Big Announcements in Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science at White House Event
WHITE HOUSE OSTP DIRECTOR JOHN HOLDREN MEMO:
Memo: Addressing Societal and Scientific Challenges Through Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/holdren_citizen_science_memo_092915_0.pdf
FEDERAL CROWDSOURCING AND CITIZEN SCIENCE TOOLKIT
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, in partnership with the Federal Community of Practice on Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science
NSF CORE PRIORITY IN CITIZEN SCIENCE AND CROWDSOURCING Announced
The NSF Director Dr. France Cordova announces that citizen science and crowdsourcing—“a visionary concept”– will be a core priority for NSF in the coming fiscal year. Her presentation begins about 32 min into the Citizen Science Forum video, and the announcement is at 40:49. The written announcement will come from OMB later this year. https://youtu.be/J17uBahTdDE?t=2449
NSF Press Release: Be a (citizen) scientist! (of note, NSF has made $5,613,201 in grants and related awards that support research in this area): http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=136445&org=NSF
CITIZEN SCIENCE DAY Announced
The Citizen Science Association and partners, including the Federal Community of Practice on Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science, announced plans to organize a Citizen Science Day on April 16, 2015, which will kick off a series of events nationwide.
http://citizenscienceassociation.org/2015/09/30/citizen-science-day-announced-at-white-house/
CITIZEN SCIENCE FORUM:
White House Citizen Science Forum, in partnership with the Federal Community of Practice on Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science
YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=4&v=J17uBahTdDE
Holdren Opening Remarks (waiting for them to be posted): https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/library/docsreports
Blog Post: https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/09/09/open-science-and-innovation-people-people-people
CROWDSOURCING AND CITIZEN SCIENCE ACT OF 2015 – FEDERAL LEGISLATION:
The Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act of 2015 provides clarification to government agencies, removing ambiguity about whether an agency can use crowdsourcing techniques. Senator Coons (D-DE) and Senator Daines (R-MT) co-sponsored the bill.
Text of the Bill: http://coons.senate.gov/download/?id=063AEFE6-CB5C-42FD-8FD6-57F58BD1AC5B
The Government Wants You to Help It Do Science Experiments, Senator Chris Coons, Wired Magazine
http://www.wired.com/2015/09/government-wants-help-science-experiments/
First in MT…Coons to Unveil Federal Crowdsourcing Bill
Senator Coons Introduces Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act of 2015 by Gene Quinn, IPWatchdog
President’s FY13 Research and Development Budget Released
The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has responsibility, in partnership with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for advising the President on the Federal Research and Development (R&D) budget and shaping R&D priorities across those Federal agencies that have significant portfolios in science and technology. OSTP also has responsibility—with the help of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), which is administered out of OSTP—for coordinating interagency research initiatives. It is OSTP’s mission to help develop and implement sound science and technology policies and budgets that reflect Administration priorities and make coordinated progress toward important national policy goal.
OSTP is pleased to release the following information on the science, technology, innovation, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education components of the President’s FY 2013 Budget. Click here for webcast of budget briefing and PDF of R&D Budget.
The full President’s FY 2013 budget can be found here.
Related articles
- President’s FY13 Budget Release Info Posted for DOE, NOAA, NSF (geodatapolicy.wordpress.com)
- Analysis of R & D Investments in FY 2012 Appropriations Bill (geodatapolicy.wordpress.com)
President’s FY13 Budget Release Info Posted for DOE, NOAA, NSF
The American Association for the Advancement of Science has posted FY13 Budget Release Information for DOE, NOAA, and NSF. The President’s Budget for FY 2013 will be released on February 13. As in prior years, we will be posting schedule information for agency budget briefings to the R&D Budget and Policy Program website. Initial information for the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been posted; others will follow soon. Please check back frequently for the most up-to-date information.
