[Go-essp-tech] BioTorrents

[Steve Hankin]

2 philosophical cents (well, really a rant, I'll admit):

A remarkable number of the best, easiest, and most powerful ideas are 
pushed off of our table by a perceived requirement that access to data 
be restricted.  Elements of this are inevitable.  Still  I believe that 
we should find much better ways as a data technology community 
(including our own ESG project) to allow the superior technology options 
that become available through open access to shine. 

At the org-chart level there is a broken system of checks-and-balances.  
The requirements for restricted access are imposed down the line in the 
org chart, without any mechanism for push-back -- for explaining to 
those who impose the restrictions what unintended price is being paid by 
doing so.  While the org chart relationships tie our hands, the Web as a 
visible showcase for good ideas can provide the missing force of 
balance.  We are seeing just this as we weigh BioTorrents against our 
own solutions.

I wonder if we shouldn't be promoting the (superior) technologies that 
become available with open access in parallel with the (costly and 
permanently slower to evolve) secure federated approaches.  Clearly 
access-restricted datasets could not be hosted on the open systems.  But 
that absence would be precisely the loss that makes the technology cost 
of restricted access visible.   Building dual-access systems would be an 
imperfect solution to an imperfect social equation.   But it would allow 
us to contribute to long-term improvements in dysfunctional policies at 
the same time that we explore (fun) new technologies.

    - Steve

=========================================

Alex Sim wrote:
> If we can resolve authorization aspects on the datasets with torrents,
> we can probably support torrents technology in the future.  all data
> access is open in this torrents and most others too.
>
> -- Alex
>
>
> On 4/20/10 8:40 AM, V. Balaji wrote:
>   
>> http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0010071
>>
>> It's a great pity we aren't using torrent technology in our field...
>>   
>>     
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-- 
Steve Hankin, NOAA/PMEL -- Steven.C.Hankin at noaa.gov
7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115-0070
ph. (206) 526-6080, FAX (206) 526-6744

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men
to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke

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