title: Challenges and opportunities of open data in ecology.
abstract: Ecology is a synthetic discipline benefiting from open access to data from the earth, life, and social sciences. Technological challenges exist, however, due to the dispersed and heterogeneous nature of these data. Standardization of methods and development of robust metadata can increase data access but are not sufficient. Reproducibility of analyses is also important, and executable workflows are addressing this issue by capturing data provenance. Sociological challenges, including inadequate rewards for sharing data, must also be resolved. The establishment of well-curated, federated data repositories will provide a means to preserve data while promoting attribution and acknowledgement of its use.
authors.affiliation: National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, 735 State Street, Suite 300, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA. ojreichman@gmail.com
authors.forename: O J
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Reichman
authors.forename: Matthew B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Mark P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Schildhauer
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information; D003625:Data Collection; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004463:Ecology; D033181:Information Dissemination; D019451:Information Management; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D007256:Information Systems; D020407:Internet