Related articles
- Analysis of R & D Investments in FY 2012 Appropriations Bill (geodatapolicy.wordpress.com)
Digital Fuel of the 21st Century: Innovation through Open Data and the Network Effect
The Information Revolution by Jenny Li Fowler, Harvard Kennedy School, January 20, 2012
… In a new Shorenstein Center discussion paper titled “Digital Fuel of the 21st Century: Innovation through Open Data and the Network Effect,” [Viveck] Kundra[, who served as Chief Information Officer for the Obama Administration (2008-11),] makes four specific recommendations to ensure our society continues to build on and benefit from the power of open data and the so-called “network effect” …
- Citizens and NGOs must demand open data in order to fight government corruption, improve accountability and government services.
- Governments must enact legislation to change the default setting of government to be open, transparent and participatory.
- The press must harness the power of the network effect through strategic partnerships and crowdsourcing to cut costs and provide better insights.
- Venture capitalists should invest in startups focused on building companies based on public sector data
For the full text of this article and a link to Kundra’s paper, visit Harvard Kennedy School – The Information Revolution.
Related articles
- Salesforce.com Hires Former U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra (informationweek.com)
- Salesforce.com hires Vivek Kundra (politico.com)
Obama Administration Wants to Take Warrant Requirement for GPS Use to Supreme Court – All Points Blog
By Adena Schutzberg, Directions Magazine, April 18, 2011
On Friday Apr 15 the administration asked the Supreme Court to take a case to determine whether the police need a warrant before using a GPS device to track a suspect’s movements. A recent appeal by a lower court reversed a conviction because the police did not obtain a warrant. That case was in Washington, but other federal appeals court have ruled warrants are not required.
See also:
http://bit.ly/ge308C and http://tinyurl.com/3rpdua6
Related Articles
- “Obama Asks Supreme Court to Validate Warrantless GPS Tracking” and related posts (talkleft.com)
- Gov’t asks high court to take GPS tracking case (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Should the Feds Have to Get a Warrant to Track Someone With GPS? (blogs.wsj.com)
- DOJ Pitches GPS Surveillance Case to Supreme Court (legaltimes.typepad.com)
- DOJ Weighs Supreme Court Challenge in GPS Surveillance Dispute (legaltimes.typepad.com)
Federal Research and Development in the FY 2011 Budget Compromise
On Monday, April 11, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced the bill to fund the federal government for the last half of FY 2011. This bill will be taken up in the House on April 13th and in the Senate on April 14th, and then sent to the President for his signature, hopefully before the midnight deadline on Friday, April 15th. If passed, non-defense funding levels will be reduced by a 0.2 percent across-the-board cut to achieve savings of approximately $1.1 billion. Specific details on programmatic cuts for Federal R&D can be found in the articles blow:
Text of the Legislation:
A summary of the legislation:
R&D in the FY 2011 Compromise
by Patrick Clemins, Ph.D., AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program, April 13, 2011
Congress released their year-long continuing resolution for FY 2011 this morning which contains a total of around $38.5 billion in cuts, the largest collection of spending cuts in history. R&D intensive programs and agencies were spared the worst of the cuts. Basic research programs faired the best, while applied research programs, especially at the Department of Energy did less well, accurately reflecting the current policy debates taking place. Basic research generally has broad, bi-partisan support, but there is discussion as to how much the federal government should be involved in applied research and the role of industry in funding the applied research stage of the innovation pipeline.
For full text of the article and other related resources, visit: http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/
FYI #48: Details of Final FY 2011 Appropriations Bill Emerging
By Richard Jones, American Institute of Physics
Total FY 2011 funding will be $78.5 billion less than that requested by the Obama Administration. … A release from the Senate Appropriations Committee states, “as these cuts must be implemented in just the remaining six months of the fiscal year, their impact will be especially painful in some instances.” The below figures, provided by the House Appropriations Committee, do not include the 0.2 percent across the board cut that was made to all non-defense accounts. In all instances, reductions from current FY 2010 levels are shown, and the numbers are rounded. It should also be noted that the House Appropriations statement explains: “This list contains highlighted program cuts. This list is not comprehensive of all program funding levels in the legislation.”
