Science 2.0 - a new way of doing research?

Web 2.0 as a platform has begun to transform the web and already divides users into first generation and second generation internet users. Certainly in the online travel arena, which I know well, for many younger people, there is increasing evidence that email and static web content is no longer being used, with dynamic content, interactive websites, chat forums and instant messaging the norm for this second generation - in particular social networking is becoming the dominant form of web traffic through the popularity of review sites for travel and purchasing like Tripadvisor, social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo and social contribution sites like wikipedia.

There is now a move online to take science research into the social networking category also, with research publications being released into the wild for instant review in the form of online commentary from the science community rather than peer review prior to publication as happens most often now. Science 2.0 could bring information on stream much more quickly, but of course does so with a caveat that the work has yet to be tested. A project that began in MIT is set to go more mainstream - OpenNetWare in the biological sciences. The approach is likely to proliferate among younger scientists in the coming years. Scientific American discusses whether this will be a good thing or a bad thing for science.

See Scientific American.