[Esip-preserve] Stewardship Best Practices

[Lynnes, Christopher S. (GSFC-6102)]

On Oct 6, 2010, at 7:25 AM, Curt Tilmes wrote:

> Looking over this a bit:
> 
> http://wiki.esipfed.org/index.php/Interagency_Data_Stewardship/Principles
> 
> Here are some, perhaps controversial, proposals for addition:
> 
> Data Creators:
> 
> will release all software used in the processing of data used in
> scientific research. Even if the rights to use that software are
> restricted it should at least be available for inspection.

You mean the source code here, right?

While I applaud the intent, I can say (from personal experience) that navigating the legal / procedural labyrinth for any source code release is so time-consuming that this is currently impractical in many cases.  

To really make this workable, it would be helpful to get some kind of agency-level exemption to some of the standard release requirements for science processing code. A process similar to the NASA Document Availability Authorization would be more workable.

I wonder, is this as much an issue in the other agencies, like NOAA, USGS and EPA?
--
Dr. Christopher Lynnes    NASA/GSFC, Code 610.2, Greenbelt, MD 20771
Phone: 301-614-5185