National Science Foundation
Research and Related Activities: Down $43 million
Education and Human Resources: Down $10 millionNational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Education: Down $38 million
Cross Agency Support: Down $83 millionU.S. Geological Survey: Down $26 million
For full text of the article, visit: http://www.aip.org/fyi/2011/048.html
Related Articles
- AGU Science Policy Website
- Summary Analysis of the President’s FY 2012 Budget Request for Federal Research and Education Programs, Lewis-Burke Associates, LLC, February 14, 2011
- Lewis-Burke Associates Research & Education Policy Analysis Webpage
- As Congress Slashes EPA Budget, Research Least Harmed (news.sciencemag.org)
- Defense Spending Rises In Budget Bills, Despite U.S. Drawdown In … (huffingtonpost.com)
- Research Survives in 2011 Budget After Earlier Scare (news.sciencemag.org)
- Blog – Is the Death of Intel Research a Harbinger of Doom for Privately-Funded Technology Research? (technologyreview.com)
Senate Commerce Committee Hearing on NASA Budget
Realizing NASA’s Potential: Programmatic Challenges in the 21st Century
Tuesday, Mar 15 2011 2:30 PM, Russell Senate Office Building – Room 253, Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation announces the following full committee hearing titled, Realizing NASA’s Potential: Programmatic Challenges in the 21st Century. Witnesses include: Mr. Douglas R. Cooke Associate Administrator, Exploration Systems Mission Directorate; Mr. William Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate; Mr. Leland D. Melvin, Associate Administrator, Education; Dr. Jaiwon Shin, Associate Administrator, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate; Dr. Edward J. Weiler, Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate; Dr. Woodrow Whitlow Jr., Associate Administrator, Mission Support Directorate.
Two High-priority Climate Missions Dropped from NASA’s Budget Plans
By Turner Brinton, Space News, February 25, 2011
WASHINGTON — Even though NASA’s Earth science budget is slated to rise next year, the U.S. space agency has been ordered by the White House to shelve a pair of big-ticket climate change missions that just last year were planned for launch by 2017. With U.S. President Barack Obama under pressure to rein in federal spending, the White House eliminated funding for the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) and Deformation, Ecosystem Structure and Dynamics of Ice (DESDynI) missions, Steve Volz, associate director for flight programs at NASA’s Earth Science Division, said in a Feb. 24 interview. The multiyear budget plan NASA sent Congress a year ago called for spending $1.2 billion between 2012 and 2015 to develop CLARREO and DESDynI, two of the four top-tier missions recommended by the National Research Council’s 2007 Earth Science decadal survey. …
For full text of the article, visit: Two High priority Climate Missions Dropped from NASAs Budget Plans | SpaceNews.com.
The Apps Challenge Workshop
The General Service Administration invites the Federal prize and challenge community to join us for an upcoming free training.
The Apps Challenge Workshop
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
8:45 AM-12:00 PM ET
GSA – One Constitution Square
1275 First St NE, Washington, DC
In his Strategy for American Innovation, President Obama called on agencies to increase the use of tools such as prizes and challenges to solve tough problems. In March 2010, the White House Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum to all agency heads providing a policy and legal framework to guide agencies in using prizes to stimulate innovation to advance their core missions.
NYT: State Department to Announce Internet Freedom Policy
U.S. Policy to Address Internet Freedom
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has noted the Internet’s use in toppling repressive regimes and crushing dissent.
By MARK LANDLER, NYT, Published: February 14, 2011
WASHINGTON — Days after Facebook and Twitter added fuel to a revolt in Egypt, the Obama administration plans to announce a new policy on Internet freedom, designed to help people get around barriers in cyberspace while making it harder for autocratic governments to use the same technology to repress dissent. … Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will lay out the policy in a speech on Tuesday, acknowledged the Internet’s dual role in an address a year ago, and administration officials said she would touch on that theme again, noting how social networks were used by both protesters and governments in the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries. …
Full article via State Department to Announce Internet Freedom Policy – NYTimes.com.
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