How FAIR is FAIR?

[CaroleGoble]

Several commentators have started commenting on the FAIR principles themselves

[CaroleGoble]

https://danielskatzblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/fair-is-not-fair-enough/

[CaroleGoble]

FAIR Principles are PRINCIPLES. They are not practice or standards.
Practice & Standards need to be:
• Pragmatic, useful and appropriate to get buy-in and enable adoption
• Preferably the least possible - Just Enough not Just In Case
• Avoid technical and standards lock-in
• Avoid mandating compliance prematurely
• Recognise that there are few (any?) green field sites
• Offer pathways to legacy adoption
• Recognise that there are many "degrees" of FAIR
• Recognise that Science doesn’t respect funding borders - it must be a Global activity – not a EU one.

Right now we are in the Wild West with staking claims, with “me too” declarations and a lot of competing and overlapping activities. Which leads to confusion and in the end inertia for those tasked with managing datasets and producing FAIR infrastructure.