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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #209178
Title: Building a community modeling and information sharing culture

Author
item VOINOFF, ALEXEY - UNIV OF VERMONT
item Daues, John
item HOOD, RALEIGH - HPL/UMCES

Submitted to: Environmental Modeling International Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2006
Publication Date: 7/8/2006
Citation: Voinoff, A., Daues, J.D., Hood, R. 2006. Building a community modeling and information sharing culture. In: Environmental Modeling International Conference Proceedings. 3rd Biennial Meeting of the International Environmental Modeling and Software Society (IEMSS), July 9-13, 2006, Burlington, Vermont. p. W13b.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Free and open exchange of information in research endeavors is beneficial and can lead to much more rapid advances and important discoveries that might otherwise take much longer to achieve. Nevertheless, exchange of information is still restricted by patent law, as well as by institutional, cultural and traditional hurdles that create protective barriers hindering the free flow of this valuable commodity. We believe that one of the greatest challenges we face in creating a new open research paradigm will be building the community modeling and information sharing culture. How do we get engineers and scientists to put aside their traditional modes of doing business that discourage free and open exchange of data and ideas? How do we provide the incentives that will be required to make these changes happen? How do we get our colleagues to see that the benefits of sharing resources far outweigh the costs? We argue that timely sharing of data and information is not only in the best interest of the research community, but that it is also in the best interest of the scientist who is doing the sharing.