Cracking “Open” Technology in Ecohydrology

Abstract

In recent years, the adjective "open" has been applied to many aspects of scientific knowledge discovery and dissemination, including open-source software and hardware, open access journal articles, massive open online courses, and open data.Applying the term open to these entities emphasizes an intention for them to be accessible-a quality increasingly emphasized as desirable in science. But there is nothing new about the idea of "open science." Science shed its character of secrecy in sixteenth-century Europe, when the wealthy players in the patronage system that was increasingly supporting scientific inquiry at that time found it in their interest for the scientists they supported to go public with their discoveries, as a form of ornamental display to enhance the patrons' own reputations and power (David 2004). Around this time, scientific discovery also became so complex and mathematically grounded that the patrons could no longer assess quality on their own; fearing charlatanism, patrons began encouraging systems of peer vetting, in which scientists would open their work to other scientists for the purpose of review and confirmation (David 2004). Clearly, the historically instituted practices of peer review and experiment replication are still followed in the current era, so what is The original version of this chapter was published non-open access.

Advancing ecohydrology in the 21st century: A convergence of opportunities

“…At this point, it appears that the “art” of building and supporting environmental sensing systems is so specialized that companies could succeed by focusing on the production and marketing of open‐source designs. Interested readers are referred to Turner, Hill, and Caton (2020) for a full discussion of open source resources in ecohydrology.…”