Summary of online science

From my Diigo Bookmark this week. Please also feel free to follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/Web_Evolution!

 



Online science has been a big trend on the web and we can observe new trends springing up almost every day. Here are some of the examples of the current online science initiatives.




Summary of online science
These two agendas nicely sum up the issues online science is facing now
(http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/Program_Suggestions, http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/Program_Finalization)




Traditional science magazine publishers adapting to emerging online science
-Some science journal/magazine publishers (expecially Nature), having seen what has happened/is happening to the publishing industry after Google came along, are seeking ways not to act agaist them but to adopt to the new trends.
(http://blogs.nature.com/wp/nascent/2009/10/desktop_widgets_naturecom_sear.html, http://www.nature.com/opensearch/, http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/09/new-nature-jour.html, http://www.nature.com/press_releases/naturecommunications.html, http://blogs.nature.com/wp/nascent/2009/10/from_web_20_to_the_global_data.html, http://blog.openwetware.org/scienceintheopen/2009/11/16/nature-communications-qa/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ScienceInTheOpen+%28Science+in+the+open%29&utm_content=Google+Reader, http://precedings.nature.com/, http://www.nature.com/scitable)



Change in science/academic jounrnals
-New players in the scientific journal industry, such as arXiv.org or PLos, are vigorously trying to revolutionize the industry, which is a big threat to the traditional publishers. There are still many problems to be solved (peer review, credibility, reward for scienctists etc. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-02/nsf-oat022009.php, http://bitesizebio.com/2009/09/24/open-access-publishing/). 
 (http://arxiv.org/, http://precedings.nature.com/, http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/08/the_future_of_online_academic.php, http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2008/11/the_potential_future_of_an_ope.php, http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/03/latest_journal_ranking_in_the.php, http://everyone.plos.org/2009/09/14/interview-with-derya-unutmaz-section-editor-for-immunology-at-plos-one/, http://www.jove.com/index/About.stp, http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/09/new-nature-jour.html, http://www.myplick.com/view/93TY-1OoMBF/Lets-Have-an-Awesome-Time-Publishing-Science, http://www.plos.org/cms/node/490 )





Universities adapting to a changing landscape of online science
-Universities, both encouraged and threatened by online science movements, are also trying to adopt to the change in various ways.
(http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/09/new_science_news_service.php, http://futurity.org/, http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2009/10/york_university_open_access_po.php, http://hul.harvard.edu/news/2009_0914_compact.html, http://www.escholarship.org/about_escholarship.html)





Open access is growing in various academic fields
-The core concept of online science is open access and its importance for further and fast development of science is being actively debated.
(http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2009/09/dramatic-growth-of-open-access.html, http://www.usapr.org/default.aspx, http://www.oacompact.org/, http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/10/the_swedish_research_council_m.php, http://www.openaccessweek.org/2009/10/26/california-academy-sciences-science-in-action-exhibit-open-access-and-medical-research/)





Open access and its impact in developing countries
-The scientific materials that have been opened up to the public can be harnessed by those who had not had access to them.
(http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/03/open_access_in_the_developing.php, http://blog.nextbio.com/2009/02/27/a-global-perspective-on-the-open-access-effect/, http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/10/open_access_day_in_serbia.php)




Science commons
-A new initiative to make open access possible.
(http://sciencecommons.org/, http://scienceblogs.com/commonknowledge/)





Platform for accumulating knowledge
-As the increasing number of people start participating in online science, more and more knowledge is being added and accumulated.
(http://singularityhub.com/2009/10/19/openwetware-the-wikipedia-of-biology/, http://www.eol.org/)





Proliferation of online science/science2.0 is also good for online education/learning2.0
-As a by-product of professionals and experts conducting science and publishng the results on the web, non-experts can also harness the vast resources.
(http://acawiki.org/Home, iTunesU or other videos and documents)





Scientific blog as a main platform for doing science
-Many experts turn to blog for a new platform of their intellectual pursuit. Lively debates among the likes of nobel prize winners and equally intellectual experts are taking place every day.
(http://everyone.plos.org/, http://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/Online+Resources, http://openpaleo.blogspot.com/2009/10/paleo-paper-challenge-in-blogosphere.html, http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/, http://scienceblogs.com/evolution/, http://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/HomePage, http://blog.openwetware.org/scienceintheopen/2009/11/05/reflections-on-science-20-from-a-distance-part-i/, http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/mathematical-research-and-the-internet/)





