On Web Structure and Digital Knowledge Bases: Online and Offline Connections in Science

Abstract

This chapter analyses the web as a complex system of interactions bridging online and offline communities in open science in order to discuss the transformation of communication and practices within scientific communities. It addresses the problem of mapping the structural linkages of research networks on the internet for purposes of identifying digital knowledge bases on electronic networks. Traditional (nonelectronic) research networks are likely to have a digital representation (web presence), whose boundaries and characteristics require a closer investigation. It is of special concern here to identify particular subsets of these digital networks whose properties are related to non-digital collaboration structures. Empirical evidence for electronic connectivity on the internet is discussed from a European Language and Speech Network, constituted by 141 research groups—the ELSnet network. We explore the possibility of identifying particularly intensive “Digital Knowledge Bases” on these electronic networks.