Open Data

Defining Open Data

Open data is data that can be freely used, re-used and redistributed by anyone – subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and sharealike. (Open Definition) 

There are both technical and legal aspects to open data, meaning that 1) the data should be accessible, complete and the formats should be open, machine readable, and interoperable and 2) the data should be licensed in a manner that is compatible with the open data definition. (Adapted from the SPARC Open Data Factsheet)

Open vs Public Access

Open data is often used along with terms like data sharing, public access, and data repositories. Let’s define how those terms differ and overlap.

Data sharing is a broad umbrella term for the scholarly sharing of data between researchers and can mean,

1. collaborative sharing within a research project,
2. the sharing of research data openly or publicly.

Public access to research data is typically used within the context of federal funding public access requirements. These mandates require that the data underlying publications which stem from publicly funded projects be made available to the public for free or at nominal cost. This is typically done through a data repository or other approved infrastructure. 

Data repositories are a common mechanism for making data accessible and available. Essentially, repositories are an archive for research data that assume long-term stewardship of deposited data, makes the data available and discoverable, and conforms to best practices.

• Note: what constitutes an acceptable repository may vary by publisher or funder policies.

Data that is shared or publicly available may also fit the definition of open data, but not always. Some data may be too sensitive to be made openly available and instead be available at request or through mediated access in a repository. 

UW-Madison Resources for Open Data

Below is a list of resources at UW-Madison that can help you share your data openly. 

Research Data Services (RDS) is a campus-wide organization that provides the UW-Madison research community with the tools and resources to store, analyze and share data. We provide research data management consultations, training, and support in an effort to improve reproducibility across the research life cycle and to adequately describe data (metadata) for sharing, discoverability and reuse

MINDS@UW is UW-Madison’s institutional repository, providing long-term preservation and access to the creative and scholarly output of the University of Wisconsin. MINDS@UW is open access; items deposited in MINDS@UW are publicly available for download and use. UW-Madison faculty, staff, and students are welcomed to deposit research materials including  articles, monographs, technical reports, conference papers and presentations, datasets, audio, images and videos.

Dryad is an open-access data repository where you can publish and publicly share your research data. It was started by a community of researchers and is used by researchers worldwide to meet funder and publisher mandates for data publication. UW-Madison’s membership with Dryad, which was pursued in partnership between the Libraries and DoIT, allows for free depositing for UW-Madison researchers.