Harnessing the Power of Digital Data for Science and Society

This report provides a strategy to ensure that digital scientific data can be reliably preserved for maximum use in catalyzing progress in science and society. Empowered by an array of new digital technologies, science in the 21st century will be conducted in a fully digital world. In this world, the power of digital information to catalyze progress is limited only by the power of the human mind. Data are not consumed by the ideas and innovations they spark but are an endless fuel for creativity. A few bits, well found, can drive a giant leap of creativity. The power of a data set is amplified by ingenuity through applications unimagined by the authors and distant from the original field. Key characteristics of the current digital data landscape are 1 the products of science and the starting point for new research are increasingly digital and increasingly born-digital 2 exploding volumes and rising demand for data use are driven by the rapid pace of digital technology innovations 3 all sectors of society are stakeholders in digital preservation and access and 4 a comprehensive framework for cooperation and coordination to manage the risks to preservation of digital data is missing.