Open Source and Automated Science
E146 | Sat 15 Jul 3 p.m.–4 p.m.
Presented by
-
G. Sayeed Choudhury is the Director of the Open Source Programs Office (OSPO) at Carnegie Mellon Libraries. He is a Co-Investigator for the Black Beyond Data Project. Previously, he was Associate Dean for Digital Infrastructure, Applications, and Services and Hodson Director of the Digital Research and Curation Center at the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Choudhury led the JHU Library team that supported the Covid-19 dashboard. He launched the JHU's open source programs office (OSPO), the first of its kind within a US university. Choudhury was a President Obama appointee to the National Museum and Library Services Board. He was a member of the National Academies Committee on Forecasting Costs for Preserving, Archiving, and Promoting Access to Biomedical Data and a member of the National Academies Board on Research Data and Information. He was also a member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access. He has testified for the Research Subcommittee of the Congressional Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
Abstract
Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) CloudLab (https://cloudlab.cmu.edu/) is an example of the growing movement toward automated science -- the "practice of scientific research without the need for significant human intervention" (https://cbd.cmu.edu/about-us/what-is-automated-science.html). This recent piece in Science describes another automated science facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory focused on "recipes" for materials used in batteries. In some cases, these facilities are built for start-up or private companies that explicitly do not want to share their trade secrets, proprietary information, etc. The opportunity at hand with CMU's CloudLab is redesigning and re-engineering the workflows to be more open and conducive for cooperation within and perhaps beyond the walls of a university. Working with the originators and CMU leadership of CloudLab, the CMU OSPO has identified important questions regarding this redesign and re-engineering process including the different types of artifacts with varying degrees of possible IP issues, workflows connecting software and hardware artifacts, and questions regarding interoperability with external systems. Perhaps most interestingly, this work affirms a phrase stated by Josh Greenberg from the Sloan Foundation regarding "rolling wall of openness" rather than a binary view of open or closed with the prospects of embargoes in a new context. This talk will outline these issues and proposed approaches for addressing them with an objective of engaging the broader community who will eventually encounter similar issues at various institutions including universities.
Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) CloudLab (https://cloudlab.cmu.edu/) is an example of the growing movement toward automated science -- the "practice of scientific research without the need for significant human intervention" (https://cbd.cmu.edu/about-us/what-is-automated-science.html). This recent piece in Science describes another automated science facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory focused on "recipes" for materials used in batteries. In some cases, these facilities are built for start-up or private companies that explicitly do not want to share their trade secrets, proprietary information, etc. The opportunity at hand with CMU's CloudLab is redesigning and re-engineering the workflows to be more open and conducive for cooperation within and perhaps beyond the walls of a university. Working with the originators and CMU leadership of CloudLab, the CMU OSPO has identified important questions regarding this redesign and re-engineering process including the different types of artifacts with varying degrees of possible IP issues, workflows connecting software and hardware artifacts, and questions regarding interoperability with external systems. Perhaps most interestingly, this work affirms a phrase stated by Josh Greenberg from the Sloan Foundation regarding "rolling wall of openness" rather than a binary view of open or closed with the prospects of embargoes in a new context. This talk will outline these issues and proposed approaches for addressing them with an objective of engaging the broader community who will eventually encounter similar issues at various institutions including universities.