walt warnick, ph.d. director, office of scientific and technical information u.s. department of...

Walt Warnick, Ph.D.Director, Office of Scientific and Technical Information

U.S. Department of Energy

Accelerating the Spread of Knowledge About Sciennce and Technology

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OSTI MissionOSTI Mission

To advance science and sustain technological creativity by making R&D

findings available and useful to Department of Energy (DOE)

researchers and the American people

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OSTI CorollaryOSTI Corollary

Premise:Sharing knowledge (our R&D findings)advances science

Corollary:Accelerating the sharing of knowledge speeds the advancement of science (discovery)

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Advancing ScienceAdvancing Sciencefor 60 Yearsfor 60 Years

60-year anniversary

this year!

Whether by print or by pixel, OSTI has long

been committed to ensuring appropriate access to

research results

From 1947 to 2007 – from Nuclear Science Abstracts to the Science Accelerator – mission accomplished!

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Foundation – Collections Foundation – Collections

Collections, some now virtual, such as:

Scientific&Technical Information

Searching within databases

As technology has radically changed, the way OSTI accomplished its mission

has radically changed

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Harvesting and federated search are useful when full bibliographical control is not feasible

Two Major Advances BeyondTwo Major Advances BeyondSearching Within DatabasesSearching Within Databases

OSTI is on the cutting edge of both

HarvestingFederated Search

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HarvestingExample

Analogous to Google – crawls and mines data that does not reside in databases

but …

Different from Google – directed, selective crawling

Different than “harvesting” STI via E-link

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Federated Search1) Transforming a query and broadcasting it to a group of disparate databases

2) Merging the results collected from the databases

3) Presenting results in a succinct and unified format with minimal duplication,

4) Providing a means, performed either automatically or by the portal user, to sort the merged result set.

In traditional search engines, such as Google, only sources that have been indexed by the search engine’s crawler technology can be searched, retrieved and accessed. The large volume of documents housed in databases is not open to traditional Internet search engines because of limitations in crawler technology. Federated searching resolves this issue by the technique described above and makes these Deep Web documents searchable without having to visit each database individually.

Examples

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Federated SearchFederated SearchHarvestingHarvesting

OSTI ResourcesOSTI Resources

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Progression HighlightsProgression Highlights

1999: OSTI introduced federated search to the public on behalf of the government

1997: OSTI introduced first system searchable using software within the database – while not a federated search, having IB searchable online set stage for next step

2002—2007: Now in its fourth version, OSTI introduced federated search across government agencies, and introduced relevancy ranking in 2004

2007: Taking it international, a handshake in London dedicated to searching science worldwide


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DOE’s STI OfferingsDOE’s STI Offerings

A gateway to over 24,600 Web sites and databases worldwide, containing e-prints in basic and applied sciences

Reports of DOE-funded R&D Results

Science and technology conference proceedings and conference papers from a number of authoritative sites

Project summaries of ongoing or recently completed DOE research projects


Information about the outcomes of past DOE R&D that have had significant impact

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DOE-generated resources DOE-related resources

Soon to be added :* Patents Database* ESTSC


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DOE/OSTI STI products now searchable via a single query

www.scienceaccelerator.gov

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We’ve come a long way in the past decade –

From Information Bridge to the

Science Accelerator

And we have much ahead!

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The Web’s Impact on Accessing The Web’s Impact on Accessing Technical DocumentsTechnical Documents

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010,000,000

20,000,000

30,000,00040,000,000

50,000,00060,000,000

70,000,00080,000,000

90,000,000

FY07FY06FY05FY04FY03FY02FY01FY00FY99

Web TrafficWeb Traffic

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January2007

February2007

April2007

May2007

Science.worldstatement of

agreementsigned

Workshop onAcceleratingScience at

NAS

ScienceAccelerator

launch

PatentDatabaselaunch

A Strong Start in 2007A Strong Start in 2007

June2007

Science.worldproof of

principal

Google collaborationon IB reports

Internet Archive

CollaborationOn EPN

CrossRefcollaboration

On IB reference

linking

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Things LegislativeThings Legislative Elevation of Science in DOE – Established Under Secretary for Science

(part of Energy Policy Act of 2005) – Raymond Orbach in position for 1 year

• Energy Policy Act of 2005 reiterated earlier enabling legislation requirements

The Secretary, through OSTI, shall maintain within the Department publicly available collections of scientific and technical information resulting from research, development, demonstration, and commercial applications activities supported by DOE

DOE O 241.1A requires that DOE-funded STI (reports, conference papers, software, and journal articles) be provided to OSTI.