Emerging new media/tools for online science
-Twitter, blog, videos, and other new emerging form factors are vigorously sought out for further progress of science.
(http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/100-scientific-twitter-friends, http://www.onlinedegreeshub.com/blog/2009/50-useful-iphone-apps-for-science-students-teachers/, http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/56049/, http://friendfeed.com/scienceonline2010, http://www.jove.com/, http://www.scribd.com/doc/21394240/Skype-Journal-Research-Topics-in-Collaboration-2009q4, http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2009/09/13.html#a2439)





Collaborative/open source science between experts
-Some examples of experts conducting science online. Theoretical subjests(pure mathematics etc) are more suited for online science at the moment, but many other subjects are also proliferating. Equivalent to open source projects, where normally only experts participate.
 (http://www.aipuniphy.org/Portal/Portal.aspx, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7266/full/461879a.html, http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2009/10/math_folk_wisdom_in_an_electro.html, http://singularityhub.com/2008/09/06/open-source-project-aims-to-create-human-level-artificial-intelligence/, http://www.opencog.org/wiki/The_Open_Cognition_Project, http://www.walterjessen.com/promoting-open-source-science/)





Polymath project
-The most notable example of experts collaborating on the web.
(http://gowers.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/possible-future-polymath-projects/, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7266/full/461879a.html, http://michaelnielsen.org/polymath1/index.php?title=Polymath1, http://arxiv.org/abs/0910.3926, http://gowers.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/polymath-and-the-origin-of-life/)





Collaborative science between the general public (with some experts)
-Equivalent to social networking. Non experts helping each other with some experts' participation.
(http://mathoverflow.net/)





Crowd sourcing science/Citizen science
-The power of non experts being harnessed
(http://opendino.wordpress.com/, http://folding.stanford.edu/, http://www.usanpn.org/, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Genbank/index.html, http://jcb-dataviewer.rupress.org/, http://www.thesgc.org/iSee/, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8258501.stm, http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0410/p14s01-sten.htm?print=true, http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2009/09/frameworks-and-lessons-from-public.html, http://www.galaxyzooforum.org/, http://www.openaccessweek.org/2009/10/19/harnessing-openness-to-improve-research-committee-on-economic-development-report/, http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/10/23/tony-hey-and-citizen-science/, http://urban.cens.ucla.edu/projects/naturalist/, http://diybio.org/)





Problems with traditional science
-Is traditinal science obsolete and in need of renovation?
(http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=407705)






Data driven science
-If the data driven science, which recently receives great attention, becomes mainstream, then science will be more dependant and supplemented by the web.
(http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/rpi-ter100109.php, http://metamodern.com/2008/10/25/the-data-explosion-and-the-scientific-method/, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/technology/23compute.html?_r=1)





Online Hard Science
-Not only theory developments but also physical science can be done using the web. Not mainstream yet and still a mere speculation, but as more general open sourse hardware initiatives are now being successfully achieved, online hard science might also be possible.
(http://singularityhub.com/2009/10/29/open-hardware-for-molecular-biology-experiments/, http://openwetware.org/wiki/DIYbio:Notebook/Open_Gel_Box_2.0)












Other resources
(http://www.nextgenerationscience.com/science-resources/scienceonline2010-conference-on-science-and-the-web/, http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/garrett_lisis_exceptional_approach_to_everything, http://madscientistjunior.blogspot.com/2009/08/culture-of-internet-is-permeating.html, http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1000165, http://www.oaspa.org/coasp/sessions.php, http://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/Online+Resources, http://2020science.org/category/rethinking-science-technology/, http://www.universetoday.com/carnival-of-space/, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8325875.stm, http://twitter.com/michael_nielsen/statuses/5562947162)



Many other articles or studies on various topics can be found through the following links.
Science
Government
Learning
Google
Micro Payment
Publishing
Crowd Sourcing
Health
Open Access