Monthly Archives: February 2013

Where do you want to share?

Given the fact that you are reading this blog, I am assuming you are into sharing your code and data. However, what is not so clear to me, is where we should be sharing these data (assuming data includes code, which people often seem to forget).

  • On our own personal web page? Seems like an excellent place to me, but too many of those personal sites are extremely short-lived. I notice this every time I update links.
  • On our institution’s publication pages? That would probably be my preferred choice at this moment. Often with a longer life-span than personal webpages, and still “close enough to yourself”. Some issues arise with people working at a company (but then, are you often allowed to share code/data in such a situation?), or with people moving from one institution to another, but those all seem fairly limited compared to some of the alternatives.
  • On the publisher’s web pages? That would make it consistent with the related publication. However, I’m not sure I want to transfer ownership of my code and data to the publisher as well.
  • On “social media” such as ResearchGate, or Academia.edu? At first I was enthusiast about these, but I start having my doubts. Who is behind these sites? How are they counting on making money, based on my data? Now that some of those start spamming me with e-mail, and asking me whether I have questions for the authors of a paper I downloaded, I become even more skeptical.
  • Any other suggestions?

Maybe I am too critical about this, or too old-fashioned. Or just too commercially oriented, and not open enough to share with everyone potentially interested in my work. Who will tell?