Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!rob!elliston
From: elliston@rob.UUCP ( Keith Elliston)
Newsgroups: bionet.general
Subject: Re: The Art of Starting Discussions
Summary: electronic journals..... maybe.
Message-ID: <357@rob.UUCP>
Date: 18 May 89 16:18:47 GMT
References: <8905161052.AA27822@net.bio.net> <24528@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: MSDRL, Merck & Co.,Inc., Rahway, NJ
Lines: 47

In article <24528@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>, ladasky@codon3.berkeley.edu (John Ladasky;1021 Solano No. 2;528-8666) writes:
> In article <12494445366.14.KRISTOFFERSON@BIONET-20.BIO.NET> Kristofferson@BIONET-20.BIO.NET (David Kristofferson) writes:
> 	I'm only a lowly undergraduate, so I'm sure that my head is still

We all started out this way....
> cluttered with silly, idealistic visions of scientific researchers cooper-
> ating as much as possible in order to make a better world 8^).  The problem 
> with discussing research is not isolated to the biology newsgroups.  There
> is secrecy to be found wherever there is credit to be taken.

Unfortunately you will find that fewer and fewer researchers are interested in
sharing their data, for just the reasons you mention.... credit.  I wish that 
the days of full coooperation were still upon us.
> 
> 	The results of the research were controversial, and the informa-
> tion available to other researchers was apparently quite sparse.   The use
> of newsgroups and FAX transmissions has actually been criticized for failing
> to provide enough information to accurately reproduce the experiment in the
> way that a journal article would allow.
> 
> 	Hopefully, the presence of near-instantaneous communication facilities 
> will not tempt us to jump the gun with our conclusions or omit details.  Of
> course, newsgroups are a perfect forum for speculation.  There's no sense in
> even starting a series of experiments that you could not justify to your scien-
> tific peers.  The trick is to tell your colleagues enough about what you're 
> doing to get their input, without giving away all your secrets...

I have been thinking about the concept of an electronic journal for some time.  
Something that could easily be distributed (like e-mail), but that would be 
complete, like a journal article.  I think that I have a few good ideas, and
am in the process of getting them going.  My question is this.... do you think
that something like this would catch on, or would it just not be used, mcuh
like much of the network facilities we now have.

> "Do unto others as you would like		       - John J. Ladasky ("ii")
>  to do unto them. " Richard Bach		  (ladasky@enzyme.berkeley.edu)

-Keith

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Keith O. Elliston                        |  Usenet:  uunet!rob!elliston 
Senior Information Scientist             |  Arpanet: rob!elliston@uunet.uu.net 
Merck Sharp & Dohme Res. Lab.            |  Bitnet:  elliston%rob.uucp@psuvax1
Rahway, NJ  07065  U.S.A.                |   -or-    elliston@biovax 
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Disclaimer:  I can have no OFFICIAL comments about anything........
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