS Biol 12(1): e1001779. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001779
• Public Data Archiving in Ecology and Evolution: How Well Are We Doing? - Roche DG, Kruuk LEB, Lanfear R, Binning SA (2015) Public Data Archiving in Ecology and Evolution: How Well Are We Doing? PLoS Biol 13(11): e1002295. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1002295

You can visit the segment page for the Feb 21, 2016 Doc / Post-Doc on Roche, but the JavaScript popup audio player may cause problems depending how your system is set up.

Here is a direct link to a web page that should take you to the specific audio segment, but it requires Flash for playback on desktop computers.

An easier option may be to go to the audio segment in the podcast.  It runs from approximately 36:02 to approx. 43:13.

• direct MP3 link
• general podcast feed link (you'll have to pick the right episode)
• iTunes general podcast link (you'll have to pick the right episode)
• iTunes specific episode podcast link (note that this doesn't always work)

Canada - Open Science 2014-2015 assessment for OGP/OGAP

Canada is a member of the international Open Government Partnership (OGP).

Canada's second Open Government Action Plan (OGAP) 2014-2016, released November 2014, contains an Open Science commitment.

The OGP requires yearly self-assessment and independent assessment reports.

Both reports have now been released.  The commenting period for the self-assessment closed January 18, 2016, but the commenting period for the independent assessment just opened today (February 2, 2016).

• Canada - 2014-2015 independent assessment for public comment (PDF) - Open Science is on pages 43-46
• Canada - Open Science 2014-2015 self-assessment
• Canada - Open Science commitment in OGAP 2014-2016
• Canada - Open Government Action Plan 2014-2016

UPDATE 2016-02-03: To comment on Canada's 2015 independent assessment, use the web form or email [email protected] ENDUPDATE

Disclaimer: I work on the Open Science commitment.

Twitter

• Open Government Partnership @opengovpart
• Open Government Partnership Independent Reporting Mechanism @OGP_IRM

Websites

• Canada - Open Government http://open.canada.ca/en/about-open-government
• OGP - Canada http://www.opengovpartnership.org/country/canada/
• OGP - Canada - Action Plans
• OGP - Canada - Self-Assessments
• OGP - Canada - independent assessments
• OGP - Canada - Calendar (PDF)
• OGP - all independent assessment reports

 

Previously:
November 6, 2014  Open Science in Canada's 2nd Open Gov Plan

Related articles

Comment on Canada's Mid-term Self-assessment on Open Government Action Plan 2014-16

Comment on Canada's Mid-term Self-assessment on Open Government Action Plan 2014-16

Canada is a member of the Open Government Partnership, and follows a two-year cycle running from July to June (2014-2016, 2016-2018 etc.) Included in the cycle is a mid-term assessment after the first year of the National Action Plan (NAP) and a final assessment after the second and final year. Assessment is composed of internal self-assessment and a third-party Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM).

Canada has completed the first year of its second Action Plan (2014-2016) and so the internal self-assessment as of June 2015 is now available online. Feedback will be open online until Monday January 18, 2016.

The plan consists of a number of commitments, including Open Science. You can comment on the plan as a whole, or on individual commitments. You can also comment by sending an email to [email protected]

Based on the OGP calendar, the next Canadian National Action Plan (2016-2018) should be available in the July 2016 timeframe.

Disclaimer: I work on the Open Science commitment.

evidence-based policy and open science in US 3rd Open Gov National Action Plan

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/10/27/advancing-open-and-citizen-centered-government

3^rd Open Gov (National) Action Plan https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/final_us_open_government_national_action_plan_3_0.pdf

Open Government to Improve Public Services

10. Promote Evidence-Based Policy for More Effective Service Delivery

Using evidence and concrete data to evaluate government programs and policies can improve public service delivery at all levels of government. In July 2015, the Administration launched an interagency evidence-based policymaking group to promote more effective government service delivery and better results for families and communities in need. The group will work with agencies to build capacity to make better use of evidence and to make more transparent decisions about service delivery programs. The group will catalyze specific actions across Federal agencies that are designed to advance the use of evidence in decision-making and strengthen the use of data and evidence to develop and implement more impactful service delivery programs.

