Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science by Michael Nielsen (review)

In the early 17^th century, scholarly publications were considered a “public good,” in that both scholars and lay people benefited from shared knowledge. Fast forward 300 years and, in spite of the array of online tools for sharing research, scientists in the United States are slow to embrace the openness found in society at large. Michael Nielsen asserts that scientific discovery in the 21^st century remains impeded “by a closed scientific culture.” (p.182) In his book, Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science, Nielsen advocates open science, which is networked, collaborative, and shared, so that scientific research is once again realigned with the public good.

Nielsen, a pioneer in quantum computation, offers a compelling narrative, arguing that new “online tools offer us a fresh opportunity to improve the way discoveries are made.” (p.3) In recounting the PolyMath Project of 2007, Nielsen tenders a persuasive example of problem solving through collaboration. The PolyMath Project was an experiment devised by Tom Gowers, a Field Medal recipient at Cambridge University. Using his blog, Gowers posted an unsolved math problem. The responses, from high school math teachers to university professors, amounted to 800 mathematical comments in 37 days. Participants from all walks of life helped solve the original problem and in so doing, were even able to solve another more difficult math problem.

Throughout the nine chapters of this book, Nielsen challenges scientists to change their culture, to develop new incentives for sharing data, code, and other knowledge. To incentivize this new openness, Nielsen proposes citation tracking for both data and code as ways to reward scientists, so that they “begin to see building the data Web as an important part of their job, not as a distraction from the serious business of writing papers.” (p.196) Funding agencies can further incentivize by requiring applicants to submit evidence of public outreach, such as blogging, online videos, or by contributing to science wikis. In addition, Nielsen stressed that publically funded science should be open science. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy from 2008 already requires that researchers funded by NIH must deposit their papers in openly accessible archives such as PubMed. Open access (OA) publishing allows anyone with an Internet connection to freely access research articles. The OA model, although making strides, still faces significant obstacles as traditional journal publishers continue to dominate the market with pay-for-access. However, the pay-for-access model is not sustainable nor is it in the best interest of society. As Nielsen points out, “it’s now feasible to make all scientific knowledge freely available to all of humanity. And that will bring astonishing benefits.” (p. 165)

The use of online tools such as blogs and wikis is also changing “the role of science in society, including the ways they improve public access both to the results of science, and to the scientists themselves.” (p. 159) Nielsen emphasizes the expanding role of citizens in moving science forward with examples such as Galaxy Zoo, a website open to the public to assist in classifying photos of galaxies, and Foldit, an online computer game to tackle the question of how DNA gives rise to proteins. He advocates tapping the “cognitive surplus” found in society at large.

Nielsen’s book is timely and makes the case that scientists have the “opportunity to change the way knowledge is constructed.” (p. 206) Librarians reading this book will find content that is familiar such as the discussions on open access, open data, and data citation initiatives. The take-away is that Nielsen, as a scientist, is addressing his peers on topics that are also important to librarians. Perhaps Nielsen’s Reinventing Discovery: The Era of Networked Science will be the impetus for “lighting an almighty fire under the scientific community” in creating an open scientific culture. (p. 206)