The barriers to entry in science have fallen and new communities of amateurs are banding together to plan research, compare results and create improved forms of peer review. This has coalesced into the OpenScience movement, where citizen scientists campaign to erode the barriers to hobbyists and amateur researchers.
Ronald Bailey of Reason attended the Conference and reported back on the various factions within this movement: the egalitarians and the libertarians. NO doubt this is an artificial distinction within such a young trend, but there are some common foundations: a belief in the freedom to research, a need to provide microfinance for younger scientists marginalised by Big Science and a preference for Schumacher's 'small is beautiful'.
Creativity and innovation are drawing away from the dead hand of state bureaucracy: why wait 20 years acting as a dogsbody for a grant, when you can diy biology, chemistry and physics.
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