The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy seeks recommendations for ensuring long-term and broad public access to unclassified digital data resulting from federally-funded scientific research, according to a request for information posted to the Federal Register Nov. 3.

The notice says the public comments will inform digital data policy and standards, to be drafted by the National Science and Technology Council's Interagency Working Group on Digital Data. The working group's findings will be issued as agency policy recommendations in an OSTP report to Congress, as required under the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010.

OSTP requests information based on nine questions around preservation, discoverability and access; and asks four questions on standards for interoperability, reuse and repurposing of data. Among the four reuse and interoperability questions, is an inquiry on data sharing beyond U.S. scientific communities. OSTP asks how agencies can effectively coordinate digital data standards with other nations and international communities.

Whatever digital data policies emerge from OSTP's efforts, the RFI does state that increased accountability and access to digital data must also follow statutory requirements and "best practices for protecting confidentiality, personal privacy, proprietary interests, intellectual property rights, author attribution, and for ensuring that homeland and national security interests are not compromised."

This consideration is highlighted in the RFI, with the question: "What specific steps can be taken to protect the intellectual property interests of publishers, scientists, federal agencies and other stakeholders"?

OSTP says it is specifically seeking information from non-federal stakeholders, such as universities, publishers, scientists and libraries. Comments are due to OSTP by Jan. 12, 2012 and should be submitted electronically to digitaldata@ostp.gov.

For more:
- see the RFI posted to the Federal Register

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