Comments on: Science, tagging and the future of web apps? http://www.oneafrikan.com/2006/04/24/science-tagging-and-the-future-of-web-apps/ This is the evolution of One Afrikan. And this blog is going to change it's design too. Promise. Booyaa. Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:16:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Gareth Knight http://www.oneafrikan.com/2006/04/24/science-tagging-and-the-future-of-web-apps/comment-page-1/#comment-1040 Gareth Knight Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:24:05 +0000 http://www.oneafrikan.com/archives/2006/04/24/science-tagging-and-the-future-of-web-apps/#comment-1040 Hey Adrian Thanks for the links to MySociety and Web 2.0 For Good. Gonna check them out now. I don't doubt that journals are for peer-reviewed work, and not intended as a collaboration tool, but I still wonder why the scientists I was talking about above only found out about what each was doing so late into their respective projects... Surely if they had known about each other earlier on, they could have come to their conclusion sooner? That said, somethings just take time and happen in their own way, so maybe I'm drawing too much of a general comparison when I should be looking at more examples... Your point about people working with people they can see and interact with is so true, and I find that in pretty much everything I do - there is a lot to be said for human interaction, and this is why I don't think we'll ever truly replace human contact with robotic, but that's another conversation - but I do still think that if the academics are able to find each other quicker, and get access to research findings and results quicker, then that can only be a good thing. We also have to remember that the current generation of academics didn't grow up with the internet the way it is now. I can just imagine my zoology department at uni still using Pegasus mail just because they're so stuck in their ways and their just isn't budget to invest. They're not by definition early adopters (I'm talking everyone except the technology academics here). Perhaps the next generation of academics who have grown up with email, IM, skype, blogging, Wiki's etc etc will approach things differently? Hey Adrian

Thanks for the links to MySociety and Web 2.0 For Good. Gonna check them out now.

I don’t doubt that journals are for peer-reviewed work, and not intended as a collaboration tool, but I still wonder why the scientists I was talking about above only found out about what each was doing so late into their respective projects… Surely if they had known about each other earlier on, they could have come to their conclusion sooner?

That said, somethings just take time and happen in their own way, so maybe I’m drawing too much of a general comparison when I should be looking at more examples…

Your point about people working with people they can see and interact with is so true, and I find that in pretty much everything I do – there is a lot to be said for human interaction, and this is why I don’t think we’ll ever truly replace human contact with robotic, but that’s another conversation – but I do still think that if the academics are able to find each other quicker, and get access to research findings and results quicker, then that can only be a good thing.

We also have to remember that the current generation of academics didn’t grow up with the internet the way it is now. I can just imagine my zoology department at uni still using Pegasus mail just because they’re so stuck in their ways and their just isn’t budget to invest. They’re not by definition early adopters (I’m talking everyone except the technology academics here). Perhaps the next generation of academics who have grown up with email, IM, skype, blogging, Wiki’s etc etc will approach things differently?

]]> By: Adrian http://www.oneafrikan.com/2006/04/24/science-tagging-and-the-future-of-web-apps/comment-page-1/#comment-1039 Adrian Wed, 26 Apr 2006 16:06:34 +0000 http://www.oneafrikan.com/archives/2006/04/24/science-tagging-and-the-future-of-web-apps/#comment-1039 The simple answer to your question is that many people are deliberately using social web technologies to "make the world a better place" in all the myriad manifestations of what that means. This sounds like a candidate proposal for <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/proposals2006/about" rel="nofollow">MySociety</a> to evaluate for their next project. You might also consider an appearance at <a href="http://upcoming.org/event/72392/" rel="nofollow">Web 2.0 For Good</a>. More specifically, I don't think academics are wholly relying on journals to find out what others are working on. They're a place for formal publication of peer-reviewed work, not a clearing house for collaborators. Despite the advances in all kinds of information and communications technologies, not least the Internet itself which grew out of the academic world, most academics still seem to collaborate with others from their own universities. Proximity and face-to-face still matter - or are valued more highly over the costs involved with finding remote partners and working via ICT. The simple answer to your question is that many people are deliberately using social web technologies to “make the world a better place” in all the myriad manifestations of what that means.

This sounds like a candidate proposal for MySociety to evaluate for their next project.

You might also consider an appearance at Web 2.0 For Good.

More specifically, I don’t think academics are wholly relying on journals to find out what others are working on. They’re a place for formal publication of peer-reviewed work, not a clearing house for collaborators.

Despite the advances in all kinds of information and communications technologies, not least the Internet itself which grew out of the academic world, most academics still seem to collaborate with others from their own universities. Proximity and face-to-face still matter – or are valued more highly over the costs involved with finding remote partners and working via ICT.

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