Web 2.0 for Scientists

Thanks to busines|bytes|genes|molecules (at the interface of biology and information technology) I have been introduced to a new blog. It is by Andrew Walkingshaw who is at the Unilever Center for Molecular Informatics at Cambridge University. He has prepared a series videos on YouTube from his seminar seminar on Web 2.0 for Scientists. Here is the complete set of videos:



Scientists of today are not particularly enamored with Web 2.0. Andrew Walkingshaw points out in his seminar that the generations of scientists a-coming, starting with the class of 2008, will have grown up using Web 2.o and we can't expect them to empathize with the currently prevailing reticence to adopt open access nor our reluctance to take advantage of the collaborative, dynamic interactive venues freshly available. Web 2.0 enables collaborative science too well, is too powerful a query tool, is too easy to implement, too satisfying, and too easy to participate in to be dismissed.

What does this mean for soil science in general, and for private sector soil scientists in particular? As Andrew tells us, this changes ... everything.