Academia and Web 2.0: More work needed?
An article in Research Information suggests that academia hasn’t taken hold of the opportunities available from Web 2.0 tools (social network sites, blogging, wikis, and so on):
“Unfortunately there are few signs that academics are really embracing the new opportunities offered by Web 2.0. Many academics’ idea of online collaboration is still emailing the findings they have arrived at independently to one another, while their notion of an innovative method of promoting research results is the obligatory ‘project web site’. Such sites usually offer little more than a description of the project, a list of the partners, and possibly some photographs of awkward-looking academics standing around at kickoff meetings. It is true that the more adventurous may embrace a rarely-updated project blog or project wiki. However, overall these online elements are generally rather stale affairs, reflecting researchers going through the boxticking motions rather than embracing the true potential of web technologies.”
Is the author being overly harsh, or do they make a good point? Give the article a read and see what you think.
