Science 2.0: Social networks and online applications for scholars

Abstract

The Web 2.0 is responsible for the greatest changes the Web has experienced since the mid-2000s and it is surely responsible for the relentless increase in Web audience (in classic terms) relative to other media or channels of communication. It seems that it was just a matter of time before these changes affected academic and research activities. First of all, without a doubt, social networks are one of the most characteristic elements of the Web 2.0. In fact, if we follow what is considered "public opinion," it seems that for the majority of citizens, to say Web 2.0 is to say social networks; and surely this association is justified. Online applications (or cloud computing) are surely the "other" side of the web 2.0. As we know, they consist in services or applications that up to just recently only worked locally. A "classic" example would be the group of on-line office applications offered by Google Docs. Here we will focus on cases of web 2.0 for scholars and researchers. Each example seems to be a good representation of the best, or at least the most representative of what the Web 2.0 has to offer to different activities. Specifically, we have selected ResearchGATE (as an example of social networks) and Lumifi (as an example of on-line applications).