Olivia Judson

["Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com>]

Olivia Judson has an interesting New York Times blog post, which 
can be found here:

http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/defeating-bedlam/?ref=opinion

The topic is software tools to help scientists fight through the 
"bedlam" of information.  She reviews two products:  Zotero and 
Papers.  People familiar with Judson's work will find here her 
admirably clear writing and talent for instruction.

Still and all I could not help but wonder how it is that the 
scientific community could be content to work with software that 
is at least a half step, maybe a full step or more, behind what 
students take for granted. Desktop applications?  PDFs?  No, I 
don't think so.  Compare this piece to Dana Goodyear's infinitely 
more sophisticated article in the Dec. 22 issue of "The New 
Yorker" on so-called cell phone novels.

Joe Esposito