A centralised website for research and development

Hi all,

Is there anyone here studying anything in this branch and willing to co-operate and guide me in this world of data-based and interactive websites?

I'll keep it short and hopefully clear, and anyone interested can PM me or maybe posts on this forum will suffice - I don't know.

I'm writing my thesis in which I promote a holistic approach, both practically and theoretically. Unification is a key process through which new advances will be made in all scientific disciplines. The problem is that scientific education and research is focussed on specialisation, making it very difficult to create any kind of generalist/all-rounder that can bring together anything from any branche. Of course, this isn't the same as the "homo universalis" like it use to be, as it is impossible with the amount of data today. Yet, through abstract theoretical models such as Systems theory (http://www.isss.org/) and Cybernetics (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/) we have the tools to understand different phenomena (consisting of different substance etc.) using invariant principles.

This sounds good, but the problem is that for this to happen, there has to be a way to access other scientific domains than your own, and above all: make easily contact and cross the borders of scientific disciplines through multidisciplinary topics.
It's not enough to have databanks at the university or to have access to a wide variety of electronic and normal journals. It is the interaction between people that counts. The old-fashioned way - i.e. through journals - is way too slow. And personal contacts are way too limited.

I think such a centralised website should not only be very interactive (forums, messages, maybe WiKi, etc) but also easy to use (share .pfd files, word, .mov, etc.)

It's obvious that the institutions through which this would be realised are universities all around the world (maybe other institutions can join). There needs to be a kind of peer-review but not as strict as in journals, or, not everywhere in orde to allow new ideas and models to breathe. The way to access this would, I suggest be, through the identification number you use at your local university ... I don't know the methods they all use, but mine uses a number and password to identify in order to access e-journals, e-mail etc. People involved in research etc. should also have access of course.

The crazy thing is that I keep wondering if there is no project such as this going on somewhere ...? In any case, I haven't found it. Don't be mistaken: I'm not talking about a Global brain (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/GBRAIN-L.html)
That's one step further - and probably already too far.
Maybe it should also use internet2?

Anyway, anyone interested in this concept and willing to dig deeper in it, is most welcome!

 

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>> a centralised website >>

Indeed, would put Google to shame

but shame AI is not any where near human interaction......

The first TRUE AI persona of the web that can converse in any language, with multiple personalities and an expert of experts will revolutionise the net.

I work towards that day.

 

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URI,

I explicitly said that I don't mean any AI like the global brain project. I'm just talking about a fairly normal website which should be THE virtual place for docents, students and researchers to meet each other.

Nobody else comes in this sub-forum?

 

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We're having the day off, Stryders organised ones of his famous impromptu soirée's and everyones dressed as their favourite species of fish - I'm currently a Turbot, by the way. I toyed with coming as a Flounder but it took too long to make up my mind one way or the other.

Please, you'll have to excuse me. There's stuff crammed into pastry that has my name on it....

 

C'est moi,
Perhaps it's because your initial post is too intellectually stimulating for some to understand what you meant.

Could you clarify if you mean the evolution of the internet to Virtual Reality "Augmentation", where it's not just interaction with a virtual world but merging it with the real world.

I have seen a few examples, one I thought was rather clever involved wearing a visor that would "decorate" your office booth with post-it notes, calendars etc. So that you could take notes and have personal books etc that didn't actually exist in the real world to which you could interact with via your visor and gloves. Of course you can guess it's just one of the many student projects that adon the net and which every fun loving (skint) technologist would love to get there hands on and toy with.

 

I think you're right Stryder :d
I must be very unclear cause I don't mean any futuristic technologies:

I'm really just talking about a "normal" website!


For the time being, there is simply NO centralised website that unifies universities and research facilities around the world. When I say "meet", I just mean a forum like this one ... it could be more interactive also by using WiKi (http://projects.isss.org/PmWiki/DocumentationIndex#misc) - I don't know if there are other things like Wiki around.

The philosophy of General System theory is that researchers from different fields arrive at similar concepts and mechanisms to explain certain aspects of reality. A lot of time and work could be saved if they would be more informed about each others work. A lot of domains require a multidisciplinary mind - not a specialised one. For example: human behaviour is studied by archaeologists, anthropologists, biologists, neurologists, psychologists, historians, etc etc. An interactive website which encourages a multidiscplinary approach by making available the current state of knowledge from these disciplines in an easy and accessible way, and which makes it possible to quickly communicate with each other - and exchange information with each other - create discussions between people from different disciplines ... shortly: unifies what is happening in the land of science and making more INERACTION possible .. would bring about a new era for science and speed up the development of new ideas.

If you visualise scientific knowledge as a system, it is in a bad shape: there are a lot of components but little relations are inbetween them. Imagine that this scientific knowledge is part of a Global brain ... well, it's not working properly: there is a lack of neuro transmittors that need to establish links between the different parts. The more intense the interaction becomes, the more emergent information will arise. This is my idea of a Global brain in contrast to that of F. Heylighen (link in the other post).

So, I will rephrase my question: I need more concrete ideas on this. For example:

- How would the homepage look?
(Log-in page: First choose your country, then your university or research facility, then your password and login name/number as is given by your institution
-What kind of software to use? simple HTML, conventional website OR something like WiKi (look at ISSS website: http://www.isss.org/)
-What kind of database? ... using Oracle?
-Servers
-....

I'm sure anyone understanding now what I mean who studies or works in this branche can guide me a little bit through the various possibilities.