Open Data
"Data is open if it can be freely accessed, used, modified and shared by anyone for any purpose - subject only, at most, to requirements to provide attribution and/or share-alike. Specifically, open data is defined by the Open Definition and requires that the data be
A. Legally open: that is, available under an open (data) license that permits anyone freely to access, reuse and redistribute
B. Technically open: that is, that the data be available for no more than the cost of reproduction and in machine-readable and bulk form.” (Open Data Handbook)
FAIR Data
You will have learnt about the FAIR principles from other resources, but, to recap, FAIR stands for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. It is a set of guiding principles and does not oblige data producers to adopt any specific standards or technologies. Instead, it encourages researchers to think about the bigger picture of where their data sits in the wider context of their research domain, and how it can be optimised for impact and longevity.
By using common standards, others will be able to find your data more easily, and access it for their own research by reuse, all made possible by interoperability based on common metadata and ontologies and open licences in a public repository.
