These slides are from a talk given at LIBER's 42nd annual conference by Carlos Morais Pires of the European Commission. In light of the current data deluge, and plans by the European Commission to harness this deluge through the implementation of e-infrastructures for data driven science under Horizon 2020, Pires issued a call to action to libraries to engage in the data infrastructure and bring their own unique, and now much needed competencies, to bear in bringing meaning to, and spreading the word about, data-driven science.

1. enabling data-intensive science
through data infrastructures
LIBER 42nd
Annual Conference
München, 27 June 2013
Carlos Morais Pires
European Commission
e-Infrastructures, DG CNECT.C1
Author’s views do not commit the European Commission

2. summary
• engineers and librarians… all about communicating information
• data as infrastructure: Europe is "Riding the Wave"
• interoperable data infrastructure
• balancing community driven and service driven initiatives
• H2020 WP under construction (pending “trilogue” decisions)
• times of change & “influence the future”

3. engineers…
The number pi (symbol: π) /pa / is a mathematical constant thatɪ
is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, and is
approximately equal to 3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433
83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58…
in http://en.wikipedia.org/
22 divided by 7 = 3,1428571428571428571428571428571

4. it’s all about bits…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_%28information_theory%29#Definition
In information theory, entropy is a measure of the uncertainty in a
random variable.
In this context, the term usually refers to the Shannon entropy,
which quantifies the expected value of the information contained in a
message.
Entropy is typically measured in bits.
Shannon entropy is the average unpredictability in a random variable,
which is equivalent to its information content. The concept was
introduced by Claude E. Shannon in his 1948 paper "A
Mathematical Theory of Communication"…

5. it’s all about communicating information…

6. Policy context
A Reinforced European Research Area
Partnership for Excellence and Growth,
COM(2012) 392 – July 2012
Towards better access to scientific
information: boosting the benefits of
public investments in research, COM(2012)
401 final - July2012
Commission, Recommendation on access
and preservation of scientific information,
C(2012) 4890 final – July 2012

7. data as infrastructure: Europe is Riding the Wave
The High Level Expert Group on Scientific Data
presented Riding the Wave in October 2010
Vision: "data e-infrastructure that supports
seamless access, use, re-use, and trust of data.
In a sense, the physical and technical
infrastructure becomes invisible and the data
themselves become the infrastructure a
valuable asset on which science, technology,
the economy and society can advance".

8. useful definitions
Data: digital recorded factual material commonly
accepted in the scientific community as necessary to
validate research findings
(not include lab notebooks, preliminary analysis, drafts
of scientific papers, plans for future research, peer
review reports, communication with peers, physical
objects, lab specimens)
[c.f. White House Memo on "Increasing Access to the Results
of Federally Funded Scientific Research"]
Data infrastructures: services, applications, tools,
knowledge and policies for research data to be
discoverable, understandable, accessible, preserved
and curated… and available 24/7

9. implementing interoperable data infrastructure
(a)data generators; research projects,
big research infrastructure,
installations or medium size
laboratories, simulation centres,
surveys or individual researchers
(b)discipline-specific data service
providers, providing data and
workflows as a service
(c)providers of generic common data
services (computing centres,
libraries)
(d)researchers as users, using the
data for science and engineering
community driven data infrastructure,
including ESFRI, ESFRI clusters and others

10. network infrastructure, GÉANT
distributed computing/software infrastructure
scientific data infrastructure
data infrastructure:
bridging islands
bridges

11. consultation towards horizon2020

12. consultation towards horizon2020

13. What
Relevance, Strengths, Weaknesses
Propose additional areas of actions
How many
80+ replies from 100+ organisations
Who
Research organisations and associations, universities,…
LERU, LIBER, CNRS, COAR, EIROforum,, OpenAIRE, CERN, APA, Volker Mehrmann
TU Berlin, European Bioinformatics Institute, Max Planck Society, Observatoire
Astronomique de Strasbourg, Museum f. Naturkunde Berlin, Pensoft Publishers,
University of Edinburgh, University of Göttingen, University of Florence, etc.
about the public consultation

14. overall opinion

15. responses…
involvement of all stakeholders
across the fiches
relevance of long tail,
universities have important role
preservation and access are
related
look at areas that are less
developed in IT
skills development
workflows for interaction
researcher/data centres
match research and education

16. H2020 workprogramme being prepared
please note that things may change as result of the “trilogue”
H2020 Research Infrastructure: ensure that Europe has
world-class research infrastructures, including e-
infrastructures, accessible to all researchers in Europe and
beyond.
It is a key area of H2020 Excellence in Science priority.
e-infrastructures will make every European researcher
digital.
5 challenges: (1) High Performance Computing, (2)
Connectivity, (3) Data, (4) e-Infrastructure Integration and
(5) Policy and International.

17. H2020 workprogramme… (current version)
• Community data services
• Managing, preserving and computing with big research data
• E-Infrastructure for Open Access
• Towards global data e-Infrastructures (support RDA)
• e-Infrastructures for virtual research environments (VRE)
• Integration of Core and Basic Operations Services for e-Infrastructures
• Skills and professions for e-infrastructures
• Centres of Excellence for computing applications
• PRACE
• Network of Competence Centres for SMEs
• GEANT
These lines are related with
the content of the
Framework for Action

18. Research Data Alliance:
Common Infrastructure, Policy and Practice
Drives Data Sharing and Exchange throughout the Data Life Cycle
http://rd-alliance.org
From Prof. Fran Berman and Prof. John Wood, Members of the RDA Council

19. the conference to shape the future…
Re-inventing the Library for the Future
Libraries and why we need them
The revolution in Open Science
Preparedness for digital preservation
New horizons for OA policies in Europe
Ten recommendations on Data Management
What challenges for libraries to adapt to the new Era
The future of Science Publishing Ego-System
Converging parallel universes
Developing Data Informatics Capability in Libraries
Etc.

20. “The Times They Are A-Changin…”
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Bob Dylan

21. back to engineering:
looking at “change” and “amplitude modulation”

22. Thank You!
Carlos Morais Pires
carlos.morais-pires[at]ec.europa.eu
@CarlosMPires