Happy Mathematics Awareness Monthby Kate Bannan 13 Apr, 2012 in Science Communications
“Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.” ~Albert Einstein As you prepare your taxes, keep in mind that April is Mathematics Awareness Month. This year’s theme is, “Mathematics, Statistics and the Data Deluge”. Mathematics is used throughout the world as an essential tool in many fields, including natural science, engineering, medicine and the social sciences. Large amounts of data are collected every day, and scientific data comes in massive amounts from supercomputers, sensor networks, astronomical instruments and other devices. These data need to be sorted out and understood in order to be useful. The White House recently released its Big Data Research and Development Initiative, and OSTI, was recognized as playing a "key role " in shaping the policies and technical implementation of the practice of data citation. Data citation enables efficient reuse and verification of data. OSTI not only ensures that DOE research is tracked, but that a scholarly structure is in place to reward data producers. OSTI recently implemented a Data Identification Service across the DOE complex through which Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are assigned to research datasets, and then registered with DataCite to establish persistence. This initiative makes DOE datasets findable in commercial search engines (e.g. Google) and through federated search portals for science such as the DOE portal ScienceAccelerator.gov, the U.S. gateway... Related Topics: mathematics, Science Accelerator, Science.gov, WorldWideScience.org (WWS) Read more... |
Making Scientific Databases Work Together—For You (psst . . . that's "search interoperability")by Dr. Walt Warnick 13 Feb, 2012 in Technology
Sometimes something complex can work so seamlessly that it’s easy to miss. We think that’s the case with our solution in achieving search interoperability. As you may know, “search interoperability” is just a fancy way of saying that lots of scientific databases scattered far and wide can be made to work together so that your job as a seeker of science information is easy. You can go to one search box, say Science.gov, type in your search term, and get results from over a hundred important repositories and a couple of thousand scientific websites – with one click. And you know that this is a good thing, because as a practical matter, you cannot be expected to conjure in advance which database might hold the information you seek. Nor can you be expected to search dozens of sources one-by-one. That would be an onerous task. Also, as an experienced seeker of quality science information, you are well aware that commercial search engines (read, Google, Bing, etc.) sometimes cannot mine the deep web for you, thus missing R&D results residing there (see Federated Search - The Wave of the Future?). So achieving search interoperability with OSTI’s federated search tools, such as Science.gov, WorldWideScience.org, and the E-print Network, has been an important development, though by no means easily accomplished. There are myriad obstacles that can block information exchanges between systems. (To learn more about the broad topic of interoperability and obstacles to exchanging information, see the Wikipedia article on interoperability.) Specific to our world of scientific and technical information, the challenge of interoperability basically stems from the simple fact... Related Topics: databases, E-Print Network (EPN), federation, interoperability, science, Science.gov, WorldWideScience.org (WWS) Read more... |
International Education Week 2011by Kate Bannan 17 Nov, 2011 in Science Communications International Education Weekwas first held in 2000; today it's celebrated annually in more than 100 countries worldwide. IEW is a joint initiative of the US Departments of Stateand Education, and is part of the federal government’s efforts to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn and exchange experiences in the United States. Science and technology have been and will continue to be engines of US economic growth and national security. Excellence in discovery and innovation in science and engineering and in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education will strengthen the US economy, increase the capacity of US research and sustain our nation’s leadership role in increasingly competitive international science. The Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) is the Department of Energy (DOE) office that collects, preserves and disseminates DOE-sponsored R&D results that are outcomes of R&D projects or other funded activities at DOE labs and facilities nationwide and grantees at universities and other institutions. OSTI believes that accelerating the sharing of scientific knowledge accelerates the advancement of science. OSTI ensures global access to DOE research results and brings the world’s research to DOE. OSTI’s databases are made available to the public free of charge via single-point-of-access web portals such as ScienceAccelerator.gov (R&D from DOE resources), Science.gov (U.S. science information from 14 federal agencies), and WorldWideScience.org (global science information from over 70 countries in ten... Related Topics: education, Science Accelerator, Science.gov, WorldWideScience.org (WWS) Read more... |
“The New Einsteins Will Be Scientists Who Share.”by Kate Bannan 01 Nov, 2011 in Science Communications
