During my last blog entry, I came across Scott Monty’s blog and saw that he wrote about how the scientific community and practitioners really need to work together to benefit the business community and share knowledge about what is going on in research. He was responding to a paper that was written by Dr. Trebino of Georgia Tech about how publish a scientific comment in 1-2-3 easy steps. Monty goes on to write in his post about how those that are currently working with online communities are focused about sharing information, whereas the academic community is about hoarding:
“What if the scientific community were more collaborative (and I’m speaking about the publications here, not institutions themselves)? Or at the very least, collegial? What if journals and scientific publications held their authors to such high standards that they required more open disclosure of data, processes, and errors? Wouldn’t that be something that we could all benefit from? The process below stands to illustrate the old thinking of self-promotion, fiefdoms, and jealously guarded secrets.”
After reading Mr. Monty’s post, I have to say that this definitely shows that there is an issue between the academic community and the professional business world. There needs to be a balance between both worlds in terms of sharing knowledge. I agree with Monty that both parties have to work together and collaborate to contribute to the body of knowledge – that is key. I believe now more than ever, we all have to work together to help each other. We do not have time for self-promotion, boosting our egos with a few individuals and being a “big fish in a small pond,” or be gatekeepers to those that are actively doing research and want to contribute to the profession and share their experiences and findings with others.
We in the academic community are told that we shouldn’t be biased in our research studies, having “blind review” in the journal and conference review process, and that we need to observe what is going on in the community. We need to keep an open mind and look beyond ourselves and our egos – and look at what other professionals are researching and want to contribute to the field and scientific community.
I agree completely with Mr. Monty – as someone studying in a doctoral program and a future academician, I believe that there needs to be more active cooperation between the two groups in working on research projects and sharing knowledge with each other. We need a more integrated approach to research – we of course need the theoretical foundations, but we need to know how to strategically apply what we have learned from research to the profession. Working professionals in the field want the opportunity to help evolve the field and share their insights with the scientific community – and they need to have the chance to do that. We are all on the same team – we need to start acting like we are.
These are just a few of my thoughts on the subject. Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
0 Comments