Re: scientific publishing process (was Re: Cost and access)

On Fri, 2014-10-03 at 10:32 -0700, Alexander Garcia Castro wrote:
> from reading all these emails it seems to me that we are somehow
> thinking just in terms of the same document just that more friendly
> for a web browser. I would argue that having a layout friendly
> document has been solved long ago, the problem is having an
> interoperable document beyond just having the usual metadata (author,
> tittle, etc). 
>  

Yes. We are setting the bar too low. The field of knowledge computing
will only reach maturity when authors can publish their theses in such a
manner that one can programmatically extract the concepts, propositions,
and arguments; merge and reconcile them with one's own collection of
concepts, propositions, and arguments; and manipulate (test, compare,
confirm, etc.) them to alter or enlarge one's knowledge.

This is nothing but computer assistance for the age-old way of knowledge
dissemination and acquisition heretofore mediated by printed material
and executed by thoughtful readers. (See Mortimer Adler, "How to read a
book" and Sister Miriam Joseph, "The Trivium".)

I suspect some system for doing this could be cobbled together with
existing RDF and XML standards and technology, but there is much room
for improvement.

Regards,
--Paul

<snip>

Received on Friday, 3 October 2014 21:07:52 UTC