'Fauxpen' Data

Dorothea at Book of Trogool is tired of "fauxpen" access to data. "It's pretty safe to say ... that the Cacao Genome Project ain't open data," she says, pointing to Glen Newton's post on the Mars-led sequencing project. Newton says that in order to access data from the Cacao Genome Project, "you have to get an account — no anonymous access; obligatory registration is pretty counter-Open Access," and that "in order to get an account, you have to agree to a license," which restricts users' use of the data. Dorothea says that this misuse of the term "open" may not have been the researchers' fault. "Maybe somebody’s lawyer wasn't clear on the concept. ... Maybe somebody's Web site developer was asleep at the switch," Dorothea writes, adding that she won't "assume malice or cluelessness until more is known." Irrespective of the circumstances behind it, Dorothea says that the cacao genome team's claim is telling of the "brand value of 'open,'" especially as it pertains to genomic data.