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NSF Works Toward A Digital Science Library

Posted by timothy on from the what-the-internet-is-for dept.

An anonymous reader writes "USA Today has an article on the effort of 'More than 100 teams of educators nationwide are working with the National Science Foundation to develop what they hope will be the nation's most comprehensive digital library for the sciences.'" The article describes this library as intended to "support science education at all levels, from pre-kindergarten through postdoctoral research."

4 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. database of everything by crossconnects · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The internet is supposed to be an interactive database of everything Classic art and Literature, science, etc.

    --
    no big sig
  2. Is this really what the internet is for? by flopsy+mopsalon · · Score: 2, Insightful
    From the article:
    "If someone were teaching a course on the brain in high school science, for example, and wanted to find good pictures of the brain, well, they're all over the place," said John Saylor, director of collection development for the NSDL and director on leave from Cornell's engineering library.

    "The idea is to come to the NSDL, where you could find some good brain pictures and know where they came from," Saylor said. "They would have a certain level of authority. Every collection is identified for the user."

    So it's going to be a collection of information approved by government-funded experts. While this is a good idea and has its uses, I question the assumption that this is what the internet is for.

    To me, the internet should be about the free exchange of information, and individuals making their own decisions about what is appropriate.

  3. This is quite cool, by sstory · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because it raises the possibility of having the Ultimate Textbook. It is currently arduous to find comprehensive, well-developed resources for science. That's why 97% of my undergrad physics education is being done with dead-tree technology, and 3% is being done with email, mathematica, physlink, etc. This is the second recent big step in the right direction, the first being MIT's recent program. Soon, teachers and students will have quicker access to the meat, without being forced to endure a deluge of thousands of indistinct links, etc.

  4. Re:Is my dream... by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Insightful
    No, I'm afraid it's not your dream. Your dream included real research, without an attached social and political agenda.

    This will be Bush science.

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."