The Price of Big Science
growth may still obtain to science but with a different interpretation . Exponential growth may have contributed to a phase shift to a new state , one characterized by abundance . Systems growing exponentially are known to reach a point of phase shift . The abundant state varies from the previous state that Price studied , where knowledge production operated within systemic features of scarcity . Paper-based output with limited availability , housed largely in the libraries of elite institutions , created conditions of a scarce system similar to biological systems scarcity . 9 The rise of electronic sharing capabilities and broader accessibility has created conditions of abundance . In systems terms , this would contribute to systemic features of openness , sharing , reciprocity , and collaboration , but also waste and redundancy , features increasingly seen in science .
Abundant knowledge challenges governance on a number of levels . Science policy has evolved under conditions of knowledge scarcity , where nations have paid for and claimed credit for the results of research physically tied to institutions . Abundance has shifted this physicality as well as accessibility , enabling practitioners with Internet access to begin to tap the vast and historic stores of scientific publications and data as they come online . The result has been both greater collaboration and the seeding of capacity in new geographic spaces . It also increases competition for use of scientific knowledge that contributes to economic growth and competitiveness .
With the insights provided by the models presented here , policymakers can predict and control variables in ways that may optimize policy effects ( i . e ., knowledge creation or diffusion ). These models can be applied to improve the knowledge collaboration , increase the value of resources , and result in improved use of federal research budgets , even in a time of budgetary austerity . Efficiency can be enhanced by understanding how to integrate knowledge under conditions of abundance . This means a policy shift to track research globally ( to avoid redundancy ) and to increase integration opportunities . It also means supporting collaborative research opportunities in which U . S . scientists and their global counterparts work to tap knowledge in many venues .
References
Baranger , M . n . d . " Chaos , Complexity , and Entropy A Physics Talk for Non-physicists ." Entropy , 1-17 .
Björk , B ., A . Roos , and M . Lauri . 2008 . Global Annual Volume of Peer Reviewed Scholarly Articles and the Share Available via Different Open Access Options . Proceedings of the ELPUB2008 Conference on Electronic Publishing , Toronto , Canada .
http :// oacs . shh . fi / publications / elpub-2008 . pdf
Borgman , C ., J . Wallis , and N . Enyedy . 2007 . “ Little Science Confronts the Data Deluge : Habitat Ecology , Embedded
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Indeed , a scarce ecosystem tends to support just a few large species , some small species , and limited vegetation — consider the northern tundra as an example . The scarce knowledge system supported only a few nations conducting science , and within them , a few elite institutions that produced the majority of products .
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