[net.misc] Research on the Net?

dann (04/13/83)

     I have been reading netnews for about six months and it occurs to 
     me that I have seen very few of articles of the following type.

      "Hi, I am a researcher at {fill in the blank} working in the 
      area of {fitb} and I would like information/conversation/criticism
      concerning {fitb}."

     Now in my innocence, I would guess that such messages would be the 
     primary purpose of the net and would be constantly winging back and 
     forth.  After all, are we not dedicated researchers and scientists?
     (We're NOT? Oh, my...)

     Seriously, the net provides access to an extremely valuable resource;
     a community of several hundred (thousand?) experts in various fields.

     Why aren't more people taking advantage of it?  I don't mean the 
     standard queries about device drivers which appear on net.wanted, I 
     mean serious research-related topics.

     I can think of several reasons why there is not more of this type 
     of traffic on the net.

	a.  No one has thought of it. (doubtful)
	b.  Corporate readers of netnews may be afraid to inadvertantly
	    give out proprietory information.

	c.  Serious research is done only over the ARPA net. ( I don't
	    know, I don't have access to it.)

        d.  The pool of net readers in a specific application area may
	    be too small to be significant. (How many AI researchers 
	    out there?)

        e.  Research related conversations take place behind the scenes
	    via mail messages.


	Choose any or all of the above.

					      dann
					      decvax!ittvax!wxlvax!dann

furuta (04/14/83)

I'd suggest that (e), research takes place via mail rather than via the
net, is the most likely answer.  It's my opinion that one doesn't see
that much more research discussion on Arpanet mailing lists, either,
although the standards seem a bit higher for discussions on the Arpanet
lists.  Have you ever thought of what it would be like to try and carry
on a serious technical discussion over CB radio?  Usenet is rather
similar.