By Christina Folz, OPN Managing Editor
I attended a lecture this morning on “Science 2.0” at the American Center for Physics in College Park, Md. It was given by Ben Shneiderman from the University of Maryland’s Computer Science Department, who wrote a compelling article on the same topic that appeared in the March 7, 2008, issue of the journal Science.
Schneiderman made the case that modern scientists need to adapt new methods in order to keep current and solve complex 21st century problems (e.g., exploring alternative energy, reducing global warming, protecting ourselves against terrorism and remaining competitive). He talked about the need for scientists to adopt more interactive, interdisciplinary approaches that integrate social media tools (e.g., the “wiki” model for review). In addition, as they adopt Science 2.0 strategies, scientists will gradually move away from a model in which data are only generated in controlled studies; they will also embrace large data sets and case studies drawn from imperfect, multivariate, real-time, real-world data.
He also mentioned that, in the future, the underlying data for research will become more and more important, and that scientists will need to become accustomed to that reality. In fact, Shneiderman said that some scientific journals are no longer willing to publish articles if authors do not provide their raw data along with their manuscripts.
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2008-06 June, Information technology, Miscellaneous Optics
social media, social networking, osa, internet, information technology, science, publishing