An International Workshop
Creating the Information Commons for e-Science:
Toward Institutional Policies and Guidelines for Action
UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France
1-2 September 2005


An Overview of China Scientific Data Sharing Program

Xian-En Zhang
Department of Basic Research, Ministry of Science and Technology, China

China Scientific Data Sharing Program is a ambitious endeavor in the beginning of the 21th century and is a part of National Facility Information Infrastructure Program. China-SDSP aims at striking a balance between the demand and supply of scientific data, enhancing the national scientific innovation capability and competitiveness, and maximizing the efficiency of nation's investment in science and technology. The program takes advantages of information and communication technology as well as experiences gained from international community; builds up a data sharing system composed of supportive laws and regulations as well as standards; consolidation existing, scattered data resources; establishing a distributed, user-friendly, scientific data submitting and disseminating network. Technically, China-SDSP has a three-tiled architecture: one gateway leading users into forth data centers which are composed of three hundred master databases. Besides technical settings, there are a set of laws and policies and standards to interface all relevant aspects of the program. This presentation will give a brief introduction to the program, it falls into five parts: general considerations, objectives, architecture, major tasks, and current progress.