[sc-announce] Nature on Big Data -- Science Commons blog

Donna Wentworth dwentworth at creativecommons.org
Tue Sep 9 10:30:23 EDT 2008


*Nature* on Big
Data<http://sciencecommons.org/weblog/archives/2008/09/09/nature-on-big-data/>
September
9th, 2008

There's plenty to recommend in *Nature*'s special issue on Big
Data<http://www.nature.com/news/specials/bigdata/index.html>(Sept. 3),
but readers of this blog might especially appreciate
*The future of biocuration*<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7209/full/455047a.html>
.

Here's a glimpse:

Biology, like most scientific disciplines, is in an era of accelerated
information accrual and scientists increasingly depend on the availability
of each others' data. Large-scale sequencing centres, high-throughput
analytical facilities and individual laboratories produce vast amounts of
data such as nucleotide and protein sequences, protein crystal structures,
gene-expression measurements, protein and genetic interactions and phenotype
studies. By July 2008, more than 18 million articles had been indexed in
PubMed and nucleotide sequences from more than 260,000 organisms had been
submitted to GenBank1,
<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7209/full/455047a.html#B1>2<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7209/full/455047a.html#B2>.
The recently announced project to sequence 1,000 human genomes in three
years to reveal DNA polymorphisms (http://www.1000genomes.org) is a tip of
the data iceberg.

Such data, produced at great effort and expense, are only as useful as
researchers' ability to locate, integrate and access them.

Indeed.

If you're interested in exploring further, here are a few pointers to other
relevant pieces (but be aware that the articles may only be available in
full for a limited time):

   - *Community cleverness
required*<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7209/full/455001a.html>(editorial)
— "Researchers need to adapt their institutions and practices in
   response to torrents of new data — and need to complement smart science with
   smart searching."
   - *The next Google*<http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080903/full/455008a.html>(special
report) — "Ten years ago this month, Google's first employee turned
   up at the garage where the search engine was originally housed. What
   technology at a similar early stage today will have changed our world as
   much by 2018?"
   - *Welcome to the
petacentre<http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080903/full/455016a.html>
   * (feature) — "What does it take to store bytes by the tens of thousands
   of trillions? Cory Doctorow meets the people and machines for which it's all
   in a day's work."
   - *Wikiomics*
<http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080903/full/455022a.html>(feature) –
"Pioneering biologists are trying to use wiki-type web pages to
   manage and interpret data, reports Mitch Waldrop. But will the wider
   research community go along with the experiment?"
   - *How does your data
grow?<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7209/full/455028a.html>
   * (commentary) — "Scientists need to ensure that their results will be
   managed for the long haul. Maintaining data takes big organization, says
   Clifford Lynch."
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