I wish I would have payed more attention in high school chemistry class. I wish I would have taken chemistry instead of hiking 101 (oops, I mean Field Ecology) in college. English majors never had to take hard science; we were pent up in the library reading Clarissa.




Anyway.




In my most recent conversion, I am totally captivated by the concept of Open Data (called Open Source Science by Jean-Claude). To me, the rhetoric of this emerging community is down right fascinating. I can only offer this example:




My friend from Africa once came to our house and saw a dishwasher for the very first time. She was so excited because it was sooooo easy to use. She waited until it was done and jumped for joy that the dishes were just as clean as if she had scrubbed them herself. It was a new way to do dishes.




Now, my mother, the queen of Republicans, was no dummy. She got one of them dishwashers right when they came out on the market, and, thus, I never washed a dish in my life. So I couldn't appreciate, like our friend, the marvel of this machine.




Fast forward 20 years.




Open Data/OSS is just like that dishwasher. It does the same thing, but FASTER and more efficently. Dishwashers eliminate germs because they can pump hotter water than we could tolerate by hand...and, likewise, open data is efficient because it is immediately shared and scrutinized.




Like I said, I am not a chemist by trade, but I support this movement. I enjoy talking to those involved in this movement because I believe they are trailblazing in the chemistry community. They are up against resistance, but, like the dishwasher, they will convert many in the end. It is exciting to watch them communicate about this new way to do science.