Scientific data
Data, in essence, are numbers put in the context of prior knowledge or of the expectations generated by a hypothesis.
Scientific data are data that have been generated in the framework of scientific research projects. Due to increased automation of many steps in such research projects in a wide range of scientific disciplines, the amount of scientific data has increased sharply in recent years, and data sharing by way of databases connected to the internet has opened up new opportunities and challenges for the handling of scientific data.
Scientific data are usually the result of testing a hypothesis or otherwise exploring some unknown territory at the borders of present scientific knowledge by means of the scientific method. In the context of prior knowledge or of the expectations generated by a hypothesis, a simple spreadsheet with numbers representing measured or calculated data may reveal a path towards curing a certain type of disease or a way to build vehicles with lower energy consumption or overall ecological footprint, or a hint on how to decipher an ancient language. Usually, the way from such an initial idea is long and has to be paved with considerable further amounts of data, some of which will point into new directions.
Sometimes data can be used for different purposes by different scientists. While data is often released on the Internet, it's sometimes unclear what guidelines apply as to how the data can be used or whether there are copyright restrictions. Accordingly, a group of scientists in Cambridge, U.K. in a pub called the Panton Arms wrote in September 2009 a set of guidelines called the Panton Principles. The idea behind this effort is that a scientist, releasing data into the public, can attach a tag to the data indicating that the data is free to use and is not subject to copyright restrictions. Hopefully this will enable future scientists to use data freely without anxiety about any possible legal repercussions.