This document discusses the need to move away from solely relying on "trusted sources" for scientific data and instead adopt a model based on transparency and provenance. It provides examples of projects that aim to make chemical data like melting points more open and transparent by curating data from various sources and recording experiments and findings in open notebooks. This allows inconsistencies and outliers in data to be identified and resolved over time through collaboration. The goal is to enable faster and better science through open sharing of data and methods.
Bradley SLA Talk on Open Melting Point Collections
1. New Forms of Scholarly Communication in Science The Role of Trust Special Libraries Association Jean-Claude Bradley Department of Chemistry Drexel University June 15, 2011
22. The quest to resolve the melting point of 4-benzyltoluene: liquid at room temp and can be frozen <-30C
23. The quest to resolve the melting point of 4-benzyltoluene: ambiguous results upon heating but clearly remains a liquid at -15 C for 2 days in freezer
24. Further investigation into the literature for the melting point of 4-benzyltoluene Although a general description of method is provided the raw data are not
25. Because of broken provenance errors cascade through the literature Calculations in patent based on incorrect data
26. Open Random Forest modeling of Open Melting Point data using CDK descriptors (Andrew Lang) R2 = 0.78, TPSA and nHdon most important
31. There are NO FACTS, only measurements embedded within assumptions Open Notebook Science maintains the integrity of data provenance by making assumptions explicit