Lubchenco has been involved in the debate about OA, and especially about open data, most notably during her tenure as president of the International Council for Science. At the World Summit on the Information Society in 2003, Lubchenco highlighted the importance of access to scientific data, but stopped short of calling for OA. But an editorial in Science, co-authored by Lubchenco and Shuichi Iwata, seemed to go further:
The World Summit on the Information Society ... provides an unprecedented opportunity for the scientific community to promote the importance of open access to scientific knowledge to world leaders ...
Although no one appears to be strongly opposed to the principle of open and equitable access to scientific data and knowledge, that value can easily be relegated to a secondary position relative to short-term commercial interests. Hence, it is crucial that the science community continue to promote the societal benefit of widely shared scientific knowledge. ...
P.S. NOAA is part of the Department of Commerce, one of 11 departments and agencies that was covered under the proposed Federal Research Public Access Act, which would have required public access to research funded by those departments and agencies.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
