[Geo4All] Open Letter on the Importance of scientific freedom and the public good

[Suchith Anand]

Thank you Nestor. You are welcome to follow the open discussions on this at the RDA at


 https://www.rd-alliance.org/group/geospatial-ig/post/open-letter-importance-scientific-freedom-and-public-good


Best wishes,


Suchith


________________________________
From: Nestor Barrionuevo <nbarrionuevo at gmail.com>
Sent: 24 March 2018 17:23
To: Suchith Anand
Cc: discuss at lists.osgeo.org; geoforall at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [Geo4All] Open Letter on the Importance of scientific freedom and the public good

Agree with you.
Regards.
Nestor

El sáb., 24 de mar. de 2018 08:59, Suchith Anand <Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk>> escribió:

Dear colleagues,


Scientific freedom is essential to the advancement of human knowledge for the benefit of all. Scientific freedom is the freedom to engage in scientific inquiry, pursue and apply knowledge, and communicate openly. Scientific freedom is considered to be an essential prerequisite for research independence and legitimacy. In times of alarming  increase in  fake news and marketing gimmicks , critical thinking is an important skill that is needed for everyone. Scientists and educators need to  champion values such as scientific freedom and the public good.


Vendors have huge money power and marketing/sales departments .I fully respect the rights of  GIS vendor owners to market their products. However, I am concerned to see now lot of marketing esp. using social media  from some GIS vendors marketing their products as “The Science” . So it is important to understand the proofs and scientific reasons on why any specific proprietary GIS product is being marketed as  “The science”?  Last year I asked the question on “Is Geographic Information Science proprietary ?". I am still waiting for proof and scientific reasons to help me understand why any specific proprietary GIS product is marketed as “The science”?


I am just an individual  scientist. But I believe that the individual scientific freedom includes freedom of expression for scientists and educators. I believe Science is a public good and quality education opportunities should be open and accessible for everyone.


In my humble opinion, Science is not any specific GIS tools! (proprietary or open source).  Any proprietary GIS vendor owners doing sales/marketing of any proprietary GIS products as “The Science” is either just joking  : -) or  misleading  customers!    Geographic Information Science is not “owned “by any GIS vendor owners!


I will keep working  to reduce the digital divide and contribute to building up Open Knowledge for the benefit of all humanity, with special effort to enlighten future generations. I will contribute my service for the betterment of all humanity using the guiding principles of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in building a better world for everyone. I will work to advance and increase Open Knowledge for the benefit of all humanity with special consideration of those less fortunate. I will be a voice for Open Principles in Science and Education.


Let us all work to make sure Science and Education is Open for our future generations…


Best wishes,


Suchith


Dr. Suchith Anand

http://www.geoforall.org/


Open Principles in Science and Education for bridging the digital divide






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