- Value [1] Knowledge
- The objective of public science is to build a shared body of knowledge about nature (Goodstein, 2011). To meet this objective,
scientists have developed methods and practices that facilitate the acquisition of knowledge. But science is not a particular
group or organization. Science is an approach, a set of normative practices, and the process of building and organizing knowledge
("Science," n.d.). Scientists, the contributors to knowledge accumulation, operate independently, antagonistically, or collaboratively
in (mostly) small groups. Thus, the scientific enterprise is a distributed system of agents operating with minimal hierarchical
influence.
- Value [2] Normative Practices
- Value [3] Independence
- Value [4] Antagonism
- Value [5] Collaboration
- Value [6] Communication
- Open communication among scientists makes it possible to accumulate a shared body of knowledge. No one scientist or scientific
body is the arbiter of "truth." Individual scientists or groups make claims and provide evidence for those claims. The claims
and evidence are shared publicly so that others can evaluate, challenge, adapt, and reuse the methods or ideas for additional
investigation. Truth emerges as a consequence of public scrutiny—some ideas survive, others die. Thus, science makes progress
through the open, free exchange of ideas and evidence.
- Value [7] Truth
- Value [8] Evaluation
- Value [9] Challenge
- Value [10] Adaptation
- Value [11] Reuse
- Value [12] Investigation
- Value [13] Openness
- As a key to progress, openness—as embodied by transparency and accessibility—is a central scientific value. Given the distributed
nature of scientific practice, a lack of openness reduces the efficiency and veracity of knowledge construction. Ideally,
the systems of scientific communication would facilitate openness. When the systems are not operating optimally, the scientific
community can redesign them. The core of present-day scientific communication is still rooted in the originating 17th-century
technologies. These technologies do not fully embrace the modern possibilities for openness that would greatly accelerate
progress. The question for this article is, How can 21st-century scientific communication practices increase openness, transparency,
and accessibility in the service of knowledge building?
- Value [14] Transparency
- Value [15] Accessibility
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