The Science Council of Japan hosted the 2023 International Symposium on Data Science from Dec 11th to 15th in Tokyo, Japan. Overall it was a successful meeting addressing topics such as Challenges of data systems and networks, Open Science and the FAIR Principles, lessons learned from COVID-19 data, Recent developments in data science, Involvement of early career researchers and scientists, Asia-Oceania data forum, and GEO variables and data mapping for Cold Regions. The World Data System was involved as part of the International Advisory Committee, and also presented on its action plan, membership opportunities, polar community engagement, and early career activities.
The following are the major takeaways from the sessions:
- There are many strong existing national initiatives to improve discovery and delivery of data (e.g., AusScope, DataON, SRDA, NASSDA);
- Focus on PIDs as a way to make science more open and FAIR including specific initiatives from ORCID & DataCite;
- New approaches to epidemiology presented through wastewater and aerosol monitoring;
- Deployment of data and modelling technologies, platforms, and skills are key to sustained collaborations;
- Better understanding and involvement of data platforms in the Asia-Oceanic region, combined with establishment of a common data policy, is needed.
The conference concluded with a strategic discussion reflecting on the overall outcomes of the sessions, including how to better engage the Asia-Oceania region in World Data System initiatives and how to better bridge open data science gaps. Tools such as BigFlow and federated search are offering new ways of aggregating and delivering data from disparate sources in more general ways, and these could be leveraged in an international context. Finally, plans to better outline the regions next steps were initiated. The WDS Asia-Oceanic arm plans to meet in 2024 in China, while talks about the next DSWS are planned to align with International Data Week in 2025.
To learn more about the conference presentation please visit the entire program at: https://ds.rois.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Abstract_Booklet.pdf
The organizing committee is planning to launch the “Special Collection” in the Data Science Journal (https://datascience.codata.org/) as a special issue volume of the DSWS-2023 symposium. Expression Of Interest (EOI): Please input your Expression of Interest for the “Special Collection” to the following Google Form; Google Form; This EOI Form will be closed by 29 February 2024. Deadline of Article Submission: 31 July 2024.
Thank you to the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for the invitation to the International Advisory Committee and continued support of the WDS-ITO initiatives.