Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/70379
management systems (postgis.refractions.net, mysql. com) to registry/catalog and metadata software (geonetwork-opensource.org, wiki.deegree.org), desktop GIS clients for data updating and analysis (qgis.org, openjump.org), and Web GIS development toolkits for browser-based clients (openlayers.org, openscales.org, mapbender.org). These free and open-source software tools have posed formidable challenges to the dominance and monopoly of commercially available software as well as prompted commercial software vendors to open their closed toolboxes to encourage users to develop and share application modules. The Power of Collaboration In terms of mass collaboration, there have been many exciting new advances in the spirit of open science, following the phenomenal success of OpenStreetMap (Sui et al, 2012). Particularly noteworthy is the area of emergency management and disaster relief. Ushahidi, InRelief, Sahana and Crisis Commons now play crucial roles in various disaster-relief efforts, all relying on volunteered geographic information as a primary data source. These new developments have further encouraged governments to be more open and transparent; more geocoded data now are available online (geo.data.gov), and new government-supported platforms are being developed to facilitate these developments (www.geoplatform.gov). Perhaps more important for individual researchers and scholars, Web sites such as Open Scholar (openscholar.harvard.edu), Wikiversity, Citizendium and Scholarpedia will further facilitate openness, sharing and collaboration among researchers and scholars, following the open-science model. Issues and Consequences Although it's breathtaking to witness these devel- opments, there are plenty of issues that need to be resolved along multiple fronts. For folks in the geospatial industry, there's the reality of competing against "the free," which often requires businesses to imagine a new model with which to gain a slice of the increasing competitive market and ensure profit- ability (Bryce et al, 2011). For those in academia, there's the harsh reality that the current academic reward system is designed for the practice of closed science; new practices in the spirit of open science often are discouraged or at least insufficiently rewarded. For government agencies, there's the struggle over how and where to draw the line in terms of openness and secrecy in the wake of Wikileaks (now Openleaks). If any useful lessons can be learned from the history of technological and scientific advances, perhaps it's this: open science, similar to all other well-intentioned human endeavors throughout history, won't be immune from unintended consequences. Last, but certainly not least, these issues carry with them certain urgent questions for educators at all levels from K-12 to graduate school. What are the educational implications of these developments in Big Data and open science? In what set of skills and habits of thinking should students be trained and educated to help them flourish in the global labor market? This will be the topic of my next column; stay tuned. References Bryce, D.J.; Dyer, J.H.; and Hatch, N.W. 2011. "Competing against Free," Harvard Business Review; hbr.org/2011/06/competing-against-free/ar/1. Gezelter, D. 2009. "What, Exactly, Is Open Science?" www.openscience.org/blog/?p=269. Nielsen, M. 2012. Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. Steiniger, S. and Hunter, A. 2012. "Geospatial Free and Open-Source Software in the 21st Century," Lecture notes in Geoinformation and Cartography, Part 5, pages 247-261, Springer, Berlin. Sui, D.Z.; Elwood, S.; and Goodchild, M.F. (eds.). 2012. Crowdsourcing Geographic Knowledge: Volunteered Geographic Information in Theory and Practice, Springer, Berlin. Weinberger, D. 2012. Too Big to Know: Rethinking knowledge now that the facts aren't the facts, experts are everywhere, and the smartest person in the room is the room, Basic Books, New York. ADVERTISER ADVERTISERINDEX Esri www.esri.com/geowldce GeoSpatial Matters www.geoplace.com/GPM GeoWorld on Facebook www.facebook.com/geoworldmag GeoWorld Subscriptions www.geoplace.com/subscribe PAGE 5 9 32 31 JUNE 2O12 / WWW . GEOPLA CE . COM 13