Why can't you make the data read-only? That would allow for a lot of analysis and information mining.
In most cases I can't manipulate someone's HTML page either. Landon Office Phone Number: (209) 946-0268 Cell Phone Number: (209) 992-0658 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Eric Wolf Sent: Friday, March 13, 2009 8:37 AM To: Paul Harwood Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Geowanking] Tim Berners-Lee on linked data "You do your little bit. Everybody does their little bit. That's what linked data is all about" - or is that what the Borg is all about? Nice shoutout to OSM in the talk. Here's a problem - where some of the walls come in: The USGS data holdings are vital to the security of the US. I don't mean that preventing access creates security. I mean that if the databases are corrupted, the ability of the government to respond to threats (human or natural) is diminished. So we can't just open the doors to the databases. Berners-Lee didn't predict the security concerns created by his World Wide Web and he grossly underestimates security in opening access to raw data. In his example of OSM, there was nothing to stop him from putting in the wrong information or even deleting the feature. Further, the shoestring budgets the USGS has been on for the past eight years has ensured that the USGS only has minimal capacity. The databases are multiple petabytes in size. We have backups of individual databases - but we can't create an entire separate copy of the database. Finally, the USGS is extremely sensitive to criticism. The past eight years have made it even hard to publish established science. People were getting fired for published good science just because it countered the President's policies. The people who are left at the USGS were able to work in that environment. The benefits of linked data are obvious. But how do we actually get there from here? The USGS should link data internally. Then we can look at security concerns to open the linkages. -Eric -=--=---=----=----=---=--=-=--=---=----=---=--=-=- Eric B. Wolf 720-209-6818 USGS Geographer Center of Excellence in GIScience PhD Student CU-Boulder - Geography On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 8:38 AM, Paul Harwood <[email protected]> wrote: > http://tinyurl.com/bxua4r > Appropriate to the recent data disclosure discussions... > > Kind regards > Paul Harwood > .tel: http://telreg.vip.tel > +44(0)78 25 25 43 25 > [email protected] > http://TelReg.com - .tel Domain Registration Specialists > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This email and its attachments may be confidential. If you have received > this email in error, > please delete it immediately. For more information please > see http://telreg.com/email-terms/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > _______________________________________________ > Geowanking mailing list > [email protected] > http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org > > _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org Warning: Information provided via electronic media is not guaranteed against defects including translation and transmission errors. If the reader is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately. _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
