Using principles of Open Science for transparent, repeatable State of Environment reporting
Presentation Abstract
Open Science is a burgeoning movement to make scientific research accessible to all members of society. It involves making the ingredients of the scientific process, the data and the analytical methods, available such that they can be replicated and scrutinized to ensure accuracy and validity of results. State of Environment (SoE) reporting, while not strictly a scientific endeavour, follows a similar process to scientific research: We collect data from various sources, clean and process the data, perform analyses, and summarise and present the results. Traditionally (in both research and SoE reporting), only the final summarized results are be presented, along with a description of the methods, and an implicit message of "trust us, we're the experts/government". Following the Open Science philosophy, Environmental Reporting BC is now making available the raw digital ingredients for the environmental indicators we produce: the data, and the code we write to analyze the data. With these raw ingredients accessible, along with free and open source software, anybody can inspect and replicate our work. This not only increases trust in reporting products, it also means our work benefits from the "many eyes" phenomenon - it encourages open and cooperative dialogue on data and methods. This approach delivers internal efficiencies as well, enhancing our ability to quickly and reliably update indicators, and facilitates collaboration with other organizations and jurisdictions doing similar work. I will discuss the tools and workflows used to produce and communicate environmental indicators in an open and repeatable way, and the benefits and challenges to implementing such an approach.
Session Title
Softening Borders through Information Exchange: Monitoring and Indicator- Efforts Within and Across Boundaries in the Salish Sea
Conference Track
Policy and Management
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2016 12:00 AM
End Date
2016 12:00 AM
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Environmental sciences--Research; Reproducible research
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Using principles of Open Science for transparent, repeatable State of Environment reporting
2016SSEC
Open Science is a burgeoning movement to make scientific research accessible to all members of society. It involves making the ingredients of the scientific process, the data and the analytical methods, available such that they can be replicated and scrutinized to ensure accuracy and validity of results. State of Environment (SoE) reporting, while not strictly a scientific endeavour, follows a similar process to scientific research: We collect data from various sources, clean and process the data, perform analyses, and summarise and present the results. Traditionally (in both research and SoE reporting), only the final summarized results are be presented, along with a description of the methods, and an implicit message of "trust us, we're the experts/government". Following the Open Science philosophy, Environmental Reporting BC is now making available the raw digital ingredients for the environmental indicators we produce: the data, and the code we write to analyze the data. With these raw ingredients accessible, along with free and open source software, anybody can inspect and replicate our work. This not only increases trust in reporting products, it also means our work benefits from the "many eyes" phenomenon - it encourages open and cooperative dialogue on data and methods. This approach delivers internal efficiencies as well, enhancing our ability to quickly and reliably update indicators, and facilitates collaboration with other organizations and jurisdictions doing similar work. I will discuss the tools and workflows used to produce and communicate environmental indicators in an open and repeatable way, and the benefits and challenges to implementing such an approach.
Comments
My colleague Stephanie Hazlitt is submitting an abstract on a related topic in this session. If possible, it would be ideal if my presentation would follow hers. Thank you very much.