In an October 29, 2011 Wall Street Journal article, “The New Einsteins Will Be Scientists Who Share,” Dr. Michael Nielsenstated that networked science has the potential to speed up dramatically the rate of discovery across all of science, and that we may well see the day-to-day process of scientific research change more fundamentally over the next few decades than over the past three centuries. He also noted that there are major obstacles to achieving this goal, including the lack of a systematic effort by scientists to adopt new tools of discovery or to share data – because they are busy, they may believe it’s a diversion from their “real” work or because they may not be familiar with the means to do so easily. OSTI knows that the public and members of the scientific community may not be familiar with the multitude of different science databases. OSTI addresses and solves these considerable challenges by providing vehicles for obtaining targeted, precise information quickly and easily. We believe that shared knowledge is the enabler of scientific progress, and that accelerating the sharing of knowledge will accelerate discovery. To these ends, OSTI uses and extends modern communication technologies. Our databases are the largest national sources of energy and science R&D information in the world. OSTI resources include: Science Accelerator, a gateway to DOE research and development (R&D) projects and programs, descriptions of R&D projects underway or recently completed, major R&D accomplishments, and recent research of interest to DOE. The user can learn about ongoing research projects, explore significant DOE discoveries, learn about DOE Nobel Prize Winners, access and search scientific e-prints... Related Topics: Albert Einstein, information sharing, Science Accelerator, Science.gov, WorldWideScience.org (WWS) Read more... |
Halloween and Scienceby Kate Bannan 27 Oct, 2011 in Science Communications
Halloween is celebrated on October 31, and is one of the world’s oldest holidays. It has evolved into a celebration enjoyed by all ages, and includes fun activities like trick-or-treating, dressing up in costumes, carving jack-o'-lanterns, going to a bonfire, apple bobbing, visiting a haunted house and telling scary stories. Did you ever wonder why we sometimes enjoy being scared? Learn about the science of fear, find tips about staying safe and healthy on Halloween, learn about “vampire” appliances, download information on Halloween storms, do research on black cats or find fun activities to do at home or in school – all of this information (and more) is available for free on Science.gov Science.gov is made available to the public by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI). It searches over 50 databases and over 2100 selected websites from 14 federal agencies, offering 200 million pages of authoritative U.S. government science information including research and development results. So have a scary, happy and scientific Halloween…boo!! Related Topics: Halloween, osti, Science.gov Read more... |
TENNESSEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY LAUDS OSTIby Kate Bannan 30 Jun, 2011 in Science Communications
We are proud to note that OSTI was featured in the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry’ssummer issue of its newsletter, the Business Insider. The Chamber says that OSTI and our comprehensive services “…might be one of the most useful – and best kept secrets – in the federal government.” The article describes OSTI’s mission and our principle that to advance science, research must be shared. Science.gov and WorldWideScience.org are highlighted. The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry is based in Nashville and is the state’s chamber of commerce and the state manufacturers' association. Its membership represents more than 1,000 members across Tennessee from all facets of business and industry. The newsletter is posted online, and is sent to business and industry leaders, as well as government officials across Tennessee. OSTI thanks the Chamber for informing its members, and encourages them to use our comprehensive, state-of-the-art (and free!) tools for easy access and delivery of research results that are tailored to their needs. Related Topics: mission, Science.gov, Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry, WorldWideScience.org (WWS) Read more... |
OSTI's Web Trafficby Mark Martin 16 May, 2011 in Technology Recently, I had the opportunity to explore OSTI's web traffic statistics with Walt Warnick and Karen Spence. I am quite happy with what was revealed about our traffic growth and the value of our various collaborations in making scientific and technical information more accessible. So I wanted to share it with you here at the OSTI Blog. Web Traffic, How and What OSTI Tracks OSTI measures web traffic in a number of ways. One measure is information transactions, defined as discrete information exchanges between an information patron and OSTI's suite of web-based information services. Other specific measures include searches performed on various OSTI products; user requests for bibliographic citations; user requests for the full text of a technical report; page views of OSTI web pages; referral information including search engine (e.g. Google) referrals and social media (e.g. Facebook) referrals; and numerous reports captured via specialized metrics tools. OSTI reports the information transaction metric here because it reports total web traffic from all sources in a simple view. The OSTI Web Traffic chart captures all traffic hosted at OSTI, including osti.gov, science.gov, and worldwidescience.org. Currently, 70% of OSTI's web traffic originates from domestic sources and 30% from international sources. Of the domestic traffic, the majority originates from commercial domains. Significant Increases Growth can be attributed to working in close collaboration with Google and Yahoo!, as an early adopter of the Sitemap Protocol, a new information industry standard that facilitates an easy way for web content managers to inform search engines about the content that exists on their sites. One implementation was to create topical search results pages for Science.gov and WorldWideScience.org to expose these products via the Sitemap Protocol to Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc. ...Related Topics: Science.gov, Web traffic, WorldWideScience.org (WWS) Read more... |
Join OSTI at the AAAS Annual Meeting, February 17-21by Dr. Walt Warnick 01 Feb, 2011 in Science Communications
The Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) will be at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s 2011 Annual Meeting. The theme of this year’s meeting is “Science without Borders.” OSTI will have a booth (#201 floor plan) at the meeting. Our central theme is “Ensuring Global Science Access.”
