1

The long tail and peer production of scientific research. Or, here comes

everybody and there goes the neighborhood.

School of Information, University of Texas at Austin22 April 2008

William L. Anderson, Praxis101

Except where otherwise marked.

2

Jeffrey Heer: Friendster network, Feb 2004: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~jheer/socialnet/

The Internet is an interactive and social web; everyone can share and publish.

Should I worry?

3

New communities of research and

scholarship include everyone.

Yes doctor, I am worried.

4

Elizabeth Pennisi, News of the WeekScience 21 March 2008:Vol. 319. no. 5870, pp. 1598 - 1599DOI: 10.1126/science.319.5870.1598

© 2008 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All Rights Reserved.

“Excuse me, you want to do what to my data?”

5

Recent computer analysis of biomedical literature shows ~1.25% of papers are

duplicates.

http://discovery.swmed.edu/dejavu/

6

“Edinburgh. We have a problem.”

http://freefoto.com

7

Open science is an extension of three new Internet effects and perspectives.

8

The Long Tail

y =1x

9

The Long Tail is not only about selling; it’s also about producing.

Long tail of selling*

Rule 1: Make everything available.

Rule 2: Cut the price in half. Now lower it.

Rule 3: Help me find it.

* Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine 2004

Long tail of production

Rule 1: Let everyone participate.

Rule 2: Lower the cost of publication and distribution.

Rule 3: Make everything findable.

10

Web 2.0 is more than outbound services; it’s also about coordinating collaborative creation

and production.

11

“Citizen science” sounds good, but open research with everybody is one scary

thought.

SXSW 2002-03-09"Photo courtesy PDPhoto.org"

12

The three stages of expertise …

http://blog.gardeviance.org/2008/04/three-stages-of-expertise.html

13

Citizen science?It’s not really new.

Henrietta Swan Leavitt.1868 - 1921

Michael Faraday. 1791 - 1857

14

15

Civil engineering for everyone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0

16

This method can move 1 ton 300 ft. in 1 hr.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0

17

One person’s classification system.

18

But when you look at the whole cloud …

19

Participation can have many faces.

20

Long tail science means leaving the

door open.

Making this work requires user-

centered informatics

improvements in all disciplines.

21

Open doors need gatekeepers. Discuss.

http://libweb.uoregon.edu/admnpers/dataservices.html

22

Thank you.

band@praxis101.com

Twitter: @band