Decentralized Storage and the Open Science Movement

Decentralized storage could be the best tool to combat cyber insecurity, censorship, data loss—and it could revolutionize the open science movement.

What is it? Decentralized storage keeps digital information in a distributed network that exists in multiple locations. These servers are hosted by many individuals (not a single company) who all have incentives to save, engage with, and access the data in their network.

What are the advantages of decentralized storage?

Increased Data Security - Most digital information is concentrated in places like Facebook or Google. Storing so much sensitive information in one place increases the risk of data misuse and leakage. In contrast, anything uploaded onto a decentralized storage system is encrypted and stored in multiple places, making this decentralized storage model very secure.

Immediate Publication - Decentralized storage is designed so that you are the only one deciding what to upload and when. All your assets will be uploaded immediately and available to the public right away, independent of any external entity.

Permanent Data Ownership - Whenever someone uploads content onto a decentralized storage system their action is recorded on the blockchain. This permanent record makes it easy to trace content back to its original owner, allowing the creators to establish intellectual property rights over their assets.?

Information Available to All - Anything uploaded onto a decentralized storage platform is free to access and permanently open to the global community. No intermediaries means no paywalls.?

Data Preservation - Under centralized storage models, if a provider ceases to exist, all of their hosted content is lost. With decentralized storage, information is described by its content rather than where it is hosted. So as long as a copy exists on the storage network it is always accessible.

Low Cost -.Publishing costs are significantly lower compared to those of the publishing homes, and those savings are passed on to creators.?

We believe decentralized storage could revolutionize scientific publishing.

By building a platform for sharing scientific information around decentralized storage technology, research would be more available to more people than ever before—and at a faster speed. Because publishing to a decentralized network is immediate, new findings could be shared with the scientific community quickly. No paywalls mean that this information would be available to anyone with a computer, without the need for subscriptions. Furthermore, the secure nature of the blockchain guarantees that creators can establish permanent ownership over their assets, and that these assets would always remain freely and permanently available. Finally, the technology that makes decentralized storage possible dovetails with the technology that makes the tokenization of digital assets possible. With this technology, scientists and researchers can tap into new sources of funding for their work.?

At ScieNFT, we believe that knowledge should be freely available to everybody, which is why our web3 platform uses decentralized storage to keep scientific assets safe, accessible, and in the hands of their creators.