Access to Information

8. Advance Open Science through Increased Public Access to Data, Research, and Technologies

By providing access to government-funded scientific information and data, Federal agencies leverage scientific investments while catalyzing American innovation and novel applications for business and entrepreneurship. Federal agencies can also take steps to make the research they support more open. In September 2015, the Office of Science and Technology Policy encouraged Federal science agencies, in designing citizen science and crowdsourcing projects, to take steps to ensure that datasets, code, applications, and technologies generated by such projects are transparent, open, and freely available to the public. To continue momentum and collaborations for open science, the Office of Science and Technology Policy will:

* Increase Public Access to Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research. In 2013, the Office of Science and Technology Policy directed Federal science agencies to develop plans to increase access to the results of unclassified research supported wholly or in part by Federal funding. The public’s ability to search, retrieve, and analyze both scientific publications and research data leverages Federal investments and provides new opportunities for scientific advancement and economic growth. The Office of Science and Technology Policy will work to ensure that all Federal agencies that spend more than $100 million per year on research and development finalize plans and implement policies and programs to make scientific publications and digital data resulting from Federally funded research accessible to and usable by scientists, entrepreneurs, educators, students, and the general public.

* Encourage Increased Public Participation in Open Science Using Low-cost Scientific Instruments. One step that the Federal government could take to increase participation in citizen science and crowdsourcing is to develop hardware and software tools that are affordable, easy to use, and easy to improve. The Administration will kick off an interagency dialogue to identify best practices for how the Federal government can foster the development of low-cost scientific instrumentation and work with stakeholders through workshops and ideation challenges to identify opportunities for getting them into the hands of volunteers, such as air-quality monitors or wearables for monitoring personal health. Using these low-cost scientific instruments, volunteers can contribute their expertise to help advance a variety of scientific and societal goals

Previously:
November 6, 2014  Open Science in Canada's 2nd Open Gov Plan

Open Access policy - Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences released its open access policy on April 1, 2015.

http://www.ideas-idees.ca/issues/open-access-aspp

The official title is "Open Access and the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program (ASPP)".

The policy is about facilitating and promoting open access books (monographs):

the Federation will embrace the roles of promoter and facilitator of Open Access publishing projects for monographs, with a particular view to engage those that could include ASPP-funded books.

To encourage innovation and experimentation, the Federation will use its resources and networks to facilitate the participation of Canadian publishers, libraries and authors in promising, scalable projects that provide practical (i.e. financial or in-kind) support for Open Access monograph publishing.

To support the ongoing efforts of some Canadian publishers, the Federation will promote existing and future ASPP-funded Open Access books.

As I understand it, it is not a mandatory policy, it's more about doing projects to support open access, in particular projects that would:

• Make books Open Access immediately upon publication (no embargo) as DRM-free PDFs or full- text HTML, using the final published work as the version of record;

• Track and report on downloads and/or usage;

• Use Creative Commons licences;

• Host Open Access publications in at least one recognized repository that provides permanent links;

• Follow accepted protocols for metadata.

above from full policy http://www.ideas-idees.ca/sites/default/files/oa-aspp-policy-position-en.pdf

Open Access policy for International Development Research Centre - May 2015

Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has adopted a new open access policy.

Highlights include:

• maximum 12 month embargo
• use of Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) - "All project outputs identified above will be made freely and openly available under the most recent version of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence"
• preference for gold OA, but permission for green as well
• guidance for books and book chapters, in addition to journal articles

See Open Access Policy for IDRC-Funded Project Outputs.

The embargo period is the same as the policy from Canada's granting agencies, but the use of Creative Commons is a new element.

In addition to open access,  IDRC has also been active in the areas of open data and open science, and is a host for the International Open Data Conference in Ottawa, one of many open data events that will be held in Ottawa in May and June 2015.

There is a short IDRC press release, mainly useful for recording the announcement date.

Open Access Policy announced for Canada's granting councils

Canada's three granting councils (CIHR, SSHRC, NSERC - sometimes "Tri-Agency") have been working on a harmonized open access policy.

