Scientific Communities in the Digital Age

["Greg Tananbaum" <gtananbaum@gmail.com>]

An interesting read on how one discipline - nanotechnology - is 
leveraging Web 2.0 tools (including user-generated content, 
podcasts, videos, dynamic tagging, and user ratings) to create a 
vibrant community:

http://www.gridtoday.com/grid/1743849.html

Kudos to Purdue University, the NSF, and its partners for 
demonstrating the feasibility and vibrancy of such a platform. 
The technology is subject-agnostic and soon to be released as 
open source, so it will be interesting to see how well it 
translates into other disciplines.  At present, nanoHub (heaven 
bless 'em, they even nailed the Cummings-esque capitalization of 
the best web ventures) has some 24,000 users. Importantly, they 
have combined to run close to a quarter-million simulations on 
posted data.  New connections and new science are being forged in 
real time here.

Best, Greg
_________________________

  Greg Tananbaum
gtananbaum@gmail.com
(510) 295-7504