The government is moving toward requiring open access to the results of federally-funded research and this Champions of Change program highlights some of the excellent work being done around open data in a variety of disciplines. Open data in archaeology (as in most of the humanities / social sciences) is still very much in its infancy. This kind of recognition will help draw attention to data sharing efforts. We are delighted to see open science, open data, and open access at the top of the agenda.
While the majority of the 13 Champions of Change in Open Science were from biomedicine, Eric and one other (Will Noel of the Walters Manuscript Collection) represented the humanities. Eric was also the only “Alt-Ac” (alternative academic) honored, as the majority of other honorees hold traditional academic or corporate positions. There is a growing global community of these Alt-Acs, who combine domain and computing expertise and are doing interesting research outside traditional Ivory Tower faculty career paths.
More information about the Champions of Change in Open Science can be found at the following links: