The UN GAID Global Alliance for Promoting Access to and Applications of Scientific Data in Developing Countries (e-SDDC)

Chuang LIU ¹(Institute of Geography and Natural Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) and Paul F. Uhlir ² (The National Academies, USA)

¹ Leading Professor of Global Change Information and Research Center, Institute of Geography and Natural Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director of World Resources Research, Beijing Normal University, No.11A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China, Email: lchuang@igsnrr.ac.cn

² Director of International Scientific Information Program, the National Academies, USA, 500 Fifth Street NW, Washington, DC 20001 U.S.A.; Email: puhlir@nas.edu

Connecting scientific data and information communities to worldwide decision- makers, especially to the United Nations (UN), is one of CODATA’s tasks. After the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva 2003 and Tunis 2005, the UN launched two follow-up programs in 2006, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN GAID). The CODATA Task Group on Preservation of and Access to Scientific Data in Developing Countries (TGDC) cooperated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Chinese Association for Science and Technology (CAST), the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University (CIESIN), the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF), the Environmental Reference Information Center of Brazil (CRIA), and the Internet Society of China (ISC) for the UN GAID project on the Global Alliance for Enhancing Access to and Application of Scientific Data in Developing Countries (UN GAID e-SDDC). The e-SDDC was approved by UN GAID in 2007 to work on the following five Action Lines: (1) Think Tank Network; (2) Scientific Data Sharing Network; (3) Technology Transfer and Assistance Network; (4) On-line Teaching and Training Network; and (5) Network on Scientific Data Dimensions of Disaster Mitigation, Poverty Reduction and Public Health. Besides the Lead and Co-Lead Organizations, the Inter Academy Panel (IAP), the International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS), the Working Group of Information System and Services, Committee of Earth Observation Satellites (WGISS/CEOS), the International Society of Digital Earth, and the electronic Geophysical Year (eGY) are actively involved in this project as well. The e-SDDC’s goals, partnerships, and outreach activities are fully compatible with CODATA’s mission and therefore should lead to close cooperation between them.

With this background in mind, we have organized the following two sessions for the 21^st CODATA Conference:

Session A.2: UN GAID e-SDDC Joint Action: A Decentralized Network of Networks of Scientific Data for Millennium Development Goals—An Overview of Recent and Planned Activities, Chairs: Paul F. Uhlir and Chuang LIU

Showcase Application Network of Open Access to and Application of Scientific Data for Approaching Millennium Development Goals, Chuang LIU

New IAP Program on Digital Knowledge Resources and Infrastructure in Developing Countries, Paul F. Uhlir

eGY-Africa: reducing the digital divide for science in Africa, Alem Mebrahtu, et al.

Evaluating the First Year of the eSDDC Young Scientists Forum (YSF) Experience: Challenges and Opportunities, Raed M. Sharif

Session B.2: Roundtable Discussion on UN GAID e-SDDC and CODATA Cooperation on the Five Action Lines and Near-term Deliverable Products, Chairs: Chuang LIU and Paul F. Uhlir