Abstracts 2.0!
Have you ever wished that peer reviewed publications were written in plain, easy to understand language, without jargon and technical terms? Matthew Russell is taking on this problem with his new venture called Abstracts 2.0. As he explains, “A majority of published scientific research is federally funded by taxpayer dollars in the U.S. yet most taxpayers have no idea why the research findings from these funds are important or how they contribute to a better society.
What if the article abstracts, laced with big words and jargon, were rewritten to a level where most people could understand; an abstract 2.0 if you will? By reading a short summary of the work, anyone who wanted to know could actually understand the problem studied and the results. Maybe more importantly, the reader would not have to rely on interpretations of the research from popular media sources that have higher priorities than educating the public.”
Check back for more easy to access abstracts or contribute your own!
Originally shared by Matthew Russell
Abstracts 2.0 is live!
A while back I posted about my outreach project to increase science literacy called Abstracts 2.0. There is now a website devoted to the project. Anyone and everyone can submit a re-written summary of an important paper from their respective field. The hope is to build a sizable collection the general public will utilize to have a better understanding of where their research dollars are going and why it is important. Rajini Rao Buddhini Samarasinghe
Science on Google+ 
Great idea. Some fear that which they do not understand.
A move away from making abstracts “obnoxiously inaccessible” may be the first step in engaging the public, their hearts and minds, more successfully.
Anything that promotes interest in science, and makes it accessible will increase scientific literacy. HUZZAH!
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Good…good stuff here.
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It’s a nice idea. Underscores the importance of scientific literacy.
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I hope you will all contribute to the website.
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ya
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peer review means by their peers. if you don’t understand the’jargon’ you’re not their peers. How ‘dumb-down’ do you want science to be ? so a person with an IQ of 100 or 90 or 50 can understand it. they have many places were people explain complex theories to the ‘common’ people
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Doug Lehr There will be no dumbing down of anything. The purpose is to provide the general public who are interested in summaries of research discoveries without jargon or other hindering language.
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There are many TV shows and books on science for general public. Steven Hawkins and many others write books and are in shows on TV, YouTube etc. for general public. These are fro PEER review. Again it is not for people that don’t understand the jargon.
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Doug Lehr Which is why it is needed. These are the current research data from around the world that have undergone peer review.
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