COLLABORATIONS IN CHEMISTRY - Collaborative Computational Technologies for Biomedical Research - page 89

The complete process of scientifi c research (including chemistry) can be
supported by a myriad of tools and technologies online. As yet, compounds
cannot be synthesized automatically by a simple request online but the
command can be sent to a far-off laboratory and the results shipped to you.
Your research can easily be posted online for others to see and comment on
using a multitude of Web 2.0 platforms (see Table 5.1). At the time of writing
there are generally no associated costs with sharing the data other than the
time and effort associated with posting the information (data upload, checking,
and publishing). Although only a tiny minority of chemists do this today, in
the future this is likely to grow as a Web presence for a scientist is measured
not only by peer-reviewed publications online but rather by the contributions
of a scientist to the scientifi c commons. We predict that with this change will
come dramatic improvements in scientifi c communication and, one can envis-
age, improved data validation, engaging feedback between scientists and the
initiation of new collaborations between previously unconnected scientists.
What is preventing this today? One roadblock is the delay in uptake of new
communication technologies in the chemistry fi eld which has been termed
“latency” [7]. This naturally leads to more questions around what can be done
to foster communication (and embrace new technologies) between chemists
and other groups in pharma, biotech, and academia. What is needed for the
collaborators to successfully accomplish their goals?

5.2 CROWDSOURCING

Crowdsourcing uses the wisdom of the many (the “crowd”) and their varied
perspectives to benefi t community-based efforts. A loose defi nition of crowd-
sourcing is “outsourcing a task to a group or community of people in an open
call”—a phenomenon, culture, or movement best summarized in the topic
Wikinomics, How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything [8] . Crowdsourcing
approaches have contributed enormous societal benefi t as well as created new
businesses. One of the greatest success stories of crowdsourced approaches is
the phenomenon known as Wikipedia. The open-source operating system,
Linux, is the result of the programming efforts of thousands of people around
the world contributing to a free code base. The business value to organizations
that have adopted Linux is enormous and IBM alone has estimated savings in
the hundreds of millions of dollars by adopting the Linux platform. Wikipedia
is a global success story and, one would assume, has coerced the hearts and
minds of the masses to assist in the creation of the world's foremost encyclo-
pedia, a free resource where even the data can be reused and repurposed
under appropriate licenses. The reality is a little different, however: While
many thousands of contributors have helped to shape the multilingual articles,
the number is a tiny fraction of the number of people who access Wikipedia.
The reality of crowdsourcing is that there are only a small number of contribu-
tors relative to the number of consumers. In general, studies have shown that