The globalization of science is occurring in parallel with a rapid expansion in the speed and sophistication of information and data handling technologies, and their use for scientific purposes. Developments in these areas permit the planning and execution of large scale scientific programs. Such programs, in turn, frequently require sophisticated data handling and processing techniques. In view of the multilateral character of many large scale scientific programs, the handling, processing, and transmission of scientific data has a major international enterprise in its own right, one that is vital to those large scale programs. The Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) is a non governmental, multilateral body, affiliated with the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), whose principal objective is to facilitate worldwide communication on problems related to scientific data. Like other members of the ICSU family, CODATA is comprised of non governmental National Member Organizations. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) fulfills that function in the United States. In the past, NAS's request to support US participation in CODATA has been limited to payment of dues, shared jointly by NSF, NIST, and DOE. The NAS, in order to upgrade US participation, established a U.S. National Committee (USNC) for CODATA similar to those that guide U.S. participation in the ICSU unions. NSF is being asked to pay one-third of the US annual dues for CODATA and to provide support for the development of recommendations to ICSU concerning access to data and its role in the Commission on International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP).
