The Mimosa Manifesto: a Web Platform for Open Collaboration in Science
Keywords: Science publishing, Open science, Open source, Micro-publication, Education, Web platform
TL;DR: I present a web platform ("Mimosa") for open collaboration in science, designed to ultimately replace journal papers and peer review.
Abstract: Science is a debate.
Debates happen where there is wiggle room for interpretation. There is no debate when all parties agree, or when all parties know why they disagree.
Scientific debates can be settled by agreeing on an experimental protocol. Good protocols identify wiggle room and preemptively get rid of it, by fixing the interpretation of experimental results before the experiment proceeds. “Are doctors transmitting deadly illnesses from cadavers to birthing mothers? Have some doctors wash their hands after autopsies. Let us agree that if their patients have better survival rates than usual, it means that infections travel on the hands of doctors (Carter 1985).”
Experimental results might tell you which way the settlement goes, but ideally the debate itself ends with the protocol. From this point of view, Science is the art of defining convincing protocols: scientific papers are more interesting and more rigorous when they are written by two people who start out genuinely disagreeing.
Mimosa is an attempt at harnessing both support and disagreement in science into a productive, collaborative format. Mimosa also tries to address many of the numerous recognised issues within the current format for sharing science, born at a different time and for the wrong reasons.
When it first started, Wikipedia was greeted with suspicion. It is now a major platform for finding information, used by all demographics. Wikipedia has a famous rule: “No original research.”
Mimosa aspires to be that free, open-collaborative online platform created and maintained by a community of volunteer contributors, dedicated to original research.
Exhibit: https://projects.invisionapp.com/share/J7ZKYYBPGEB#/screens/436978924
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