Modularity: the next form of scientific information presentation?

Abstract

The development of electronic publishing heralds a new period in scientific communications. Besides the obvious advantages of an almost endless storage and transport capacity, many new features come to the fore. As each technology finds its own expressions in the ways scientific communications take form, we analyse print on paper scientific articles in order to obtain the necessary ingredients for shaping a new model for electronic communications. A short historical overview shows that the typical form of the present‐day linear (essay‐type) scientific article is the result of a technological development over the centuries. The various characteristics of print on paper are discussed and the foreseeable changes to a more modular form of communication in an electronic environment are postulated. Subsequently we take the functions of the present‐day scientific article vis‐à‐vis the author and the reader as starting points. We then focus on the process of scientific information transfer and deal essentially with the information consumption by the reader. Different types of information, at present intermingled in the linear article, can be separated and stored in well‐defined, cognitive, textual modules. To serve the scientists better in finding their way through the information overload of today, we conclude that the electronic information transfer of the future will be, in essence, a transfer of well‐defined, cognitive information modules. In the last part of this article we outline the first steps towards a new heuristic model for such scientific information transfer.

New practices for electronic publishing 2: New forms of the scientific paper

“…The idea of modularity as the next step in scientific communication 5,6 is further developed by Harmsze 7 who proposes the structuring of scientific articles in modular form. A module is defined as a 'uniquely characterized, self-contained representation of a conceptual informatio n unit aimed at communicating that information'.…”

Enhanced Publications : Linking Publications and Research Data in Digital Repositories

“…According to Kircz (1998;2002) data sets, images, sounds, simulations and videos are part of the publishing environment, next to text. However, these objects should preferably not be simply added to the traditional article, which is described as linear.…”

“…Proposed modules of a modular article are (Kircz, 1998) The SPPs are based on an extension of the ABC model. The ABC model and the SPP are based on a number of scientific concept models for publishing scientific data and results, and for documenting the lineage of scientific theories and advances.…”

“…a data set in its basic form as a list of data, or conceived in a histogram. Each type of information unit should be well defined and therefore be endowed with different sets of metadata, each set describing a different aspect of the information entity (Kircz, 1998;2002).…”

Bioline Publications: how its evolution has mirrored the growth of the internet

“…It is no longer necessary to present research in the linear form appropriate for printing, but modules may be linked to enable readers to migrate around the different elements of research result, methodology, and citations. [14][15][16] An increasingly distributed system…”