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Briefing
Nature 399, 517-520 (10 June 1999) | doi:10.1038/21044
It's sink or swim as a tidal wave of data approaches
Abstract
Enormous amounts of data are being amassed in fields as diverse as genomics and astronomy. If this information is to be used effectively to speed the pace of discovery, scientists need new ways of working. This requires investment in computers, new statistical tools, and a liberal approach to data sharing.
Three years ago — several lifetimes in the Information Age — the Microsoft Corporation went in search of a database that it could use to test web-based technology for serving up large amounts of information to the public in a user-friendly way. The bigger and more interesting the archive the better.
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