Science in the 21st Century

I've been remiss in blogging about this conference that's happening at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, ON this coming September 8-12.

However, Michael Nielson informs us that there are only a few spots left for registrants!

Well, I'm registered and it would be great if a few more librarians were there as well to fly the flags for our place in 21st Century Science!

Science in the 21st Century: Science, Society and Information Technology

Times are changing. In the earlier days, we used to go to the library, today we search and archive our papers online. We have collaborations per email, hold telephone seminars, organize virtual networks, write blogs, and make our seminars available on the internet. Without any doubt, these technological developments influence the way science is done, and they also redefine our relation to the society we live in. Information exchange and management, the scientific community, and the society as a whole can be thought of as a triangle of relationships, the mutual interactions in which are becoming increasingly important.

Here's the list of topics, most of which are naturals for librarians too:

• Web/Web 2.0.
  Communication, Social and Information Networks, Wikis, Blogs, Information Overflow, and the Illusion of Knowledge
  
  
• Globalization
  Collaboration and Competition in the scientific community, The Global Village, the Limits of Growth, Science and Democracy
  
  
• Open Access
  Scientific Publishing, Science Journalism, Framing, and the 'Marketplace of Ideas'
  
  
• Sociology
  Ethics, Morals, Trends, and their impact on scientific directions, organization of our communities, fragmentation, feedback, selection, and the ivory tower.
  
  
• Miscellaneous and Other
  Teaching, Information storage, Resilience and the next Generation

There's also a skeletal program and list of participants.

Oh yeah, the Perimeter Institute has been in the news the last few days!