Archiving and Aggregating “Alternative” Scholarly Content
Digital Object Identifiers for blogs.
The value of blogs and bloggers in science is well recognized. Blogs serve as an excellent form of post-publication peer review and host much of the scientific discussion that occurs on the web today. Indeed, it is probably true that more interaction amongst scientists and between scientists and the public occurs away from traditional scientific articles themselves and in “alternative” forums such as Twitter, Facebook, and of course, blogs. These mediums are becoming increasingly important in scholarly discourse and often times shape what is written in traditional scholarly articles themselves (i.e. they are often cited). But for all the benefits blogs provide they are not afforded an equal footing. They are superfluous and can disappear without a trace. We want to change that. The content of these discussions can sway opinion and act as authoritative sources in their own right. Blogs are without a doubt valuable and as such deserve to be archived and aggregated, just like traditional scholarly publications are. They deserve to “count,” to be elevated to a level that is not viewed as something extra but as something integral to scientific communication (Nicholson 2014, Nicholson 2015). We need to get around the notion that where you publish in science actually matters. It doesn’t. It is the content, not the wrapper, and the sooner we act accordingly, the better.
So without further ado….We are happy to announce that you can now assign a digital object identifier (DOI) to your Wordpress.org blog via The Winnower.
This is a first step of many that we are taking towards bringing scientific publishing into the modern era (we’ll soon be releasing an interface for Blogger blogs and Wordpress.com blogs). We hope you’ll help us create this “agora of the modern age” by participating and by letting us know what you think needs changing or improving. Of course, one way to do that is to publish with us and another is to write a blog post! Together we can create an archived virtual library that is accessible to not only those that can pay thousands of dollars to publish, but to all.
If you have a Wordpress.org blog you can start by downloading our plugin here to start assigning DOIs to your blogs instantly.
