Re: Blog vs. Peer Review Final Report: Lessons Learned

[Pippa Smart <pippa.smart@googlemail.com>]

Whilst I agree that the blog-review experiment does not
constitute a reason to change the traditional model it was an
interesting experiment to compare the different types of
comments. Blog reviews are being used in science publishing
already (see "Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics" and "journal of
interactive media in education") - but as a complement to
traditional review rather than as a substitute. However I don't
know if they have been "scientifically" tested to guage their
usefulness and quality. Does anyone know of any trials of this?

In the experiment by Noah Wardrip-Fruin there were a couple of
findings of particular interest (IMHO): the first was that
reviewers need to see "the whole" rather than "the parts" since
the blog reviews only saw the parts and therefore were unable to
make the type of perceptive comment that the trad. reviewers did
(e.g. that the tone of the introduction did not sit well with the
tone of the rest of the book).

However, perhaps because of seeing smaller parts, the blog
reviewers made more detailed comments about the text and content.

I don't think at the moment that this is a substitute, but it is
perhaps a valuable add-on to traditional reviewing (in the right
community)

Pippa Smart
Research Communication and Publishing Consultant
PSP Consulting - www.pspconsulting.org
Skype: pippasmart
pippa.smart@gmail.com


2009/5/19 Chen, Xiaotian <chen@bumail.bradley.edu>:

> The success of blog review of one particular book over peer
> review does not draw a SCIENTIFIC conclusion that blog review
> is better, though we all agree that peer review has it own
> problems.
>
> Besides, there are also some other issues with this blog review
> model. Here are two obvious ones:
>
> *Copyright
>
> *How can editors/publishers make their
> to-publish-or-not-to-publish decisions based on anonymous blog
> comments?
>
> Xiaotian Chen
> Bradley University Library
> Peoria, Illinois
> http://hilltop.bradley.edu/~chen/index.html
> ________________________________
>
> From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu on behalf of B.G. Sloan
> Sent: Fri 5/15/2009 9:03 PM
> To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
> Subject: Blog vs. Peer Review Final Report: Lessons Learned
>
> "Last year Noah Wardrip-Fruin, an assistant professor of
> communication at the University of California at San Diego, ran
> an experiment with his latest academic book: He let readers of a
> popular blog to which he contributes peer review the book in
> public. . . The book's publisher, MIT Press, administered a
> traditional peer review of the book, and Mr. Wardrip-Fruin was
> able to compare the two approaches."
>
> http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3D3D3773
>
> Bernie Sloan
> Sora Associates
> Bloomington, IN