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Science Communication and Internet Discussion Groups:
Are there any Returns for Science?
Uwe Matzat
ICS / Department of Sociology
University of Groningen
Grote Rozenstr. 31
NL-9712 TG Groningen
T.: +31 ( 050 ) 3 63 62 60
F.: +31 ( 050 ) 3 63 62 26
U.Matzat@PPSW.RUG.NL
Stichworte: sociology of science, computer-mediated communication, Internet Discussion Groups, invisible college
Usenet Newsgroups and Mailing Lists are nowadays used by scientists out
of every discipline for their work. The use of these Internet
Discussion Groups (IDGs) goes along with a variety of different
expectations about the benefits that these groups can have for
scientists. The majority of scientists remains somehow sceptical if any
benefits at all can be obtained. Computer-enthusiasts predict that IDGs
will change the communication structure of science because the access
to "invisible college"-networks will no longer be restricted to a small
minority of famous top researchers within a field. Others expect a
"peripherality effect". IDGs will offer some information and contact
benefits that are of special importance to peripheral scientists.
This paper gives an overview of the different hypotheses about the
effects of IDGs for science communication that can be found in the
literature. It reviews the (sparse) empirical evidence for or against
these hypotheses. Moreover, an ongoing study is presented that tries to
test the hypotheses systematically. The data of this study contain
information about the communication behaviour of Dutch and English
scientists out of 8 disciplines within the natural and social sciences
in 1998 -inclusive their use of IDGs. However, the presented empirical
results are very preliminary because the data analysis could not yet
include all respondents’ data.
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