A just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision
We’ll be clean when their work is done
We’ll be eternally free, yes, and eternally young
— I.G.Y. by Steely Dan
Back in 1957, the International Geophysical Year (IGY) was launched along with Sputnik and the world reached for the stars. More importantly, the simultaneous public interest in science and technologies generated since form the very crux of our modern existence. We have come a long way, but where to go now and how? A fundamental fact to understand about science is Data Over Theory – theories come and go, the data remain unchanged. As we fly into the 2000s with the help of the tools of the last half-century, how do we treat the vast amounts of data created and share findings with other scientists and the public in an accessible and intuitive manner? Information archival and sharing is no trivial matter; in its absence, science loses its edge and relevance.
Fifty years since IGY, 120 countries now collaborate in a series of years, one of which is the Electronic Geophysical Year (eGY). The Society of Exploration Geophysicists heartily embraces the recognition and opportunities for data stewardship provided by the eGY in a special section of The Leading Edge‘s October 2007 issue.
In the Earth and space sciences, as in other disciplines, ready and open access to the vast and growing collections of cross-disciplinary digital information is the key to understanding and responding to complex Earth and space system phenomena that influence human survival. We have a shared responsibility to create and implement strategies to realize the full potential of digital information and services for present and future generations.
Two developments have brought us to the threshold of a new revolution in our understanding of Earth and space science. First, our ability to collect data has increased dramatically, with pervasive networks of observational stations on the ground, in the oceans, in the atmosphere, and in space. This “wiring” of the planet is, in part, a legacy of the IGY, a time when a global network of observatories and the World Data Centers were established. As a result, today, petabytes of data about our planet are collected daily”data that are critical for our understanding of our planet and how it is changing. Second, modern digital communications and information management provide an unprecedented ability to access and share information and processing capability.
eGY could not have come at a better time when the public’s interest in science wanes and American students score poorly in mathematics and science and choose scientific careers less often. The ivory-towering of science as well as our government’s sheer disregard for the public’s educational wellbeing are equally to blame. In this vacuum, the burden then rests on the scientific community, whether in academia or industry, to come together and address our failings. It is then my hope that we render science more fun and more sophisticated, e.g. in “virtual observatories” mentioned in the aforementioned article.
Data for the nonscientist needs context and constraint. In order for data to be accessible to the general public, the virtual observatories need to provide supporting information that defines the data for the user, as well as a limited set of choices to keep the user from being overwhelmed … Virtual observatories can only do what they are designed to do, and most are designed to service the scientific community, not the general public. And yet, it is increasingly the case that the general public wants access to these data. Many virtual observatories have heard this message and have developed solutions that allow access to their data by a broader audience.
Open source and fair use are also very important philosophies in this discussion. Scientific data and methods ought to be readily shared with schools and colleges, along with pathways to careers in science. While technologies invented in high-powered labs and companies are immediately directed towards intellectual property lawyers, it may be more prudent for a timely release of these materials under fair use guidelines for the true benefit of humankind. Scientific societies steering away from big publishing houses, which exist merely to make money for themselves, and self-publishing is also a good start. One example of data/papers/software/methods sharing is the Stanford Exploration Project from which I have learned quite a bit of geophysics and wasn’t required to reinvent some code because it was only a quick Google search away.
My first foray into science was at the age of three, when I created fire and various noxious chemicals on my brother’s chemistry set (and my parents, in their infinite wisdom, didn’t stop me). While the government tries to put the lid on all such fun, other avenues for questioning and discovery are paved daily. So, this winter, give IRIS, the National Virtual Observatory, the Virtual Solar Observatory or the eGY demonstrations a whirl. Start breaking the scientific divide by asking questions of the scientists there and, when stumped, request them to consider tools that will help you and your children use the scientific Internet for what it was originally intended – reliable and relevant information at your fingertips. VatulBlog will help further this cause by showcasing methods of archival, sharing, data interpretation and visualization and related projects.
If anything, marking this year reminds us that the aims of science are very human: to learn, to grow, to teach and to help keep wonder alive. Happy eGY!
I have to wonder if the slippage of scientific education is the fault, in part, of the triumph of science and techonology. I am a IGY baby, born in 1957. I watched the transition from tubes to transistors, the roll out of color television and mass consumer electronics. There was a sense of excitement, that every day there would be something new: a new discovery about the universe, a technology that seemed at the time almost transcendent. (I can still call up the audio track that went with NBC’s “In Living Color” graphic).
Kids today have no sense of wonder. It’s all there. Innovation is a new shape and color of Ipod. Also, the pervasiveness of technology leads to everyone being a consumer of science and technology. I had a chemsitry set and a microscope. I tell my kids about my microscope when they cover that unit in introductory science, and they look at me like I was nuts when I suggested that at the time, it was fun. They don’t want to do these things. They have too many passive activities. When I was bored I took apart radios, traced the tones generated by radio circuit boards with the earpiece of my father’s old crystal radio (saved from his own boyhood). I built simple circuits radio shack used to sell in red plastic boxes, because sometimes, well, we were bored. It was raining, and there were no friends around. We had no cable television, no consoles. We had to do something, and sometimes in the context of the 1960s mucking about with technology or even science seemed like an interesting thing to do. No more. We are creating a generation who may be unable to sustain the technological society they live in because that technological society makes it so damned easy. I’m not sure how to get out of this particular cul de sac, but something more exciting in science education that what my kids have typically gotten needs to be offered. There needs to be some way to make science or even technology (say, learning to read an electronic schematic) an appealing thing to do.
Somehow science needs to be as y as working for Apple.
Loki, Alexis and I were just talking about this tonight, that it was the technology spurred by that time that has contributed to our current attention deficit.
Loki and my husband were both born in the 60s, definitely immediate products of the IGY generation. They grew up making radios, understanding how rockets work, learning to take apart car engines and tinkering with circuit boards. Though born in the 70s, it was out of sheer luck I did so in a country with two TV channels and an older brother who read book after book and was a science nerd as well.
Somewhere between the late 70s and now, an explosion of complacency took place alongside (or as a result of) the right to enjoy the fruits of scientific labor. Parents and teachers alike found it unnecessary to demand learning and innovation of their kids because their own lives were made easier that they couldn’t imagine what more could come from further research and development. We need another really exciting frontier like space (going BACK to space and well, maybe?) that will get the nation back on track and excited like your generation was growing up. What will that be?