On February 27, 2015 Minister of State Holder announced the policy.

It allows green and gold open access, with a maximum 12 month embargo.
It comes into effect May 1, 2015.

See the details:

Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications

Previously:
December 8, 2014  Expected Open Access updates in Canada
December 5, 2014  Open Science in 2014 Science, Technology, Innovation Strategy

Open Science in 2014 Science, Technology, Innovation Strategy

The 2014 Science, Technology, Innovation Strategy for Canada has been released.

Seizing Canada's Moment: Moving Forward in Science, Technology and Innovation 2014
(or use direct PDF link)

It includes Open Science and research infrastructure.

6.2.2 Promoting Open Science

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/07482.html#promoting

An implementation plan will be developed to promote open science, including both open access and open data initiatives, within the activities of science-based departments and agencies, as well as those of granting councils and the International Development Research Centre.

Specifically, our Government will:

• Implement a Tri-Agency Open Access Policy requiring that the results of federally-funded research be made available within 12 months;
• Make available online consolidated lists of recently published research authored by federal scientists and develop and implement policies to promote open access of federal science ...
• Implement open data initiatives in the granting councils and in science-based departments and agencies to promote broad-based access to federally-funded data and research results in a timely manner

The Tri-Agency granting councils are CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC, research funding agencies run by the government.  CIHR already has an Open Access policy.

6.2.3 Supporting Cutting-Edge Infrastructure

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/07482.html#cutting-edge

• Working with partners to develop a digital research infrastructure strategy to create a world-leading research and innovation ecosystem in Canada. This will also serve to advance Digital Canada 150 by positioning Canada as a global leader in "big data." We will include new policies on research data management and storage, and a coordinated long-term approach to the funding and provision of high speed networking, high performance computing and software tools, to be developed by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, CANARIE and Compute Canada. Digital Canada 150 included a commitment of $50 million for the Canada Foundation for Innovation to invest in high performance computing and storage in support of these efforts.
• Working with partners to review our approach to investing in major science initiatives in order to strengthen long-term planning and coordination among institutions and funders.

Related Initiatives

There are now multiple pillars in support of Canadian open science and research infrastructure:

G8 Science Ministers Statement

http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/science/130613-science.html

Science Library Pad - 2013 G8 Science Ministers Statement

G8 Open Data Charter

The Science and Research high-value datasets from the G8 Open Data Charter and Technical Annex (along with other high-value scientific datasets) are one example of the Charter requirements related to science.  Chart below from Annex B: G8 High-value Datasets in Canada's G8 Open Data Charter Plan

High-value category	Example	License	Format	Status and/or planned activities
Science and Research	Research data supporting research results published in peer-reviewed journal articles.	OGL	Open	December 2015
	Information on scientific research projects with public participation component.	OGL	Other	December 2015
	Personnel engaged in research and development, by performing sector, occupational category and type of science	OGL	Open	Currently available (for the years 2000-2010): datasets will be updated as new information becomes available

(OGL is the Canadian Open Government License)

Science Library Pad - G8 Open Data Charter and Canada's G8 Open Data Charter Plan

Digital Canada 150

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/028.nsf/eng/home

Science Library Pad - Open Science in Digital Canada 150

Open Science commitment in 2nd Open Government Action Plan

http://open.canada.ca/en/content/canadas-action-plan-open-government-2014-16#ch4-3

Science Library Pad - Open Science in Canada's 2nd Open Gov Plan

CFI Cyberinfrastructure Initiative (draft Call for Proposals)

http://www.innovation.ca/en/AboutUs/News/CanadaFoundationInnovationCFIannounces50millionnewCyberinfrastructureInitiative

http://www.innovation.ca/en/OurFunds/CFIFunds/CFIcyberinfrastructureinitiative

Related Documents

TC3+ (Canadian research funders) - Toward a Policy Framework for Advancing Digital Scholarship in Canada (PDF) - from (completed) consultation

Many elements in the CRKN Integrated Digital Scholarship Environment (IDSE) investigation - crkn.ca/idse

• March 2014 - IDSE Preliminary Report
• July 2014 - Information Gathering Report (PDF)
• September 2014 - IDSE Board Response: Roadmap towards the Vision of the IDSE (PDF)

You can find links to reports from other organisations under IDSE Resources.

