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Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Science funding & policy
The National Academies Roundtable on Aligning Incentives for Open
Science, established in 2019, has taken on an important role in
addressing issues with open science. The roundtable convenes
critical stakeholders to discuss the effectiveness of current
incentives for adopting open science practices, current barriers of
all types, and ways to move forward in order to align reward
structures and institutional values. The Roundtable convened a
virtual public workshop on fostering open science practices on
November 5, 2020. The broad goal of the workshop was to identify
paths to growing the nascent coalition of stakeholders committed to
reenvisioning credit/reward systems (e.g., academic hiring, tenure
and promotion, and grants)to fully incentivize open science
practices. The workshop explored the information and resource needs
of researchers, research institutions, government agencies,
philanthropies, professional societies, and other stakeholders
interested in further supporting and implementing open science
practices. This publication summarizes the presentations and
discussion of the workshop. Table of Contents Front Matter 1
Introduction 2 Adopting and Utilizing a Toolkit for Open Science:
Stakeholder Perspectives 3 Roundtable Priorities for Advancing Open
Science References Appendix A: Workshop Agenda Appendix B:
Biographies of Speakers and Moderators Appendix C: Toolkit Elements
Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize how people and
organizations, who may not know or trust each other, share
information and carry out transactions online. Nearly every
institution on the planet wants to be a leader in blockchain
technology as well as a home to significant platforms,
applications, and companies. There is a need for a glocal policy to
meet and support these goals as blockchain technology must embrace
glocal values and ideals in its legal and regulatory frameworks.
Glocal Policy and Strategies for Blockchain: Building Ecosystems
and Sustainability discusses the features and advantages of
blockchain technology, the innovative applications of blockchain
technology, and the potent and limited aspects of blockchain
technology. Covering topics such as digital change, international
policy, and cyber security governance, this reference work is ideal
for industry professionals, researchers, academicians, scholars,
practitioners, instructors, and students.
How the blockchain-a system built on foundations of mutual
mistrust-can become trustworthy. The blockchain entered the world
on January 3, 2009, introducing an innovative new trust
architecture: an environment in which users trust a system-for
example, a shared ledger of information-without necessarily
trusting any of its components. The cryptocurrency Bitcoin is the
most famous implementation of the blockchain, but hundreds of other
companies have been founded and billions of dollars invested in
similar applications since Bitcoin's launch. Some see the
blockchain as offering more opportunities for criminal behavior
than benefits to society. In this book, Kevin Werbach shows how a
technology resting on foundations of mutual mistrust can become
trustworthy. The blockchain, built on open software and
decentralized foundations that allow anyone to participate, seems
like a threat to any form of regulation. In fact, Werbach argues,
law and the blockchain need each other. Blockchain systems that
ignore law and governance are likely to fail, or to become outlaw
technologies irrelevant to the mainstream economy. That, Werbach
cautions, would be a tragic waste of potential. If, however, we
recognize the blockchain as a kind of legal technology that shapes
behavior in new ways, it can be harnessed to create tremendous
business and social value.
Notwithstanding the importance of modern technology, fieldwork
remains vital, not least through helping to inspire and educate the
next generation. Fieldwork has the ingredients of intellectual
curiosity, passion, rigour and engagement with the outdoor world -
to name just a few. You may be simply noting what you see around
you, making detailed records, or carrying out an experiment; all of
this and much more amounts to fieldwork. Being curious, you think
about the world around you, and through patient observation develop
and test ideas. Forty contributors capture the excitement and
importance of fieldwork through a wide variety of examples, from
urban graffiti to the Great Barrier Reef. Outdoor learning is for
life: people have the greatest respect and care for their world
when they have first-hand experience of it. The Editors are
donating all royalties due to them to the environmental charity,
The Field Studies Council, to support student fieldwork at the
Council's field centres.
Alarmists argue that the United States urgently needs more and
better-trained scientists to compete with the rest of the world.
Their critics counter that, far from facing a shortage, we are
producing a glut of young scientists with poor employment
prospects. Both camps have issued reports in recent years that
predict the looming decline of American science. Drawing on their
extensive analysis of national data sets, Yu Xie and Alexandra
Killewald have welcome news to share: American science is in good
health. Is American Science in Decline? does reveal areas of
concern, namely scientists' low earnings, the increasing
competition they face from Asia, and the declining number of
doctorates who secure academic positions. But the authors argue
that the values inherent in American culture make the country
highly conducive to science for the foreseeable future. They do not
see globalization as a threat but rather a potential benefit, since
it promotes efficiency in science through knowledge-sharing. In an
age when other countries are catching up, American science will
inevitably become less dominant, even though it is not in decline
relative to its own past. As technology continues to change the
American economy, better-educated workers with a range of skills
will be in demand. So as a matter of policy, the authors urge that
science education not be detached from general education.
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