Earlier this month Seed Media, the organisation behind the excellent Seed Magazine, launched Research Blogging – a great new website/hub for disseminating peer-reviewed research. In light of this, The Economist discusses the future of scientific debate on the Internet.
Although Web 2.0, with its emphasis on user-generated content, has been derided as a commercial cul-de-sac, it may prove to be a path to speedier scientific advancement. According to Adam Bly, Seed’s founder, internet-aided interdisciplinarity and globalisation, coupled with a generational shift, portend a great revolution. His optimism stems in large part from the fact that the new technologies are no mere newfangled gimmicks, but spring from a desire for timely peer review.