j1m

Like Einstein, we have a small group of trusted collaborators with whom we exchange questions and ideas when we are stuck. Unfortunately, most of the time even our collaborators aren’t that much help. They may point us in the right direction, but rarely do they have exactly the expertise we need. Is it possible to scale up this conversational model, and build an online collaboration market [4] to exchange questions and ideas, a sort of collective working memory for the scientific community? It is natural to be skeptical of this idea, but an extremely demanding creative culture already exists which shows that such a collaboration market is feasible - the culture of free and open source software." - j1m

This article was a big Eureka moment for me. As I read on, it made me realize how much I buy into the idea that the entrenched system of science should stay -- that is, the idea that credit is allocated to journal articles, thus completely setting aside a Release Early, Release Often approach, which would be much more successful. Suddenly, I realize that Science is just as far off-course as the Newspaper industry or the Music industry. And I'm suddenly firmly convinced that the right thing to do is spool your data directly into your www directory as you run your experiment. And have a system where it's a matter of routine for, say, random undergraduates at other schools to analyze your data and write about it, but you get credit for all the buzz you generate, so you don't have to worry about being scooped. - j1m

'If shoestores operated like scientists trading ideas, first Alice and Bob would need to get to know one another, maybe go for a few beers in a nearby bar. Only then would Alice finally say “you know, I’m looking for some shoes”. After a pause, and a few more beers, Bob would say “You know what, I just happen to have some shoes I’m looking to sell”. Every working scientist recognizes this dance' - j1m