Thursday, 16 May 2013

The Generosity of New Media—Science, Technology and Innovation


While science, technology, innovation and invention are the main factors that have led our society to where it is today, it is the link these issues have with media that will contribute to the path our future will take.

For years now, science and technology have been the reason life progresses at the rapid speed it does. Science publishing is not just an industry, it’s also the core factory for knowledge transfer in the world (Wilbanks, 2011). While at the time when print media was at its peek, it consequently had been the main source of spreading such vital information, although it was a costly process. Now it does not have the same power it did when it initially was used.

Thanks to the speed and progression of technology, we are at a point in time where media has the power to spread the use and relevance of science any where around the world. One example of this is, as written about by Elizabeth Pisani (2011), is science researchers sharing data between them in order to speed up the process of finding cures for diseases. By sharing each others findings and working together, researchers will not only have access to more material, but also good quality data. Without new media, this accessibility and distribution of this type of information would not be possible.

As a result, this change of the use of technology is fundamental in understanding the shift in publishing today (Wilbanks, 2011). We are now at a point where networks of data can be accessed online and for minimal or no cost. It is this cheap and accessible distribution of common knowledge that has contributed to the current success of science and technology in the world today.    

open science

References:


Pisani, Elizabeth (2011) ‘Medical science will benefit from the research of crowds’, The Guardian, January 11, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/11/medical-research-data-sharing >

Wilbanks, John (2011) ‘On Science Publishing’, Seed, < http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/on_science_publishing >

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