

Time for computer science to grow up - luchak
http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2009/8/34492-viewpoint-time-for-computer-science-to-grow-up/fulltext

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russell
I call crap on this. He wants more work in journals so academics can sort out
their pecking order. The rest of us dont want an emphasis on traditional
journals because they are an expensive and time consuming gateway to the
dissemination of ideas. I really hate to track down an interesting idea, only
to be presented by an abstract with the real paper behind a fee wall. Some
authors are considerate enough to have an online version, but not all. I say
other disciplines should "grow up" and embrace the online publication of
papers.

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luchak
I think your comment is tangential to the central thrust of the article. He's
not really stating anything one way or the other about the free availability
of papers online. That's an issue that will exist whether papers are published
in journals or in conference proceedings. (Both options are expensive and time
consuming, just in different ways.)

The main idea here, paraphrasing Fortnow, is that computer science needs to
put more emphasis on publishing longer-form pieces representing bigger chunks
of work in a context that allows for them to receive more thorough review. The
conference publication model is fine for an emerging field: everyone is still
sorting out the basics, so publishing small bits of work frequently is a good
idea. But, Fortnow argues, once a field becomes established, encouraging
frequent publication of small chunks of work in settings that have become
highly competitive leads to incrementalism, low quality peer review, and other
ill effects. Encouraging longer submissions, each representing a larger chunk
of work, and each of which can receive more attention from reviewers, will
hopefully have the effects of encouraging researchers to pursue riskier work
and of putting reviewers more at ease with less derivative papers.

I think that's what he was saying, anyway. Or at least part of it.

The issues of open access and how to fund scientific publications are
certainly important, but I think this article was really focusing on other
issues.

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DanielStraight
My preference would be blogs as a primary means of disseminating information.

