Hello Folks, I'd like to introduce you to this week's blog topic with a little video, so click on the PLAY button and let's get to blogging about Science in the Web Age.
Here is the link to a series of short science journalism pieces from Nature on the topic.
And here is the video introduction to this week's blog entry. Note that it is available on YouTube. Later we will see how to embed the video blog link right in this blog window for immediate streaming to your desktop (no download required).
Whereas it used to be publish or perish in terms of scholarly written articles and books its now upload or perish. Stranger how in only a few years the internet has changed, well everything.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think that discipline-specific databases are a good and positive advancement for certain fields I fear that we will become too reliant on in simple terms using the work of others to further our own.
Scientific competitiveness drives the field and as such having too much personal work and data online although great for collaboration creates problems with authorship. How much can we base our research on others and still sign our names as the sole author. Intellectual property rights are already a problem and with the onset of these online communities of ideas and scholars I fear the problem could spiral out of hand. Sharing is great but the fine lines around the act can become very muddled quickly
So has anyone tried to read an entire book on their computer screen. Its impossible unless you want your head to implode. I think there will still be a need for printed material because it will remain easier to buy or get a book from a library than printing the whole thing. On the other hand the transfer and availability of information is being revolutionized and I don't think anyone can stop it. How many of you have music that hasn't been bought and breaks copyright laws.
ReplyDeleteI think the general idea of putting books online makes sense. I agree about trying to read a book on a computer screen. The thought makes my head hurt. I thought alot about what they said i think in the 3rd article about the ways in which apple ipods changed music. Copyright is such a huge issue for artist and musicians everywhere i feel some of the same issues would arise with publishing books online for writers. While it does and continues to make looking for thing online alot easier, i still cant weigh the costs and benefits equally. I think in the end someone would be cheater, even if that means people skewing information on wikipedias and other resources. I know when I was in highschool we werent allowed to use Wikipedia as a resource because you dont know where the information is coming from or who is changing it. I dont know something to think about!
ReplyDeleteSo, I get it. Its better for the world for scietnist to share their info on the web however the competetive nature of academics makes getting scooped a very real possiblity if your info is on the web. There is also the an ethical issue here, if data is published on the web it becomes free information, what is going to stop someone from taking data someone publishes on the web and using it with out give credit to the data the orginal publisher put on the web. The avaibality of journals on the web to me is fabulous I can sit down and create a working bibliography for almost any topic in a couple of hours. Be that as it may I would still be a little nervous about putting my info out there.
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ReplyDeleteOk, the comment about the PDA book...I have read chapters of a book on a PDA before. It is nice to be able to pass the time while you are in an airport or are waiting for class. As for the size issue of it, I mean look at the Ipod video. I am able to watch videos on it fine. Sure in about 10 years or so I will need a magnifying glass, but even right now they are working on a fold out type of screen for ipods and other small technology. We want everything smaller, but then complain it is too small to read from it or watch anything on our devices. As for the scientific blogs not being utilized, I think it is a shame. I mean we could get some great ideas bouncing off of one another. That person may look at our idea/problem in a different light and may hold the key to solving the equation. I understand most blogs are useless soap boxes, but for the ones in your field, it may be a great vehicle to get your research out there and gain some valuable feedback. In fact I am thinking about starting a wiki about blacksmithing. Hopefully it will allow myself and other students who are working on similar projects to put our heads together and crank out a more detailed report of the site. I can honestly say that I have used Google books and love it. Yes, I was one of those people who bought the book after reading part of it. I can't wait for them to digitize more books.
ReplyDeleteA few things, In the "let data speak to data" piece, I found that the author neglected the biggest issue until the last paragraph...scientific competitiveness, of course one would want to protect their data, lest someone else take credit and publish on your hard work. I though the tone of the piece relegated this to an afterthought and I think that is an unfair stance.
ReplyDeleteSecondly "the expanding electronic universe" The thought of "restricted blogs" for the intelligence community scares me to no end. Two reasons, One, no system has ever been created that is unhackable, and sensitive information out on the internet is not a good idea, two the governments track record is not the best with this kind of informations. Take the case of the college kid from New Zealand bought an MP3 player at a thrift store. He later found out the player had top secret government documents on it, oops...check it out http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-01-28-newzealand-man-usmilitary_N.htm
Finally considering the article "The real death of Print", I don't know, I like books, like real books, with a binding and that smell of ink and paper. Now do I think an online database of books is cool, absolutely! Information should be searchable on the internet, copyright should be obeyed, but information should be out there...think of it this way, In the world of Star Trek (I know dorky right), but the ships computer has every book ever written to be searched through and read, at the same time Captain Kirk is one of the best read characters in TV history. He prizes above all his books, in print, Milton, Shakespeare, Dickens etc. I mean Star Trek was right about the communicator (we call it the cellphone)...so why not a searchable web of books.
To be quite honest, I really don't like reading something that's on a computer screen. This is one thing, but reading an entire book, or even just an article hurts my eyes. Therefore, I print it out on paper anyway. However, I still am able to get that information quickly and without even leaving my apartment, which could come in handy during the winter months.
ReplyDeleteIs this lazy? Waiting for the book to come out on screen play, and getting the information that way, is lazy. And it could be a long time before we anthropologists see some of our work be made into a hollywood blockbuster.
It is obvious that technological advances are going to have their pros and cons. I agree with Patrick that head implosion is a direct result of trying to read an entire book on a PC screen.
ReplyDeleteThe printed page has a great many years left in my opinion. It is like MP3's and hard copies. It seems to be a trend in music buying now to buy the Vinyl copy because they typically come with the code for the MP3 download so you can have the album art, that great vinyl sound and the album on your zune or ipod. The point is most people like to have something physical when they spend money. But I digress......
Jason makes an excellent point about the electronic version being extraordinarily convenient, I have had many articles on my flashdrive for storage until I am ready to read them and when I am I just print it/them out.
A comment on the fear of plagiarism that is mentioned by several of you in relation to putting one's data out there on the web...isn't there the possibility of someone stealing your data whenever you present it (e.g., at a conference, a brown bag, a regular publication, or online)? Isn't this simply one of the results of any form of publication? Is it any scarier on the web, and if so, why? We do have safeguards built into all of these systems of publication, including peer review, the fear of being caught, and the honor system (how quaint!). The molecular biologists have already created an online database for genetic sequence data (required for all work that was funded by the US government) that allows a reasonable period of time for the principal investigator to publish their own analyses, followed by uploading the raw data (i.e., the gene sequence)to the GenBank website. Remember, raw data by themselves are almost never published: you have to do some analyses to warrant a publication. This system allows other investigators access to comparative data that can be compared to one's own data, or data to be analyzed in new and different ways. I really believe we need something similar in Anthropology (esp. Bio and Archy, maybe Linguistics too...not sure about Cultural).
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