In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly put forth 17 goals to “transform our world”. These goals aim to tackle the big, important problems facing society. Scholarly research is critical to ensuring our collective response is timely and enduring. Open metadata is the foundational infrastructure that fuels innovation and ensures that research is available, relevant, and used by everyone who needs it. Connected metadata bridges the gaps between systems and communities.
At times, my home projects absorb my time and attention as much as the ones I do for work. This post is the first of what I hope to be a “Behind the Scenes” series of insights that I have learned from these hobbies. In mid 2020, I decided to take up sourdough bread making. As with many projects, it took me a while to master making this type of bread.
WANTED: PID for an object that is not too big and not too small. One that provides just the information that I seek, and is in a language that I can understand. Not too old. Accompanied by data and resources. Available in my country. Open access only need apply. What would a PID be without its accompanying metadata? Rich data help fulfill the FAIR promises by making information more easily findable, and by providing clarity on the constraints around being accessible (how?
Who do we include in the planning of how we use genomic data to improve human health? Last week I participated in and gave a keynote address at the 8th plenary meetings for the Global Alliance for Genomics & Health (GA4GH). GA4GH plays a critical role in enabling responsible genomic data sharing within a human rights framework. This work includes framing policy and setting standards that meet the real-world needs of the international genomics community.
Genomics data offers enormous hope of tackling our world’s toughest health challenges. But we can’t successfully carry out our critical work of defining technical and ethical standards for genomics data without first building a diverse “intentional community” committed to inclusivity. At the GA4GH 8th Plenary I was invited to give a keynote talk about this topic. listen time: 30 min. KEYNOTE: GA4GH 8th Plenary Building an Intentional Community for Standards Development
“People don’t feel connected to your community because they joined a big crowd in an arena. They feel connected because of the individual conversations, private moments, and vulnerability that they experience with other participants.” - Charles Vogl Unconferences build community through specific characteristics: its collaborative conference agenda creation, “vote with your feet” model of participation, and dynamic pace. These components are difficult to recreate in a virtual setting.
When you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail… until you get a paintbrush. Every so often you get the gift of being able to see the world through a new lens. In my adult life, there are several distinct times when I was acutely aware of picking up a new tool, shifting to a new lens. Engineering: The object lens The first was when I was an undergraduate studying engineering.
Broad diversity in the community that makes standards and policies ensures that the standards will work for all that we seek to include. Yes, gender and race diversity, but also region, industry, background, viewpoint, and approach. And when we’re talking about standards for genomics data sharing, that diversity is essential for inclusion of information that can benefit the entirety of human-kind. It was so much fun to be interviewed for the the OmicsXchange podcast this month in my role as the chair of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion group.
Getting a PhD is a lot of work. In fact, if you believe the Princeton Review, maybe no one should pursue them at all. And yet, I have worked with enough people who hold PhDs that it got me wondering about the statistics of PhDs and research. Usually, the people who pursue PhDs really love learning, and are excited about the prospect of making a profession of it. Much of the time, pursuing research is an important component of this learning journey.
Can a party restore our connectedness? There is a colleague that I work with that I have the good fortune of talking with regularly. But the change in him since lockdowns, closings, stay at home orders and protests is notable. He doesn’t dispute the necessity of these things, but it is clear that they are taking a toll on him. Being part of an international community, most of the people I work with on a daily basis rely on online communications as our primary way of getting things done.