Join us, and thousands of leading scientists, engineers, educators, policymakers, families and members from national and international media at this important meeting. Be sure to stop by OSTI’s booth where you can ask questions and see how to get worldwide R&D results free and fast via single-point-of-access web portals, such as:
Science Accelerator (DOE resources)
Science.gov(U.S. federal agency science information)
WorldWideScience.org (global science information)
OSTI offers web-based searchable databases with relevancy-ranked and downloadable search results... Related Topics: American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science Accelerator, Science.gov, ScienceEducation.gov, WorldWideScience.org (WWS) Read more... |
Science.gov Makes Further Advancesby Valerie Allen 03 Dec, 2010 in Products and Content Have you noticed that navigating through Science.gov is faster than before? We completed a major software upgrade the week prior to Thanksgiving in which highly technical improvements were made to the site. While many of the improvements are “behind the scenes” some you might notice are:
The Federal Register (FR) and Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) are now automatically searched through the main search page; they can be individually searched through the advanced search page. But wait, there’s more! A Science.gov widget is now available to add to your site. By doing so, you and your users will be able to easily search 45 authoritative federal databases and over 2000 science websites with one search and without navigating away from your website. Consider downloading and installing the Science.gov widget to provide access to 200 million pages of additional science information in a convenient way. This is a great tool for libraries and academic institutions! Related Topics: alerts, CFR, Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, FR, Science.gov, widgets Read more... |
Enormous STI Content Made Easily Searchable by OSTIby Dr. Walt Warnick 01 Jul, 2010 in Products and Content
We have integrated about ten OSTI products dealing with technical reports, e-prints, patents, conference proceedings, project summaries, etc., so that they are all searchable via s single query. The integrated product allows users to search without first having to decide which OSTI product is likely to have the content he/she seeks. This product is ScienceAccelerator.gov. We have integrated comparable offerings from about 14 other agencies so that all the virtually combined offerings can be searched via a single query. Science.gov allows users to search without first having to decide which agency offers which content. The DOE contribution to Science.gov is ScienceAccelerator.gov . We have integrated comparable offerings from about 70 other countries so that all the offerings can be searched via a single query. The US contribution to WorldWideScience.org is Science.gov. WorldWideScience.org allows users to search without first having to decide which country offers which content. The virtual collection is enormous, being comparable in size to science made searchable via Google. Our tests suggest, however, that well over 90% of the content of WorldWideScience is non-Googelable. Until June 11, 2010, the content accessible via WorldWideScience had English titles and other bibliographic information. On June 11, 2010 WorldWideScience became multilingual. A beta application was launched which enables speakers of English to search databases posted on behalf of the Russian government for speakers of Russian. Similarly, for Chinese and seven other languages. And speakers of these other languages can search the English offerings of WorldWideScience. The translation capabilities are provided by a collaboration with Microsoft. Microsoft has posted a blog about Multilingual WWS by Tony Hey, their... Related Topics: federated search, Science Accelerator, Science.gov, WorldWideScience.org (WWS) Read more... |
Accelerating Science Discovery - Join the Discussion
