Re: Newsletter & Call for Papers WebSci'18

Dear all,

I think the main loss we're having here is a lack of mutual understanding,
and such an understanding will not improve through ad hominems from either side.
We're researchers, we should know a thing or two about sound argumentation structure.

So, questions to all of you on here:

– Do we understand why publishing things on the Web is so important?
   That this is not a war of HTML versus PDF,
   but rather a question of using the Web's infrastructure to spread knowledge?

– Do we understand why conferences in general are drawn to paper-centric publishing?
   Are we sufficiently critical of universities giving more value to Springer/ACM-published papers
   compared to articles published on the Web—even if the latter go through the exact same process?

– Do we see the importance and social relevance of performing research in the open?
   Do we recognize the importance of having a public and verifiable scientific process?

Also, in this case, the unfortunate irony of having a conference about the Web
but simultaneously implying that the Web is insufficient for recognized scientific publication
is of course something we should dare to talk about and challenge.

Let's have some room for introspection and honesty.
What is really stopping us from taking the Web seriously as researchers?
And how can we preach one thing in our works, but practice another?

I think it would be helpful if the WebSci organizers explain
why they prefer a paper-centric workflow over using the Web,
and whether it makes sense for them to have that discussion
and consider changing in the future.
Happy to contribute to a discussion session at the conference.

Because the weird thing is that we challenge our PhD students
and all fellow researchers to be highly critical about their research;
yet when it comes to communicating about it, we're supposed to not think?
That's not how progress works.

If we as a Web community are not willing to challenge the status quo,
then who will?

Best,

Ruben

Received on Tuesday, 20 February 2018 11:39:30 UTC