Open Science

It is well known that with the development of new media and ubiquity of the internet, media companies and journalists have had to adapt to these changes.  Some of these changes have been outlined in previous posts, including the idea of a multi platform journalist who can publish stories not just in print form, but internet as well.  The media industry, which often receives the most focus on this issue, is not the only industry that has had to adapt.  Science is slowly recognising that publishing articles solely in print journals is outdated and expensive with scientists calling ‘open’ sites to conduct and publish research and develop an online community.

The internet has transformed the science industry with a gap created in science publishing.  This gap is slowly being filled with the development of online archives and journals such as Public Library of Science, which has promoted many to publish journals in a more streamlined process.  This gap has also created an online community to help scientists collaborate and publish.  This online community is a mix between other popular social networking sites facebook, twitter and LinkedIn and is just as popular amongst the science community with over 1.5 million members.

This community is called ResearchGate and it was developed by two researchers who realised the gap in the industry and how difficult it was to collaborate with colleagues on the other side of the world.  On the ResearchGate website it states that “the rapid evolution of technology has opened the door to change; by providing you with the right tools, we strive to facilitate scientific collaboration on a global scale”.  ResearchGate as an online community has numerous functions including; a place to store research, contacts and resume of expertise, to link people together to solve problems, a database of publications and a job site.

It is clear that new media has significantly shifted and changed many industries.  In previous posts, and my focus personally, has only ever looked at how this affected the media industry, without thinking how new media has impacted other industries.  The music industry is another example with issues around sharing and downloading music online.  The Science industry is seemingly adapting hoping to step away from the solely print publishing journals and creating spaces for scientists to share work online.