 

Open Science in Canada's 2nd Open Gov Plan

Minister Clement has announced the 2^nd Open Government Action Plan (OGAP2).  It covers the years 2014-2016.

Building on the first Open Government Action Plan (released April 2012), there are the following new developments relevant to Open Science:

• The Directive on Open Government has been issued (effective Oct 9, 2014).  To the Policy on Information Management and the Recordkeeping Directive, the Open Government Directive adds specific requirements.  It requires departments to:
  • Maximize the release of Government of Canada open data and open information
  • Maintain comprehensive inventories of data and information resources of business value
  • Publish and annually update a departmental Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP)
• There is an Open Science commitment in OGAP2, with Environment Canada and Industry Canada as co-leads.  The headline phrase is "maximize access to federally funded scientific research".  It includes:
• the development of an Open Science Implementation Plan
• launch of open access to publications and data resulting from federally-funded scientific activities
• establishing an online service to enable one-stop search for publications and data resulting from federal scientific activities
• publishing and updating an online list of peer-reviewed articles by Government of Canada scientists, dating back to 2012
• In addition, the existing commitment to provide a Virtual Library of all government publications is extended: "This new service will provide access to federal publications through an online, searchable repository of published federal documents of all kinds."

For more information, including the complete text of the Open Science commitment, see the new portal at open.canada.ca

UPDATE 2015-07-25: The easiest direct link to the open science commitment is to use the Open Government Partnership site - http://www.opengovpartnership.org/country/canada/commitment/open-science

Open Science and Open by Default in Canada

On October 9, 2014 the Government of Canada issued the Directive on Open Government. It is the "Open by Default" directive, stating

Departments must maximize the release of open data and open information by ensuring that all data and information resources specified [in Appendix B] are considered for release.

The directive covers all government data and information. In addition, the draft 2nd Open Government Action Plan lists some specific focus areas with deliverables, including C.1. Open Science.

Deliverables to be completed in 2014-2016:
C.1.1 Develop and publish a government-wide Open Science Implementation Plan which lays out strategies and milestones
C.1.2 Establish an online service to enable a one-stop search for publications and data resulting from federally-funded scientific activities.
C.1.3 Establish common Open Access requirements for federally funded scientific research.
C.1.4 Develop inventories of scientific data, and initiate the public release of data supporting scientific research publications.
C.1.5 Publish and maintain a consolidated online list of peer-reviewed articles by Government of Canada scientists dating back to 2012.

The draft is open for consultation until noon Eastern time, Monday October 20, 2014. You can contribute to the consultation by leaving a comment at the bottom of the draft document. (Note: this is the fourth and probably final phase of consultation on the 2nd Open Gov Action Plan.)

starting a new open science policy position

As of Monday September 15, 2014 I have joined Environment Canada for a one-year Interchange (a kind of temporary work assignment).  I will be working on policy and planning related to the Open Science proposal for the 2nd Canadian Open Government Action Plan.  The open science initiative includes open access and open research data.  To quote from the proposal

The Government of Canada proposes to maximize the release of federal scientific data and make more federally funded, peer-reviewed scientific articles and research publicly available ... free of charge.

If you're a Government of Canada employee, you can find information and provide feedback on the government wiki GCpedia as well as joining the discussion group on GCconnex.

Members of the public and GC employees can also leave a comment about the proposed activities at http://data.gc.ca/eng/Open_Science

Previously:
Sept 6, 2014  update on Open Science and Open Access for Government of Canada research
June 18, 2013  2013 G8 Science Ministers Statement

update on Open Science and Open Access for Government of Canada research

This is a bit of a complicated trail, but here goes:

Open science is in the Digital Canada 150 strategy.

Open science was a proposed idea in the phase 2 ideas consultation for the 2nd Open Government Action Plan.

