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ABOUT US
OUR PROJECTS
RELATED PROJECTS
ADVERTISING INFORMATION
CONTACT US
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THE OPEN
SOURCE SCIENCE PROJECT
P.O. BOX
251626
WEST
BLOOMFIELD, MI 48325
UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
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RESEARCH-BASED CURRICULUM
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DISCUSSION FORUM
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RESEARCH MICROFINANCE
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RESEARCH LOG (R-LOG)
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The Open-Source Science Project™
is the first, and only, organization wholly
dedicated to rendering transparent the black-box
of contemporary scientific research and
democratizing its participation by providing
all individuals -
irrespective of
geographic, cultural, socio-economic, academic, or
personal background; access to
high-quality, comprehensive, scientific information;
and the opportunity
to participate
directly in the scientific research process.
WELCOME TO THE FUTURE OF SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH EDUCATION
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ISSUES/PROBLEMS
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OUR GOALS
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PROGRESS MADE
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THE PERSISTENT ILLUSION THAT SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING IS
'COMPLETE'
Within traditional academic curricula,
contemporary scientific understanding is
presented as though it were a static body of
information - devoid of prior development, and
requiring no subsequent
refinement.
In other words, scientific
information is presented, therein, as though few - if any - questions continue to elude human
understanding.
OUTDATED CURRICULA/TEXTBOOKS
The exponential increase in the
pace of scientific research
over the past half-century has rendered print-
textbooks largely obsolete - despite the efforts
of numerous textbook publishers to maintain pace
by publishing increasingly frequent
supplements and updated editions.
Due, however, to the slow pace at which formal
academic institutions have adapted to this new
environment; an ever-widening gap has developed between
the scientific understanding possessed by
scientific researchers and that communicated, by
them, to
their students.
A GENERAL INACCESSIBILITY TO UP-TO-DATE
SCIENTIFIC THEORIES AND METHODS
As a consequence
of the sluggishness with which print-textbook
publishers (and formal academic curricula) have
adapted to the pace of current scientific
research; many graduating students have discovered that the undergraduate
education they have received has little prepared them
to contemplate the questions that lie along the
cutting edge of scientific research - accounting
for the rise in graduate degree requirements for
those seeking employment in scientific research
and industry. |
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PRODUCE AN
ENTIRELY RESEARCH-BASED, SCIENCE CURRICULUM
We hope to
ultimately dispel the false idea that scientific
understanding is 'complete', and instill in
individuals the awareness that there remains
much to discover, much to study, and much to
understand by demonstrating the questions that
have underlain those experiments and studies
which have yielded our contemporary
understanding.
PROVIDE DYNAMIC CONTENT
By employing the utility afforded by the
internet, we shall maintain the accuracy and
relevance of the
information contained within our curriculum by
drawing and preserving lines of communication with individuals throughout the
scientific research community, and updating our
curriculum as dictated by the course of their
research. |
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THE HUMAN BRAIN PROJECT
LECTURES LAUNCHED |
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ISSUES/PROBLEMS
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OUR GOALS
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PROGRESS MADE
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THE INTERNET, INFORMATION OVERLOAD, AND THE
ABSENCE OF TRUSTWORTHY AND RELIABLE CONTENT
FILTERS
Within the past decade, the number
of online resources presenting
purportedly scientific
information has grown exponentially
- resulting in an (unfiltered)
information overload that has,
itself, cultivated a culture of skepticism
regarding the accuracy of
information acquired through online
resources, and the
quality/reputability of these
resources themselves.
THE ILLUSION THAT SCIENTIFIC
UNDERSTANDING IS A 'HOUSE ON A HILL'
THAT MUST BE ADMIRED FROM AFAR
Within traditional academic
exposition,
scientific
information is presented as though it is fact,
rather than theory - a
reality exemplified in the debate
regarding whether students should be
taught/encouraged to question the
theory of evolution.
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LACK OF INTERDISCIPLINARY
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN RESEARCHERS WITHIN THE
ACADEMIC
RESEARCH COMMUNITY
As the breadth of scientific
understanding has grown, the
intellectual circumference of
individual research fields and
disciplines has shrunk
proportionately. This has led
to an underlying fragmentation of
academic research that, in the
long-run, will translate into
unreliable and incomplete research
results and understanding.
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CREATE AN OPEN FORUM FOR
RESEARCH-CENTERED DIALOGUE, DISCUSSION AND
DEBATE
We shall inspire individuals to
not simply behold
contemporary scientific
understanding by accepting its
underlying theories and assumptions;
but to apprehend (and
potentially transform) this
understanding by challenging them.
