Jean-Claude Bradley, proponent of open source science
Reporter's Notebook
Assignment 
Jean-Claude Bradley, an Associate Professor of Chemistry and E-Learning Coordinator for the College of Arts and Sciences at Drexel University, has offered himself up to talk about open source chemistry.
In Bradley's UsefulChem project, each step of the research process, including raw data and preliminary interpretations, are published online.
Bradley maintains an almost unfathomable number of blogs as well. Where does he find the time?
We want to talk to Bradley about his personal experience with open source science, why he chooses to make his research process so transparent, and what the public can gain from projects like UsefulChem. We'd also like to get his broader perspective on crowdsourcing in science.
Background
Crowdsourcing in Science
Scientists have opened up their research, removing patents and relying on the crowd to help modify their data. The practice isn't new. The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has been crowdsourcing a distributed network of computers since the mid-90's to scan the skies for alien life. Today science is doing more than just using distributed computing, they are relying on a distributed network of citizen scientists to collect data and help refine their work.
Space
Anansi Spaceworks: "There are thousands of problems that need solving to make way for space colonization, and there's no one better suited or motivated to solve them than the people who want to go. Our job is to make that as easy as it can be!"
NASA's Stardust@Home: NASA has a long history of turning to its legion of amateur astronomers for help in processing raw data. This history -- which started in 2003 when NASA turned to an army of "clickworkers" to identify craters in the millions of images coming back from its Mars mission -- could well be its own article. The latest effort is Stardust@Home, a University of California at Berkeley project using volunteers to process images containing, yes, stardust. More info here.
Biology
Wired has written about opening biology studies to the crowd.
CAMBIA: The CAMBIA research institute has founded The Biological Innovation for Open Society (BIOS) and BIOForge -- "Our goal is to democratise problem solving to enable diverse solutions to problems through decentralised innovation."
The Christmas Bird Count: From the National Audobon Society, "It’s probably one of the longest-standing example of how large numbers of amateurs can collect widely dispersed data – in this case, all the birds they can spot in one of hundreds of designated areas around the country – that then can be assessed for trends by expert and amateur alike. For the ornithological community, it’s crowdsourcing at its best."
Climate
ClimatePrediction.Net used similar methods to the SETI project, relying on a distributed network of computers to crunch numbers on the future of global warming.
General
Science Commons: "Scientific inquiry is becoming more data-intensive in almost every discipline...Science Commons is an exploratory project to apply the philosophies and activities of Creative Commons in the realm of science.
Open Science: "Dedicated to writing and releasing free and Open Source scientific software."
Innocentive: Connecting researchers worldwide with the R&D needs of companies everywhere.
Public Library of Science: Changing the way academic science articles get published.
Filed Reporting
Interview #2
Reporting page:
Headline Here
Interview Conducted by Kate Bennett
Discription goes here
Kate Bennett: What motivated you to start your project?
A: Having worked in academic chemistry research labs for many years, I have always found it wasteful how most of the research done stays hidden in paper notebooks. With the advent of really simple to use, free and hosted social software services like blogs and wikis, the technical barrier to sharing that information is now really minimal. It is also only by making scientific information free and on tap that we will be able to truly harness the power of automation in all aspects of scientific progress.
Q: How long were you thinking about the idea?
A: The idea of bringing more automation to the scientific process at has been with me since I was a graduate student. With the advent of social software and RSS, I saw an opportunity to experiment with that in my laboratory with the development of anti-malarial compounds and started the UsefulChem project in the summer of 2005.
Q: What impact has your project had on social media?
A: The impact I would hope for is that people think more about using social media as a primary tool for carrying out science and communicating details of scientific experiments. There is still a view that a science blog is about popularizing science or discussing current articles coming out in standard journals.
Q: What are your next steps?
A: I've been networking with other scientists around the world who can test our compounds and predict which compounds we should make. I would like to see that whole process streamlined with automation and used as an example of how Open Science can be done in a highly integrated and collaborative way to produce a useful novel outcome.
Q: Is there money to be made with crowdsourcing? If so, why will some people work for free so that others can profit?
A: I think that the idea of making money by selling and controlling information will become more difficult over time. I don't know how crowdsourcing will be monetized effectively. In time I think the opportunities will arise. In the meantime it is good that humans have other motivations besides financial gain. I think simply that some people recognize that something important is happening now and they want to have a hand in making it happen.
Q: Do you really think there's wisdom in crowds? If so, what's the clearest example you know of?
A: This is probably a standard answer but in science as well Wikipedia is doing a pretty good job in remaining reasonably accurate.
7. What surprised you the most with your project?
Probably the attention from more mainstream media to Open Science.
Interview #1 - Transcript
Reporting page:
Initial Questions:
1. Can you explain exactly what open source chemistry is please?
2. What have your personal experiences with open source science been like?
3. Why have you chosen to make your research so transparent? Has it been particularly beneficial or detrimental?
4. What do you think the public can gain from projects like Useful Chem?
Let me start with a few resources. I think all your questions are answered there but if not or if you would like me to expand I'd be happy to do it.
Thanks!
Jean-Claude
1) I've recently given talks from different angles - the chemistry, education, library. Maybe you would find one that is more targeted to what you are looking for:
http://drexel-coas-talks-mp3-podcast.blogspot.com/
2) I've also recorded an interview with the transcript here
http://drexel-coas-elearning-transcripts.blogspot.com/2006/10/interview-...
3) There is a brief NPR interview here:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/03/28/AM200703282.html
5/17/07
This is unedited content. What's that?
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