Memorandum submitted by Aporia (CRU 21)
MEMORANDUM
1. The purpose of this submission to the House
of Commons Science and Technology Committee (hereafter referred
to as the "Commons Committee") is primarily to cross-reference
material already submitted under the auspices of the possibly
related House of Lords Science and Technology Committee (hereafter
referred to as the "Lords Committee") call for evidence
regarding the setting of research funding priorities [i].
2. In particular, the material already submitted
makes reference to Aporia's WHiSPeRiNG GaLLeRY that serves to
document some of the, as yet, possibly taken-for-granted "machinery
of government" mechanisms that have been subverted in order
to manipulate and suppress research data, which is at odds with
the otherwise expectation of an operating environment respectful—if
not immediately supportive—of due scholarly impartiality
and acceptable scientific practice as against a backdrop of, inter
alia, the Haldane Principle [ii].
3. As at the time of making this present submission
to the Commons Committee, Aporia has only just managed to engage
Prof Adrian Smith directly in his capacity as Director General
for Science and Research during a brief exchange following his
oral evidence session with the Lords Committee on 4 February,
2010, where he stated that "there is no evidence whatsoever
that the ... starting point—which is to assess excellence
and fund the most excellent research—as the starting point—that
has not [sic] been subverted in any way" [iii]. During the
ensuing exchange, Aporia expressly sought to kindly draw Prof
Smith's attention to the existence of the WHiSPeRiNG GaLLeRY that
had already been made available to the Lords Committee by way
of example, perhaps, to the contrary [iv].
4. Aporia's WHiSPeRiNG GaLLeRY has since been
updated to openly reflect this initial exchange and the email
subsequently sent to persons involved in relation to the linked
data sets, in order to carefully highlight the need to distinguish
between "anonymous data" and "anonymised data"
with regards archival integrity of emergent public interest disclosure
practices for all parties concerned [v].
5. In the first instance, Aporia continues to
make best efforts to communicate possibly related evidence to
the Lords Committee in good time and in good faith, including
copy correspondence of this present memorandum being submitted
forthwith [vi]. In the second instance, Aporia welcomes any and
all derivative requests from the Commons Committee for the same
once the Lords Committee has had a chance to configure its own
deliberations.
6. In this sense, Aporia notes the possible
sensitivity of this present memorandum with regards the timing
of the information referred to herein at this stage in the Lords
Committee deliberations, and as such would suggest that it may
not be in the public interest to publish this memorandum without
due consideration on the part of the Committees of both Houses
in conference together with Aporia, for the time being at least.
At any event, Aporia reserves all rights generally.
February 2010
Endnotes marked [i]-[vi] to appear as follows
with all online cited references having been accessed as at the
day of submission on 6 February, 2010:
[i] See Memorandum
to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee by Aporia,
September 2009 at http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/strfAporia250909.pdf
[ii] See Ministry of Reconstruction, Report
of Machinery of Government Committee, December 1918, Cd 9230,
p 15 at
http://ia341318.us.archive.org/1/items/reportofmachiner00greaiala/reportofmachiner00greaiala.pdf
and note the possible (missed) understanding of this particular
nuance with regards the House of Commons Science and Technology
Committee Putting Science and Engineering at the Heart of Government
Policy, July 2009, HC 168-I, p 40 at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmdius/168/168i.pdf
which only references p 30, 34, and 35 of the same.
[iii] A recording of Prof Adrian Smith's oral
evidence session to the Lords Committee can be viewed via clicking
on the "watch this meeting" link appearing at
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/MeetingDetails.aspx?meetingId=5774
[iv] Aporia's WHiSPeRiNG GaLLeRY is openly
and anonymously accessible at
http://ap0riasofar.wordpress.com with Parliamentary
Archival reference to be confirmed in due course.
[v] See WHiSPeRiNG GaLLeRY exhibit at http://ap0riasofar.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/uidm-refinement-in-action/
and attending commentary including comment number 410 at
http://ap0riasofar.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/uidm-refinement-in-action/#comment-410
[vi] Any and all additional material may be
made available to the Commons Committee at the joint discretion
of the Lords Committee and Aporia on written request.
| 
