From: Laval Hunsucker <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:52:08 -0700

I was curious whether anyone here takes seriously what Michael
Nielsen writes about the future of scientific communication, of
scientific progress and recognition, and of traditional journal
publishing, in his book _Reinventing discovery : the new era of
networked science_ (Princeton University Press, 2011).

In _Nature_ 478.7369 (on p.321), Chris Lintott concludes his
review of that book by asserting that Nielsen "convinces us that
radical change is a real possibility", and that his book "will frame
serious discussion and inspire wild, disruptive ideas for the next
decade."

If the radical change foreseen by Nielsen actually takes place, then
there will surely likewise be radical consequences for those aspects
of library systems and services which constitute the raison d'être
of this discussion list.  How realistic is Nielsen's take on science's
"new era" ?

Or is Nielsen ( himself a physicist / computer scientist ) just a
daydreamer, and Lintott ( an astrophysicist ) too naïvely credulous ?

I don't recall that this matter was previously brought up on this
list, and I don't see from the archives that it has been.

- Laval Hunsucker
  Breukelen, Nederland