| Abstract |
We propose a conceptual format that forms the basis of a truly new way of
publishing science. In our proposal, all scientific communication objects
(including experimental workflows, direct results, email conversations, and
all drafted and published information artifacts) are labeled and stored in
a great, big, distributed data store (or many distributed data stores, that
are all connected). Each item has a set of metadata attached to it, which
includes (at least) the person and time it was created, the type of object
it is, and the status of the object including intellectual property rights
and ownership. Every researcher can (and must) deposit every knowledge item
that is produced in the lab into this repository. With this deposition
goes an essential metadata component that states who has the rights to see,
use, distribute, buy or sell this item.
There are two things needed to make this vision a reality: first, the
development of an exact, rich, future-proof set of metadata tags, which are
versatile enough to handle all the tasks described above, but not so
enormous that the system or the user are bogged down by them. Secondly,
tools need to be developed that allow the efficient storage, markup,
linking and retrieval of the multifarious data items that are to be added.
Both of these are close to being available. |