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Science and Technolgy.
科技。
Social networking for scientists.
科學(xué)家的社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)。
Professor Facebook.
Facebook教授。
More connective tissue may make academia more efficient.
更多聯(lián)系性的方面可以讓學(xué)術(shù)界更加高效。
GIVEN journalists' penchant for sticking the suffix "gate" onto anything they think smells of conspiracy, a public-relations consultant might have suggested a different name. But ResearchGate, a small firm based in Berlin, is immune to such trivia. It is ambitious, too-aiming to do for the academic world what Mark Zuckerberg did for the world in general, by creating a social network for scientists. And it is successful. About 1.4m researchers have signed up already, and that number is growing by 50,000 a month.
記者熱衷把他們認(rèn)為任何具有陰謀氣息的事情加上后綴"門"這一字，一位公共關(guān)系顧問曾建議換一個名字。但是一家來自柏林的名為Researchgate的小公司對這種扯談不為所動，他們雄心勃勃，一心想為學(xué)術(shù)界取得馬克.扎克伯格如今為整個世界做出的成績，那就是為科學(xué)家們也建立一種社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)，他們做的很成功。如今已經(jīng)約有140萬的研究學(xué)者申請注冊，而且這個數(shù)字正以每月5萬人的勢頭不斷上升。
Non-scientists might be surprised that such a network is needed. After all, the internet was originally created mainly by academics for academics and Mr Zuckerberg's invention, Facebook, got its start on college campuses. But though the internet has speeded things up, it has not fundamentally changed how researchers are connected. Academic communities are still pretty fragmented, frequently making it hard for scientists to find others doing similar research. And results often are not shared across disciplines.
非科研人員可能會好奇為什么需要這樣一種網(wǎng)絡(luò)。畢竟，因特網(wǎng)最初主要就是由學(xué)術(shù)人員創(chuàng)造并為他們自己服務(wù)。馬克.扎克伯格的發(fā)明—Facebook網(wǎng)站就是從大學(xué)學(xué)院里誕生出來的。縱然因特網(wǎng)加快了事物發(fā)展的速度，但并沒有從根本上改變研究人員的聯(lián)系。學(xué)術(shù)社區(qū)之間仍然相當(dāng)零散，科學(xué)家們時常很難找到其他同他們做相似研究的人，取得的成果也很難在學(xué)術(shù)界內(nèi)得以分享。
To make things more efficient and interdisciplinary, ResearchGate wants to help the academic world to grow more connective tissue, as Ijad Madisch, one of the firm's founders, puts it. As on Facebook, users create a profile page with biographical information, list their interests and research skills, and join groups. They can see what others with similar interests are up to and post comments. They can also upload their papers and create invitation-only workgroups.
為了讓事情變得更高效并加強(qiáng)學(xué)術(shù)間的聯(lián)系。作為公司的創(chuàng)始人之一 ,Ijad Madisch成立了Researchgate以幫助學(xué)術(shù)界帶來更多聯(lián)系性的方面。在Facebook上，用戶創(chuàng)建一個生物圖形信息為主題的主頁，列出他們的興趣愛好和研究水平，然后加入群組，就可以看見與他們擁有相似愛好的人在從事什么并發(fā)表評論。他們可以上傳自己的學(xué)術(shù)論文，還可以創(chuàng)建只供邀請才能加入的工作群組。
the big question is whether ResearchGate will make enough money to keep its investors happy. So far, it is running on cash from Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital, two venture capitalists based in Silicon Valley. A third firm is expected to join them soon. But these people will want a return on their investment.
最大的問題在于Researchgate能否賺足了錢來迎合它的投資者。目前，他們的運(yùn)營資金來自Accel Partner和Benchmark capitial，這兩家風(fēng)投公司都來自硅谷?，F(xiàn)在第三家公司很快就要參與進(jìn)來。但是這些人關(guān)注的是投資帶來的回報。
Some of that may already have come from the Max Planck Society, which runs many of Germany's best research campuses and had ResearchGate build it a private network. Over the longer haul, the firm hopes to charge companies and universities for using it to advertise jobs, and to operate a marketplace for laboratory materials. It has no plans to post other advertising, though, nor to charge its users directly.
其中一些回報來自Max planck society，這家公司經(jīng)營著很多德國最好的研究學(xué)院并在Researchgate上建立了一條私人網(wǎng)絡(luò)。很長一段時間里,這家公司希望利用一些公司和大學(xué)來發(fā)布工作廣告并支付他們一定的費(fèi)用，并且為實驗室材料創(chuàng)造一個市場。它現(xiàn)在還沒有考慮發(fā)布其他廣告，也不會直接支付給它的用戶。
At the moment, most of those users are in their 20s. Their favourite activity is to ask each other questions about practical research problems, from DNA-sequencing techniques to statistical tricks. They are also busy reading each other's papers: more than 10m have been uploaded. (Most scientific journals now allow authors to post their work on "personal web pages", which includes profile pages on social networks, according to Dr Madisch.)
目前，Researchgate大部分的用戶都在20歲左右。他們最愛詢問他人一些關(guān)于實用性研究的問題，從DNA壓縮技術(shù)到統(tǒng)計技巧。這些人忙于沉浸在閱讀他人的學(xué)術(shù)論文中：目前已上傳的論文超過了1000萬份。（據(jù)Madisch博士的解釋，大部分科普雜志如今允許用戶將他們自己的成果發(fā)布在個人網(wǎng)頁上，包括社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)的帳號主頁）
The service certainly saves these young researchers trial and error, and therefore time and money. They will probably also like a new feature ResearchGate is planning to introduce in April: a feedback system which lets users rate each other's contributions. This would allow them to build a reputation other than by publishing papers.
這項服務(wù)一定程度上避免了一些年輕研究者徒勞的嘗試和他們所會面臨的錯誤，即省時省財。他們可能也會喜歡Researchgate將在4月份發(fā)布的一項新功能：反饋機(jī)制 – 允許用戶對他人的成績評分。這會讓他們在社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)里樹立一個良好的名聲而不用出版論文。
Scientists whose reputations are established may be more hesitant, though, and not just because they are set in their ways. Science is not only about collaboration but also about competition. This limits what people are willing to share. But Dr Madisch is optimistic. Those who have grown up with Facebook, he says, know that sharing will improve their research. And their older colleagues will eventually come around-or retire.
對于已經(jīng)擁有一定威望的科學(xué)家可能會有些猶豫不決，不僅僅是因為他們特立獨(dú)行。科學(xué)包含合作與競爭，這會扼殺人們分享的念頭。但是Madisch博士對此并不悲觀，他說："這些從Facebook成長起來的研究者們知道分享會提高他們的研究水平。同時，他們年長一輩的同事們會最終認(rèn)識到這點，或者有的干脆選擇退休。
