Shelly at Retrospectacle posted an interesting article highlighting a phenomena well known to computer scientists - collaboration. This particular article highlights the “SuperHappyDevHouse”, an all-day event where coders and designers come together and work on projects. Shelly points out that this type of collaboration, as well as other more technologically oriented collaboration, is rarely exhibited by other science fields.

Coders are accustomed to communicating with each other must faster than their laboratory-bound counterparts. Some Google employees told me how they are barraged each day with a phalanx of email. Countless message boards, IRC channels, and other sites allow isolated programmers to share with each other.
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By comparison, there are few chemistry message boards, and only the open access journals like chemistry central include a comments thread alongside every peer-reviewed research paper, and conferences are dry, twice-a-year poster and powerpoint affairs.

I couldn’t agree more. As a computer science major turned biology major, I have seen both worlds. For the most part, I learned all my computer science skills through the internet. I taught myself languages, databases, programming concepts through internet tutorials. If I had questions, I asked on forums and newsgroups. IRC was available for instant communication with experts.

When I first migrated to biology, I attempted the same thing when I had questions. I looked for biology forums, in particular neuroscience. I looked for IRC channels and newsgroups, tutorials and guides. I looked but found nothing. Science blogs were interesting and satiated my desire to become fully immersed in science but offered little to answer specific questions I had.

Why is this? My thoughts about why after the jump.

Openly sharing data

Why do computer scientists so willingly help eachother and share data? Part can be explained by the nature of the beast. The internet, and all types of collaboration involved, are inherently the domain of computer scientists. It is natural that technologically oriented individuals will use technology more frequently.

Furthermore, computer science is much more accessible. Anyone can learn how to program. I started learning when I was very young, only 14 years old. In contrast, you can’t practice effective biology until at least college level. Computer science is something anyone can do themselves, in their own home. To supplement this, people have created tutorials and guides, message boards and chat channels.

Ivy Tower

But I think the biggest reason that there is due to the Ivy Tower mentality. It is an inherent problem we have with out academic system right now. The more I am involved in research with my lab, the more I begin to see how this affects everyday life. Private investigators struggle between a balance of sharing scientific data and hoarding it. PIs have to be wary of giving out too much information to other labs, else they get scooped early and lose funding. The cuthroat nature of scientific funding forces labs to operate more like a company and less like a scientific endeavor helping humanity.

If labs could share data as it was created we would advance the state of scientific discovery tenfold. But as it stands, this won’t work. I personally have data that is interesting but nonconclusive. However, some other lab might have data that, combined with mine, could complete the picture. Should I share my data the scientific community benefits. One more problem solved. But I lose because I got scooped. I lose, my lab loses. For my advisor this could mean difference between job security and no job at all.

In comparison, computer scientists have nothing to lose by sharing data. Their intellectual property isn’t the data itself, but rather the application of the data (software products). Providing help for others does not cost them their funding, does not lose them the Nobel Prize. In this sense, computer science is much more altruistic than the life sciences.

Depressing

And there rests the sad state of academic research. Academic research should be the most altruistic type of research. After all, it is not required to produce a product for a company. Academic research’s only priority should be fundamental research that advances the scientific body of knowledge. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. PIs do have to produce a product - publishable data. If they don’t they are cut.

As a new biology major stepping into this apparently cutthroat world, its depressing to witness. I’d love to blog about what I’m doing in lab right now. But I can’t. The academic world needs an overhaul, an Open Source mentality applied to it. Until then, scientific progress will continue to crawl at the rate it currently is.