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Word processing on the PC, electronic mail, electronic publishing and online databases are just a few of the catch phrases which point to changes in communication and work in science which are already visible. It seems plausible, however, that this is but the tip of the iceberg. Today, a series of further developments are already on the horizon, although often a still only at an experimental stage: virtual workshops, online refereeing of papers, intelligent agents, global databases based on networks and digital libraries, hypertextual indices of 'slips of papers', to give just a few examples. It is safe to argue that at least some of these possibilities will become common practice amongst scientists in the near future. Not only the publishing and library sector, but the scientific communication at large will be influenced considerably. In the US-, this development has been labelled "post Gutenberg galaxy". It has been argued that we are on the brink of a fourth cognitive revolution after the invention of language, scripture and printing. This project aimed at anticipating future developments in addition to studying the incremental changes in the scientific community which can already be seen today. Faced with almost Messianic technology-euphoric pleas, on the one hand, and on the other hand great scepticism with respect to the actual potentials and even a tendency to refuse the use of computers altogether, it seemed necessary to critically evaluate and to carefully extrapolate existing trends on the basis of an interdisciplinary approach in the tradition of technology assessment. The project was partly supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) from I/2000–XII/2002. |
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