Ask HN: Is it possible to do research outside academy? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to do research outside academy?

#21

Post by musicale » Sat, Jul 20, 2024, 5:06 AM UTC

impendia wrote: post #17

I am a research mathematician, a professor at a US university. Anyone can do research. It is much harder to do research that other researchers will read and take an interest in. "The strict formats, all the requirements before you can publish, the references you have to use, the nitty-gritty of writing essays, and the conditions that seem to be part of the status quo and hidden secrets between universities": If you w…

I've found lots of interesting technical work via HN, github, youtube, and random blogs, often made by people who were simply interested in things, investigated them, and then decided to share them with other people.

I think open source type conferences may epitomize what conferences should be - like-minded people getting together to discuss and share work on problems that they are interested in.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to do research outside academy?

#22

Post by musicale » Sat, Jul 20, 2024, 5:11 AM UTC

coolradmab wrote: post #9

yes its hard, as somone who built a wetlab in a maker space for bio materials research and did the hours each day it took to push the bleeding edge on synthetic sea shell analogues to producing a working protocol. i haven't managed to publish the work in a journal due too the fees involved. you can find more on my site https://alexmakes.net/projects/sea_chells.html

I don't like it when (predatory?) journals and conferences charge fees for submission or publication; is that common in your field?

A very bad trend with (IEEE, ACM, etc.) in some conferences and journals has been to charge "open access fees." I prefer publication venues that are open access without fees. However, if you get stuck with one of these bad venues you can usually still publish preprints via your own web site.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to do research outside academy?

#23

Post by tugberkk » Mon, Jul 22, 2024, 8:00 AM UTC

carlosjobim wrote: post #13

beryilma wrote: post #8

Sure, you can certainly do research outside of academia. But, for all practical purposes, you cannot publish at a reputable journal without an academic or R&D center affiliation. However, what you call "nitty gritty of writing essays" is there for a reason: to streamline the communication and acknowledge the contributions of others. As long as you are not inventing something unseen before, you just cannot "do researc…

Who gives a damn about publishing in journals? With the internet anybody can publish anywhere. And if it's the truth then it's the truth. Anybody can seek and find the truth.

We should give a damn. As you said, anyone can publish anything on the internet, how would we know whether it is valid or not?

Peer-review is important. I know it is not working great, but it is working to some degree.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to do research outside academy?

#24

Post by carlosjobim » Mon, Jul 22, 2024, 8:51 PM UTC

tugberkk wrote: post #23

carlosjobim wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who gives a damn about publishing in journals? With the internet anybody can publish anywhere. And if it's the truth then it's the truth. Anybody can seek and find the truth.

We should give a damn. As you said, anyone can publish anything on the internet, how would we know whether it is valid or not? Peer-review is important. I know it is not working great, but it is working to some degree.

I don't agree with even the concept of peer review. Reality is the only deciding factor in what is true or not, which is discovered in real world testing and not by asking somebody with a title.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to do research outside academy?

#25

Post by tugberkk » Tue, Jul 23, 2024, 7:14 AM UTC

carlosjobim wrote: post #24

tugberkk wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should give a damn. As you said, anyone can publish anything on the internet, how would we know whether it is valid or not? Peer-review is important. I know it is not working great, but it is working to some degree.

I don't agree with even the concept of peer review. Reality is the only deciding factor in what is true or not, which is discovered in real world testing and not by asking somebody with a title.

It is very hard to do testing on theoretical side of things. It is also possible to cheat on experimental results. On top of that, it eliminates the possibility of redoing (or publishing previously done results) if there is no significant contribution.

I think academic publishing is not in a good place right now and should be improved, but I don't personally see any problem with the concept. Thank you for your insights on the matter.