PROVIDE A PUBLIC SITE FOR
INTER-DISCIPLINARY DIALOGUE BETWEEN
RESEARCHERS AND THEIR PEERS
By ignoring the traditional
distinctions between scientific
disciplines (i.e. biology, physics,
chemistry, etc.), and instead,
encourage multidisciplinary
approaches to scientific questions,
and dialogue free from the use of
such terms - and the hierarchical
connotations that accompany them; we
shall provide a public forum for
dialogue between peers within the
research community. |
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ISSUES/PROBLEMS
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OUR GOALS
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PROGRESS MADE
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A GLOBAL INEQUALITY OF ACCESS TO SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
MATERIALS, TOOLS, AND FUNDING
Second only to
resource inequality; the greatest obstacle to creating a
global community that is able to directly
participate in the scientific research process
is the increasingly 'closed-door' manner of its
conductance.
THE DIFFICULTY OF FINANCING RESEARCH PROJECTS
THAT MAY NOT PROMISE AN IMMEDIATE
MARKETABLE/PATENTABLE PRODUCT
Due to the recent decline in
the US Federal R&D (Research & Development)
budget; the relative proportion
of scientific research proposals that have
ultimately received public financing has
decreased considerably over the course of the
past 30 years.
A BROAD INABILITY FOR NON-RESEARCHERS TO
PARTICIPATE AND CONTRIBUTE DIRECTLY TO
THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH PROCESS
While often redistributed in the form of government
grants/fellowships; with the exception of
some charitable organizations, individual
citizens (currently) remain unable to directly
finance research projects that they may find
interesting, promising, or from which they may
derive some personal benefit or sense of satisfaction.
A GROWING SOCIETAL SKEPTICISM REGARDING THE
PRODUCTIVITY AND NECESSITY OF INDIVIDUAL
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH STUDIES
The combination
of outdated curricula, 'closed-door' research
practices, and increasingly expensive
publication subscriptions, have helped to foster a
broad societal
inability, and unwillingness, to appreciate or
comprehend the questions that lie along the
cutting edge of contemporary scientific
research - as evidenced by the controversies
that continue to surround fields of research
such as stem-cell research, cloning
research, and evolutionary research. |
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PROVIDE A PLATFORM FOR ALL
INDIVIDUALS TO PRESENT AND PURSUE
RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND THEORIES
By
providing this platform, we hope to
empower individuals at all levels of
society to pursue those questions
that occupy their curiosity by
submitting project proposals,
securing funding, and conducting
research projects under the
mentorship of their peers within the
research community.
ENSURE THAT ACCESS TO LARGE GRANT
AGENCIES/INSTITUTIONS IS NO LONGER A
HINDRANCE FOR THE PURSUIT OF
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
The disparity between research
funding allocated to third-world
diseases and that allocated to
first-world diseases is widely
recognized. In order to
present all research (irrespective
of any of the above-mentioned
classifications) on an equal
pedestal, we shall work to ensure
that the project proposals which are
published for microfinancing are
both of high quality, and
representative of the diversity of
issues which impact all humanity.
FOSTER A SENSE OF 'OWNERSHIP' AND
PARTICIPATION WITHIN THE BROADER
NON-RESEARCH COMMUNITY
By providing an
unprecedented
degree of transparency in the academic research
process; we will provide individuals who may
wish to participate in this process in a
non-research capacity, with the ability to
directly invest (by way of microinvestments) in
specific research projects - and thereby develop
a sense of ownership in the insights and
understanding it yields.
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THE HUMAN BRAIN PROJECT
RESEARCH MICROFINANCE HOMEPAGE LAUNCHED |
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ISSUES/PROBLEMS
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OUR GOALS
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PROGRESS MADE
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LACK OF TRANSPARENCY IN PUBLICLY-FUNDED RESEARCH
Presently, the
exponential rise of academic journal
subscriptions, and the 'closed-door' manner of
contemporary academic research, have contributed
to the development of a broad inaccessibility of
those research projects and studies financed
with the aid of tax contributions.
GENERAL SOCIETAL IGNORANCE OF THE SCIENCE
UNDERLYING HIGHLY POLITICIZED ISSUES SUCH AS
ABORTION, END-OF-LIFE CARE, AND STEM-CELL
RESEARCH
Closed-door research
practices have, over the past half-century, done
much to erode the trust necessary between a
well-functioning society and their scientific
researchers - particularly in the US. As a
consequence, numerous scientific research
questions have become vulnerable to
politicization and often at the expense of their
original context. This gradual
politicization is most evidenced by issues such
as abortion, end-of-life care, and stem-cell
research.
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ALLOW PRIVATE CITIZENS ACCESS TO THE ACADEMIC
RESEARCH PROCESS - SPECIFICALLY, THOSE STUDIES
CONDUCTED WITH THE AID OF PUBLIC FUNDS
By providing this resource, we shall afford
private citizens an opportunity to directly
interact with researchers actively conducting
publicly-funded research.
ALLOW RESEARCH STUDENTS AND
NON-RESEARCHERS A
'BEHIND-THE-SCENES' PERSPECTIVE OF
THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH PROCESS
Specifically, with the aid of this resource, we
shall provide all individuals - both researchers
and non-researchers alike - a
'behind-the-scenes' look at the thought process
underlying academic research projects. |
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THE HUMAN BRAIN PROJECT
R-LOG HOMEPAGE LAUNCHED |
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