Paul Ginsparg writes
> of course i conducted consultations with the affected scientists before
> doing anything.
The importance of this point can not be overemphasized.
Since 1993 I have worked on the Internet distribution of preprints
in Economics. I think that the system that has resulted from that,
called RePEc, is now, after arXive.org, the second largest preprint
source. The concepts behind RePEc are very different from what I
perceive are the principles behind arXive.org.
Of course all scientists need to disseminate their research
results. All disciplines have books, journals conferences etc.
But behind that there are many subtle differences between
disciplines.
Any attempt to introduce an electronic dissemination
system in a discipline must depart from a knowledge of the
special circumstances in a given discipline. As an outsider
that is probably best done through listening to the discussions
of the insiders in the pub.
An electronic system will start in parallel to established
dissemination system. It must therefore be designed such
as to minimize the extra cost on discipline insiders. Ideally
it should make it easier for those who are involved in
dissemination to perform the tasks that they are already
doing.
p.s.
Note that these remarks should not be regarded as a comment on
the NIH proprosal, they simply sum up the experience of my six
years of work in this area.
Thomas Krichel
http://gretel.econ.surrey.ac.uk
RePEc:per:1965-06-05:thomas_krichel
Received on Wed Feb 10 1999 - 19:17:43 GMT