Three stories about science and the web
Collaborating on the same document
Tom, Dick, and Harry are collaborating on a paper. Tom, being the PhD student, does all the work and then writes the paper. Tom then sends a copy to Dick and Harry who edit it with their opinions. Unfortunately Dick completely removes the second paragraph of the discussion, while Harry expands it. Both then send their edited copies back to Tom.Tom now has to email them both to discuss what to do about this paragraph. Much emailing goes backwards and forwards, and inboxes quickly get filled. Finally Dick and Harry decide to stick with the original version of the paragraph: as written by Tom. Unfortunately, in the mean time Tom's computer has crashed and the document is lost. Tom, Dick, and Harry never work together again.
Rewind to the beginning. Instead of writing the manuscript on his computer, Tom, being quite clever, gets a Google account and writes everything in Google Docs (other options are available). Tom then sends the link to Dick and Harry. Dick and Harry sign in and start editing. Because everything is online, and in the same place, Dick and Harry are always looking at the most recent version: any changes Dick makes, Harry sees immediately. This means that Tom doesn't have to sort out changes in two different documents. And when Tom's computer crashes, the document is safe online, as with the different versions that are stored with it.
Harry is so pleased at how easy it was working with Tom and Dick that he invites them round for a BBQ; Tom and Harry's sister get on famously and end up getting married, everyone lives happily ever after.
Sharing information
Dave is a PhD student, his work has been going well so far and has started writing a paper. He's thinking about what to do after his PhD, and he's heard that conferences are a good place to network and arrange a post-doc. Dave submits an abstract for a conference, and a month later he hears that he's been accepted to present a poster. At the conference Dave has people come up to talk to him about his work, and gets a few contacts to talk to about a postdoc-ing. Dave is happy and looks forward to getting new job.Meanwhile, James is a PhD whose work has been going well, and is also starting to write a paper. Like Dave, James wants to find a post-doc, so he applies and is accepted to give a poster at the same conference. However James doesn't want to wait till then to network with other researchers; James starts a blog to discuss the finer points of the techniques that interest him, as well as the papers that he likes. Other people his area of research find his blog, read it and write a few comments.
As time goes by, James also starts to discuss certain points of his research as he writes his paper. People take an interest in a new technique that James has pioneered and ask for more information. In response James produces a video for JOVE, and writes a short description of it for OpenWetWare, both link back to James and his blog. When the conference comes round, James gets to meet a lot of people who have heard of him through is blog. One person who is particularly impressed with James is Dave's girlfriend. James leaves with a number of offers for a post doc, a new girlfriend, and feeling very pleased with himself.
Finding scientific information
Claire is a new post doc, starting in new field in a new lab. Claire needs to get up to date on this field so she can start churning out papers.Like most researchers Claire uses PubMed to get relevant articles and reviews. However, Claire is also clued up on how the Internet is changing the way that scientific information is disseminated, so Claire also searches for blogs in her area of research using technorati. Able to find a couple, Claire uses these to get informal opinion, that help him understand her field further. Also using Nature's Postgenomic Claire can find blog posts that directly reference published papers. Similarly, Claire looks at Connotea where other researchers can leave comments on articles that they find of interest. Claire also read articles on OpenWetWare, watches videos on JOVE and SciVee.tv to learn about common techniques and methods in her field. Finally, Claire joins Nature Network, an online scientific community where Claire can meet and discuss her field with other researchers. Claire understands the Internet as another scientific tool, and does well in her career.
See also Check out Mr Gunn's related posts at Synthesis.
Creative Commons
The photo used in this post is taken from ocean.flynn on flickr and used under a creative commons licence.