The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology's (CRN) Wise-Nano project is "a collaborative website to study the facts and implications of advanced nanotechnology." The website is designed for researchers and intended to encourage collaboration worldwide and "to build an understanding of the technologies, their effects, and what to do about them." From this website, visitors can ask and answer questions, join or start a project, create, review, edit, or expand on articles, contribute to discussions, or find collaborators for research. The website offers an innovative approach to promote dialogue on hot topics in nanotechnology. Basically, someone poses a question and proposes a project to investigate, people gather to work on the project, which leads to articles. Although articles can also be added separately from any project, the point is that "any user can work to improve any article." For example, the main page highlights current "hot debates," which are then presented in an editable format that allows readers to make changes to the interactive articles directly online. Ultimately, this leads to a series of white papers, K-16 curricula, and other documents as well as, ideally, inspiring new projects.
Comments