Dear Colleague, You are cordially invited to attend a public symposium entitled Finding the Needle in the Haystack: Strategies for Discovering Research Data Online. The event is being organized by the National Research Council's Board on Research Data and Information, and will be held on the afternoon of February 26 in Washington, DC. A formal invitation with the summary description of the symposium, the location, and RSVP instructions may be found below. Please feel free to forward this invitation to others who you think may be interested. More complete information about the event and the Board on Research Data and Information is at: http://www.nationalacademies.org/brdi. If you are able to join us, we only ask that you let us know at least a day in advance by RSVP to: [email protected]. The symposium will be webcast, if you cannot attend in person, but we hope to see you there! Best wishes, Paul Uhlir Director, Board on Research Data and Information INVITATION Finding the Needle in the Haystack: A Public Symposium on Strategies for Discovering Research Data Online Organized by the Board on Research Data and Information National Research Council (http://www.nationalacademies.org/brdi) Tuesday, February 26, 2013 from 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm National Academy of Sciences Auditorium 2100 C Street NW, Washington, DC One of the problems recognized by experts and casual data users alike has been the inability to find the full array of research databases or factual compilations that are needed to support any given query. As data continue to proliferate and research becomes more data intensive, the discoverability of factual references also grows in importance. For research funders and policymakers, there is a need to better understand data productivity and trends in science, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Yet the deluge of information and the diversity of the datasets makes the task for all users of data and facts that much more difficult. Despite the proliferation of models and solutions in various disciplines and sectors, there is a recognized need for a pervasive infrastructure, standardization of approaches, and the usual questions of who does what, where, and how? This symposium therefore seeks to highlight some of these different approaches, providing examples that are both broadly interdisciplinary as well as discipline-specific to finding the right data at the right place in the right time. Although we will not offer any common solutions to this set of problems, we do hope to shed some light on the underlying issues and provide an opportunity for experts working in this area to interact, both among each other and with the audience. The co-chairs of the Board on Research Data and Information, Clifford Lynch of the Coalition on Networked Information, and Francine Berman of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will lead the symposium discussion, beginning at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, February 26. The event will continue for 2 ½ hours in a mix of short presentations and discussion. The entire proceedings will be recorded and an audio-tape will be archived on the Board's website. The meeting will be followed by a reception outside the main auditorium.
The symposium is open to the public, but advance registration is requested (contact: Cheryl Levey, [email protected] or call 202-334-1531). Tuesday, February 26, 2013 from 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm National Academy of Sciences Auditorium 2100 C Street NW, Washington, DC The symposium is free and open to the public, but advance registration is requested. RSVP to Cheryl Levey at [email protected] For additional information about the program, please visit http://www.nationalacademies.org/brdi or contact Paul Uhlir, the Board Director, at [email protected] or 202-334-1531. The Symposium will be webcast--see the Board website for details on Tuesday, February 26, 2013. Cheryl Williams Levey Senior Program Associate National Academy of Sciences Board on Research Data and Information Keck 511 (c/o Paul Uhlir) Washington , DC 20001 U.S.A. Phone: 301-473-1482 Fax: 773-897-7455 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.nas.edu/brdi
