For those researchers interested in working with large data sets and lacking the resources to build and/or maintain their own data infrastructures, some businesses are renting out their infrastructures.  Smaller universities and research centers can spend just for the time used.  A leader in this use of large data centers is Amazon, and they are now hosting public data sets for researchers and other interested groups to use through their hosting services (hat tip, NYT Bits Blog).  It’s an impressive list of data, including the Human Genome Project, Bureau of Labor Statistics data, U.S. Census information, and others.  You can also submit public data sets for posting.

As research will increasingly rely on large data sets, and the government is trying to put more and more data online, I think the ability for anyone to make use of the information should be encouraged.  I would like to see providers like Amazon explore ways to facilitate the use, research and examination of this data for as many people as practical.