Jim Leandro P. Cano AERS 142 Commentary Reading Assignment No. 1 Knowledge.

. They say it is one of the wellsprings of line, and true enough, it has been so for the world since the time people started discovering, inventing, and creating what they deemed beneficial for mankind. In the process of doing all these in the past, there was the issue of how to get that newfound knowledge out there to the world. When Gutenberg had invented the machine that could put all that knowledge into something which any person can virtually hold, read, and keep, there was an explosion of all that knowledge. There was an increase in mankinds total knowledge bank. Fast forward to the 21st century and we find ourselves in the middle of technological advancements. Everyone can be connected to any institution, any person from the other side of the world and communicate with them; all because of the presence of one technological advancement the Web. The Web has literally caught us and intertwined humans so that communication has become faster, more efficient, and most especially, convenient. The scientific community, which has been one of the great history-shaping groups, has found a way to communicate their researches with the Web. This is what the article tries to explain, the concept of collaborative science, where scientists are opening their researches to the public and not holding back their findings to the four corners of the laboratory. The argument and the gist of this article is the very essence of the simple concept taught in class Science Communication. Collaborative science is the action of science communication, where researches are laymanized for the public; and, not only that, but the public is also given the opportunity to help out in whatever way they can to further the research. Take for example the first project featured in the article, Galaxy Zoo. I took the liberty of checking the website and true enough, it does allow you to help classify pictures of galaxies taken by the different space telescopes out there like the Hubble. Kevin Schawinski and his team would not have classified that many galaxies if they were not willing to go naked as Jean Claude-Bradley would call himself. Naked in the sense that they were willing to be transparent to the world and give the ordinary Juan dela Cruz a chance to participate in writing history; in Galaxy Zoos case, classifying galaxies. In the words of Schawinski, Mass collaboration on the Internet is a powerful multiplier. From this setup, we can see that the model is not one way anymore, generator to communicator to user, but even vice versa. Thats what makes collaborative science more interesting because this allows the learning curve of not only the user, but also of the researcher, to be faster than before. Get the two sides of the communication channel to learn faster, and more ideas and researches can be sharpened for the purpose of making the world a better place for future generations. With regard to funding models, all I can think of was, What if there was a company/website/wikifunding scheme established for the sole purpose of pooling funds that will help projects and researches of scientists along with the interested citizens? And that the projects/researches that would be funded are really for the world and not just one side of the world; not just the west, but most especially to the parts that need help the most. I hope that funding bodies would not just be interested in helping those in their locale. That projects funded by this company would be aimed to end hunger, eradicate poverty, erase the presence of major and prevalent diseases, etc. It is not impossible given that collaborative science is now existent. All those researches made through collaboration around the globe just needs some boost, financially. And hopefully, thats where this wikifunding company comes in.

Jim Leandro P. Cano AERS 142 Commentary Reading Assignment No. 1 The boundaries of discovery and inventions are pushed farther with the globalization of science. It is not impossible anymore to see in the future computers that can compute and project how a piece of land would like given the trends of climate. Such a machine could help agriculturists program the necessary cropping systems around the world so that countries would be assured of food security. Developers would know the future landscape of Real Estate with that kind of information at hand. And the list of stakeholders can go on and on. With the medical companies, the thing that was running through my head as I was reading the article was the question of whether big medical companies talk amongst each other like how oil companies talk to each other. Its possi ble that they themselves are the hindrances to the release of drugs that can absolutely cure cancer, Alzheimers, etc. because such drugs can be bad for the business, assuming that people can be healed absolutely. Who then would they sell to if no one is sick? It makes you think if we try to look at it from that perspective, right? Its amazing to be alive in this time when there is no scarcity when it comes to information and knowledge. When at the click of a button, you have what you need to know, in just milliseconds. But the challenge for our generation is really how to make the most out of the information produced from this collaborative efforts of scientists and ordinary people. How can we use it for the betterment of societies, countries and the world? Thats the challenge for our generation, and we have to make the right decisions. If we are to shape history, the available information from collaborative science can be our tools, but our decisions will define how we shape history with these tools.