Public Knowledge: Why "Open" Matters with Christopher Marcum

In the Season 3 premiere of Educating to Be Human, we launch a series-long exploration of "open", in conversations with people who are working to ensure that public data, knowledge, and research remain open and freely accessible for all. Host Lisa Petrides is joined by sociologist and open science advocate Christopher Marcum, former Assistant Director for Open Science and Data Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). In this conversation, Lisa and Chris trace the origins of open from its 17th-century roots and Robert Merton's 1940s ideal of knowledge as a non-excludable public good to the modern policies governing taxpayer-funded research today. Together, they confront the mounting threats facing open systems - from big tech monopolies and AI data scraping to the rise of closed digital gatekeepers - and explore why open infrastructure is as vital to a thriving society as physical roads and bridges. This episode challenges us to rethink how we protect public knowledge, sustain open infrastructure, and cultivate the human curiosity necessary to question the technological systems shaping our world. Christopher Steven Marcum, Ph.D., is an expert in federal data policy, open science, and scientific integrity who has served in key advisory roles across the Executive Office of the President. As Assistant Director for Open Science and Data Policy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), he developed transformative science policies, including the 2022 OSTP Public Access Memo and the 2023 Federal Scientific Integrity Framework, and spearheaded the White House designation of 2023 as the Year of Open Science. As Senior Statistician and Senior Scientist in the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, he directed an information policy portfolio covering data access, research security, information quality, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence across federal science and statistical agencies. In that post, he co-authored major Executive Branch information policies including OMB Memoranda M-25-05 on open government data access and M-25-21 on federal AI adoption, chaired the Federal Statistical Research Data Center Program Executive Committee, and represented OMB on key interagency bodies including the Cybersecurity Subcommittee of the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, the Aging Forum, and the Children's Forum. Currently an independent consultant, Chris serves as Senior Advisor for Federal Data Policy at the Federation of American Scientists and Senior Fellow at the Data Foundation. He is an elected fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and a full member of Sigma Xi, the scientific research honor society.