Scientific Communities 2.0

TELI Journalistenvereinigung für technisch-wissenschaftliche Publizistik (German Association for Technical / Scientifc Publishing) (German Science Writers Guild) Scientific Communities 2.0 Brave (?) New World of Networked Science – ResearchGate, NatureNetwork, Mendeley & Co. 20 June 2011, 2 – 5 p.m. - ResearchGate event Helmholtz Association, Head Office Berlin - Facebook event - Blog posting Anna-Louisa-Karsch-Strasse 2, 10178 Berlin Open Access was just the beginning; now it is Open Science which is on the verge of a breakthrough. Scientists are increasingly using online platforms and software tools not only to blog or tweet, but also to conduct their research virtually. They do not just stockpile their publications on the institute’s web site, but also share them with their peers, together with ongoing recommendations for literature findings. Hundreds of thousands of scientists worldwide meanwhile discuss on platforms like BiomedExperts, NatureNetwork or ResearchGate, thereby cultivating an increasingly collaborative research practice which often brings about new trans-disciplinary knowledge networks. Connections between scientists or even citation cartels today can be analysed and visualised within seconds. Researchers now have “followers”, publicly showing their “impact points” as if that was their personal golf handicap. Some university chairs service their own TV channels on iTunes and live out the new opportunities of public science as far as possible. While the experts are still debating potential impact falsifications of scientific publishing through academic search engine optimisation, some scientists are already making intensive use of the new ways of pushing their publications up in the rankings and search results. Which of these trends will just be a temporary hype, and which development will substantially change the way research is being done in the long run? Is the internet thereby returning to Tim Berners-Lee’s original concept of collaboration among scientific institutions? How can the public make use of academia’s new transparency? How can journalists find new subjects to cover or identify experts through the virtual networks? How can they use the web 2.0 as a criterion for relevance or even as an early warning system? This is what we will discuss with the following experts: - Dr. med. Soenke Bartling, radiologist and researcher in molecular imaging, German Cancer Research Center - Dr. Ijad Madisch, M.D. PhD, founder and CEO, ResearchGate - Ian Mulvany, Vice President New Product Development, Mendeley - Lou Woodley, Community Specialist, Nature Publishing Moderation: Alexander Gerber, Managing Director, innocomm Research Centre for Science and Innovation Communication The discussion will mainly be held in English. Individual questions may be translated from German into English. Members of TELI or WPK are requested to pay 5 Euro each for beverages. Non-members are requested to share costs, 30 Euros per participant. Registration is required by 17 June at anmeldung-berlin@teli.de or wpk@wpk.org / +49 228 - 95 79 840 (9 a.m. - 1 p.m.)