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