Open Access Movement and Data

Given the theme 'Data in a Networked World of Knowledge', what importance does the Open Access Movement have for data? Calls have been made for systems ensuring that publicly funded research results remain in the public domain, adhering to Open Access values of no economic or use-restrictive barriers between knowledge and those who wish access to the same. These include the National Institutes of Health and Wellcome Trust efforts for biomedical research, the declaration from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for open access to publicly funded research, and the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society discussing the same. And advocacy organizations such as the Alliance for Taxpayer Access have emerged, working to ensure that these values are realized. This paper examines and discusses some of these actors in the Open Access movement and how they may be seen to touch on 'data'.