• Federal Research Public Access Act (Cornyn-Lieberman)• Would make mandatory the free electronic availability of

published journal articles on work sponsored by DOE and all science agencies

• Introduced in 2006; session ended before passage• Prospects for re-introduction in 2007 uncertain

Open access is gaining momentum worldwide, particularly in the European Union – bodes well for U.S. researcher access to foreign R&D results.

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Washington PerspectiveWashington Perspective

American Competitiveness Initiative American Competitiveness Initiative • Uses Laboratory and university infrastructure as foundation forUses Laboratory and university infrastructure as foundation for

advancing science and U.S. competitivenessadvancing science and U.S. competitiveness• DOE has opportunity to double Science budget by 2016 DOE has opportunity to double Science budget by 2016

Education as a Cornerstone to Maintain U.S. Pre-Eminence in Education as a Cornerstone to Maintain U.S. Pre-Eminence in ScienceScience

• Academic Competitiveness Council Academic Competitiveness Council • National Commission on the Future of Higher EducationNational Commission on the Future of Higher Education• National Academies’ “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” reportNational Academies’ “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” report• OSTI working with SC workforce development program to federate OSTI working with SC workforce development program to federate

searching across DOE's multiple science education sources searching across DOE's multiple science education sources and and databasesdatabases

Re-birth of Nuclear Energy Technology: Global Nuclear Energy Re-birth of Nuclear Energy Technology: Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP)Partnership (GNEP)

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IWGDDIWGDD National Science and Technology CouncilCommittee on ScienceInteragency Working Group on Digital Data

Purpose: to develop and promote the implementation of a strategic plan for the federal government to cultivate an open interoperable framework to ensure reliable preservation and effective access to digital data for research, development, and education in science, technology, and engineering

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IWGDD Policies Under IWGDD Policies Under ConsiderationConsideration

• Metadata – numeric data, unlike textual data, requires metadata to ensure access

• Not all data is worth preserving.

• Numeric databases need a curator

• Agencies should seek to harmonize practices regarding access, preservation and interoperability

• Numeric data are likely to be most effective when presented in the context of, or with links to, accompanying data (e.g., technical reports with which they are associated, publications, contracts under which the data were generated, etc.)

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We’re We’re AcceleratingAccelerating

OSTI is committed to accelerating the sharing of knowledge to accelerate discovery.

New initiatives are already under way to provide …

Superior Access to Quality Content!

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Workshop: AcceleratingWorkshop: AcceleratingScienceScience

June2007February 27, 2007

Convened a panel of experts at the National Academy of

Sciences

Conclusion: Superior Access to Quality Content

is key to accelerating science and technology

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January2007

February2007

April2007

May2007

Science.worldScience.world

June2007Demonstration in France

January 22, 2007 LONDON, ENGLAND

Global Science Gateway Agreement Signed in London DOE Partners With British Library on

“Science.world” Initiative "It is timely to make the science offerings of all nations searchable through one global gateway,” Dr. Orbach said. “Science is

international, and centralizing access will enhance the rate of scientific discovery. It is a privilege to be associated with such a

venture.” The agreement notes that international collaboration is essential to

revolutionary advances in science.

June 2007

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Google moves ahead with plan to open up federal

Web sites

Google is making strides on an initiative to make

information stored on public government Web sites

more accessible to people looking for it, but challenges

remain, officials with the search engine company said

Wednesday.

Three federal organizations recently agreed to

structure their sites to make them accessible for nearly

all Internet searches, the officials said.

Information on the Plain Language Web site aimed at

eliminating jargon in government communications, and

on sites by the Energy Department's Office of

Scientific and Technical Information and the

Education Department's National Center for Education

Statistics, has been opened up to the three most

popular search engines: Google, Yahoo and MSN.

OSTI & GoogleOSTI & Google April 4, 2007

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On Horizon

FederatedSearch of DOE

Education Resources

SBIR Research

Phase I

Science.world