This probably has something to do with it being a science blogging conference. It's already been blogged, tweeted and emailed so much that it's hard to believe it's not already happening. As Bora Zivkovic of Scientific American explains, Science Online is an "Unconference." He notes that the best discussions at conferences have always happened in the hallway outside the lecture hall. So, why not make the hallway discussions the main event? And since this conference is specifically for the online community, there's no reason why the discussion can't start before any of the attendees' flights' touch down.
At JoVE, our goal is to accelerate the pace of scientific research, and part of that is making science more social. At the bottom of every article there is a comments section where scientists who watch the video-article can ask questions and suggest ideas. Maybe science needs to start making their conferences more social as well.
To read more about Science Online 2012, click here.
