FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2015
Contact: Ranit Schmelzer
202-538-1065
[email protected]
SPARC’s Heather Joseph Named to New U.S. Department of Commerce Data Advisory Council
Washington, DC – U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced today that SPARC’s Heather Joseph will serve on a newly-created Commerce Data Advisory Council (CDAC) to spearhead efforts and accelerate progress toward opening the most useful data to American businesses, entrepreneurs, workers, and communities. Joseph is the Executive Director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to create a more open system of scholarly communication.
“I’m extremely honored to be selected by Secretary Pritzker to serve on this important Council,” said Heather Joseph. “The Council will offer advice and guidance on how to make government data more open and accessible, which in turn can spur innovation and empower entrepreneurs to create commercial ventures and jobs. I look forward to this incredible opportunity.”
The 19 members of the Commerce Data Advisory Council (CDAC) will provide Secretary Pritzker and the Department of Commerce data-bureau leadership with guidance on data management and data policy. Members, who will serve a two-year term, represent the spectrum of Commerce data including demographic, economic, scientific, environmental, patent, and geospatial.
The members of CDAC include: Joy Bonaguro, City and County of San Francisco; Katy Borner, Information Sciences, Indiana University; Danah Boyd, Microsoft; Daniel Castro, Center for Data Innovation; Jack Dangermond, Esri; Christopher DiBona, Google; Bill Gail, Global Weather Corporation; Heather Joseph, SPARC; Stan Humphries, Zillow; Vadim Kutsyy, eBay; Kevin Merritt, Socrata, Inc.; CJ Moses, Amazon Web Services; Jen Pahlka, Code for America; Colin Parris, General Electric; Karin Remington, Arjuna Solutions; Brian Schimpf, Palantir; and Kim Stevenson, Intel.
The first CDAC meeting will occur Thursday, April 23rd to Friday, April 24th in Washington, DC. More information about the new Council can be found in the Department of Commerce’s press release and at http://www.esa.doc.gov/.
According to today’s Commerce announcement, “The leaders come from the information technology, NGO, non-profit, and academic communities, and from local governments—individuals who appreciate the range of data that the Department of Commerce distributes and the full lifecycle of data collection, compilation, analysis, and dissemination. They offer a balanced perspective and varied expertise to ensure meaningful dialogue and guidance on how the Commerce Department can realize its vision as America’s Data Agency.”
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SPARC®, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, is an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system. Developed by the Association of Research Libraries, SPARC has become a catalyst for change. Its pragmatic focus is to stimulate the emergence of new scholarly communication models that expand the dissemination of scholarly research and reduce financial pressures on libraries. More information can be found at https://sparcopen.org.
