[38] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: Peer Review and the Net
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Virginia Holtz)
Tue Apr 21 12:48:36 1992
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1992 11:45:20 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
From: Virginia Holtz <HOLTZ%WISCMACC.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.MIT.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
The peer review argument has been an interesting one, and I must admit that I've
missed some of the postings. From what I've seen, however, the major emphasis
appears to have been on how those on the input or publishing side feel about the
issues. Clearly there are issues of the academic reward system that need
reworking and equally clearly there are those frustrated by the process who see
peer review as a barrier to their advancement down one path or another.
However peer review is also important to many on the output end of the
information stream including scholars, professional practitioners, those
incidentally interested in a field, laypersons etc. Some, if not all of these,
depend on the authority of a publication, and peer reviewed sources often are
considered to have greater authority.
Much of the argument gets down to how much the reader knows; how confident he or
she is in their own ability to sort data, from information from knowledge or in
less stuffy words, a bright new but untested idea, a collection of unreviewed
data, a creditable addition to a currently accempted field of study. Under the
publication system of the past, it was not too difficult to point the right
information seeker to the right level of information. Until a system evolves
which at least identifies the level of confidence one might have in the
information provided in a more meaningful way, peer review could well serve a us
eful purpose.
What is the rush to get rid of what has worked for some purposes in the past as
along as we recognize that nothing much is perfect. Nobody who was smart shot
the horse until they were sure the gas buggy could do just about everything the
horse could. Come to think of it, it still can't fertilize the lawn and mow it
too.
v holtz
U. Wisconsin-Madison
CHS Libraries
