7 steps to restore trust in science – step 7

Communicate about the process of science as well as the content [previous post]
Make research outputs available to all for free [previous post]
Publish negative results and unsuccessful experiments too [previous post]
Publish peer review comments with research outputs. [previous post]
Attach a summary for non-experts to research outputs. [previous post]
Make raw data available as early as possible. [previous post]
Use new technology to open research conferences to all. Research conferences play an important role in the development of science. Initial finding are presented, ideas discussed and new insights generated. But access is restricted to those that can afford to travel to the conference and pay to register, making conferences appear closed. Technology makes is so easy to make research conferences more open, and at the simplest level all organisers need to do is publish a Twitter hash-tag. The participants then do the rest. Or why not make audio recordings available online together with slide presentations? With the help of a cheap video camera and YouTube, a video record can be published. Live streaming is a slightly more complicated option. In the face of all these choices some conferences organisers are trying to close down rather than open up, but surely more openness can only help us all to engage with the research that matters. After all, science has nothing to hide.