From the Science Commons blog …

James Boyle‘s latest column in The Financial Times – “The irony of a web without science” – examines how the lessons learned from the world wide web can and should be applied to the sciences. From research funding to commercial publishing, Boyle posits that the capabilities made available through the advent of the Web and its design are not adequately being applied to scientific research.

Boyle writes:

“The greatest irony, though, is this. The world wide web was designed in a scientific laboratory to facilitate access to scientific knowledge. In every other area of life – commerce, social networking, pornography – it has been a smashing success. But in the world of science itself? With the virtues of an open web all around us, we have proceeded to build an endless set of walled gardens, something that looks a lot like Compuserv or Minitel and very little like a world wide web for science.”

The article notes a key element of Science Commons philosophy – the almost-mythical “e-research” world, where collaboration is the norm and we design our systems for the network. […]

More after the jump …