[open-science] Building an Open Science Q&A site

Fri Feb 21 14:24:33 UTC 2014

Dear list,

*Background*.  Some of you may know StackExchange.com, a popular network 
of community-driven Q&A sites (5 million users, 8 million questions, 15 
million answers).  The individual sites focus on different topics, such 
as: programming, mathematics, English language, computer games, 
photography, science fiction, religions, etc.  Each Q&A site has a 
well-designed, inviting interface through which users may ask questions, 
provide answers, upvote and downvote both Qs and As.  Lots of badges 
stimulate users for better contributions and more intensive activity.

For example, StackOverflow.com (Q&A site for programmers) has become 
both a large compendium of knowledge about programming (structured in 
the form of Q&As), and a popular social site for answering questions. 
Many (most?) of my programming-related Google searches lead me to 
answers on StackOverflow.

Last but not least, the network has worked out a mature set of policies 
and mechanisms for community-driven development of new sites.

*Call for action*.  I have just created a proposal for a new Q&A site in 
the StackExchange network, devoted to Open Science:

   http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/65426/open-science

and I would like to encourage you to participate in its development. 
Please follow the link above, and sign up or log in using your 
Google/Facebook credentials.  Next, "follow" the proposal, vote on the 
questions (upvote the questions you consider on-topic, downvote the 
off-topic ones, discuss) and propose your own questions.

*Technicalities*.  In the first phase (called "Definition") we need to 
gather 60 people interested in creating the site.  We also need to write 
and select a total of 40 on-topic and off-topic questions (examples of 
both types are needed).  This way we will define what the site will and 
will not be about, and we will move to the next phases (Commitment, then 
Private Beta, then Public Beta).  Ultimately, we will all be 
collaboratively building a knowledge base on Open Science and providing 
support for the general public.

*Why*?  To create a one stop shop for all the people having questions 
about Open Science.  I have seen a great deal of energy and enthusiasm 
in the Open Science community, and a lot of interest in the Open Science 
issues among researchers and other stakeholders.  This is an attempt to 
channel the energy of the community and to leverage a popular platform 
in order to advance the cause.

I'm confident that we will create a useful and vibrant site!

Best regards,

Lukasz

PS. All user contributions on StackExchange are licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

-- 
Dr. Łukasz Bolikowski, Assistant Professor
Centre for Open Science, ICM, University of Warsaw
Contact details: http://www.icm.edu.pl/~bolo/