I was doing some research into scientific cooperatives (more or less to find out if there were any near me), and came across the ICON project: ICON Science Cooperative | PNNL, which looks interesting. It doesn’t seem to be a cooperative in the sense I was thinking (i.e. like some kind of Mondragon for scientific workers), but rather an organization working to promote the adoption of open principles in science.
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Could you please elaborate a bit? What are the principles?
I just skimmed through the page you linked to, and this project seemed to set some grand, and perhaps not very realistic, aims, like “shift the paradigm of scientific culture.” I’m a bit worried that they are idealists using grand, obscure words that are difficult to translate into anything tangible.
Excuse me if I’m being too pessimistic—they may be better than they first seem.
I’m not very familiar with the project, however page 8 [here] (https://ess.science.energy.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Open_Watersheds_LR.pdf) has an outline:
- Integration of biological, chemical, and physical processes across scales.
- Coordinated use of consistent protocols across systems to generate specific data types needed to inform, develop, and improve models for applica- tion across systems.
- Open exchange of ideas and consistently struc- tured and usable data that are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) such that all are enabled to contribute and leverage resources.
- Networked efforts, whereby data generation and sample collection are done by the broader scientific community in a way that provides resources (e.g., data and sensors) to contributors that otherwise would be difficult or impossible for them to access.
I’m a bit worried that they are idealists using grand, obscure words that are difficult to translate into anything tangible.
Yes, I agree, a lot of times it’s difficult to parse what is actually being proposed/implemented with this sort of thing.