Open science is now a proposed action (proposed commitment) in the phase 3 activitives consultation.  This is the last phase of online consultation.  The next step will be to issue the OGAP 2 plan.

The feedback on the proposed idea does not carry over to the proposed action.  If you want to be heard again, you have to post comments on the proposed action: Open Science.

UPDATE 2014-09-20: The action consultation (phase 3 consultation) is now closed, as of Sept. 19, 2014.  However, the data.gc.ca mailing list has announced that there will be a 4th phase of consultation "to request public input on the draft version of Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government 2.0" from Oct. 6-17, 2014 Oct 9, 2014.  ENDUPDATE

There are also still in-person consultations to be completed.  You can read about them here and here.

I do not have the exact schedule.  Contact [email protected] for the correct information.

It looks something like this, but there may be changes:

Round Table #6

September 11 – Halifax (1841 Argyle St., Halifax City Hall, Halifax Hall)

3 hour session

September 12 – Saint John, New Brunswick ?

Round Table #7	October – Edmonton (date and location to be confirmed)	3 hour session
GTEC	October – Ottawa (details forthcoming)	Workshop
Round Table #8	Lethbridge (date and location to be confirmed)	3 hour session

provide feedback on Canada's Open Gov Action Plan 2

Canada is doing a multi-part, multi-aspect consultation about the 2nd version of its Open Government Action Plan.

The three four parts are:

1. In-person consultations

2. Ideas generation

3. Discussion of proposed activities (proposed commitments)

4. Consultation on the draft complete Action Plan (NEW)

Part 3 is now running has completed, however activities are being posted progressively; not all proposed commitments will be posted at once.  At the time of this writing, there are four proposed commitments posted

• Open Data Institute
• Open Data [projects and activities]
• Mandatory Reporting on Extractives
• Canada’s Directive on Open Government – Creating a Culture of “Open by Default”

others will follow.

UPDATE 2014-08-21: Open Information (including Virtual Library and declassifying documents) added.  ENDUPDATE

UPDATE 2014-08-29: Open Data Canada – Open Data Without Borders (unified open data across Canadian jurisdictions), Open Dialogue (consulting Canadians).  ENDUPDATE

UPDATE 2014-09-06: Three new proposed activities (proposed commitments):

• Open Science - the wording is a bit awkward, the clearest statement is "The Government of Canada proposes to maximize the release of federal scientific data and make more federally funded, peer-reviewed scientific articles and research publicly available ... free of charge."
• Open Information on Budgets and Expenditures - including "Investigating ways to release more budget data as open data"
• Open Contracting

ENDUPDATE

UPDATE 2014-09-20: The action consultation (phase 3 consultation) is now closed, as of Sept. 19, 2014.  However, the data.gc.ca mailing list has announced that there will be a 4th phase of consultation "to request public input on the draft version of Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government 2.0" from Oct. 6-17, 2014 Oct 9, 2014.  ENDUPDATE

To try to clarify the stages - in part 2 the public is invited to submit ideas, in part 3 the public is invited to provide feedback on selected activities, and in part 4 the public is invited to provide feedback on the entire plan.

There is some information in a news release - New Action Plan on Open Government: Engaging Canadians on Draft Plan - August 11, 2014.

okfest14 - Open Digital Science - notes

Open Knowledge Festival 2014 - July 16, 2014

Session "Open, Digital Science - moving beyond open access" by Celina Ramjoué and Silvia Luber.

Sched entry.

Etherpad https://pad.okfn.org/p/Open,_Digital_Science

Dr. Ramjoué and Dr. Luber presented the progress on open science in the EU to date

• full open access mandate in Horizon 2020 research program
• also pilot on open research data in Horizon 2020 - see Guidelines on Data Management in Horizon 2020 (PDF)
• now working on next step: Open Digital Science
• public consultation: http://www.consultation-science20.eu/ closes 30 September 2014

They presented a framework of the larger set of issues involved when you look at the impact of digital technologies on all of science:

The session was mainly group discussions; these are summarized in the Etherpad.

The question of what policy actions are needed to support this new scientific ecosystem is an interesting one; it's a complex system and we are still figuring out necessary pieces.