UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies

The STS Seminar is the department's lecture series for exploring themes relevant to science and technology studies, and our many contributing disciplines. These normally are held Monday afternoons, fortnightly during the teaching terms.

Life in the Digital Age

The Impact of Open Data and Data-Sharing Technologies on Biological Research

Sabina Leonelli , Centre for Genomics and Society (Egenis), Exeter

Abstract

The so-called ‘data deluge’, caused by the overwhelming quantity of information available to scientists through new technologies for the production, storage and dissemination of data, keeps making headlines. Online databases and data mining tools are gaining authority as the best ways not only to disseminate data, but also to understand their scientific significance – in other words, to transform data into knowledge. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Microsoft researchers have taken the lead in dubbing data-intensive approaches as a brand new paradigm in the history of science. Equally unsurprising is the position of scholars in the history, philosophy and social studies of science, who are taking a more cautious stand on both the novelty and the revolutionary potential of these developments. This talk examines some implications of this shift in research practices within the biological and biomedical sciences. Are we witnessing the rise of a new scientific epistemology, centred upon data-intensive research methods? And what opportunities and dangers are associated to it? This talk will consider these questions from a philosophical perspective informed by empirical studies of data curation in model organism biology and plant science, as well as involvement in policy discussions of Open Science and ‘intelligent’ data dissemination.

Please note: room change. We are not in 24 Gordon Square, room 105. We are in Roberts Building 106 (map)