Gains and Losses of Internet Research

Each day, more information is available on the Web at the click of a button, and the impact this has on academic research may not be all good, according to The Boston Globe:

A recent study [suggests] the boom in online research may actually have a "narrowing" effect on scholarship. James Evans, a sociologist at the University of Chicago, analyzed a database of 34 million articles in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, and determined that as more journal issues came online, new papers referenced a relatively smaller pool of articles, which tended to be more recent, at the expense of older and more obscure work. Overall, Evans says, published research has expanded, due to a proliferation of journals, authors, and conferences. But the paper, which appeared in July in the journal Science, concludes that the Internet's influence is to tighten consensus, posing the risk that good ideas may be ignored and lost - the opposite of the Internet's promise.

Others disagree with Evans' conclusions, downplaying the danger that search engines will promote group think. But what implications do these findings have for publishers, editors and writers? Here are just a few that come to mind:

• Aim to do thorough research.
• Do not rely on just one medium (or search engine).
• Expose yourself to both old and new ideas. 
• Think about the breadth of knowledge of the people you hire and train.
• Consider how you engage in fact and source checking.
• How do you determine who is an expert? Do your editorial guidelines address this? 
• Salvage the "older and more obscure" parts of your inventory by repackaging them.
• Take advantage of browsers' interest in the most popular items and post such lists on your Web site.