Start of the project

Ok, here we go. This is it.

At the 18th European White Dwarf Workshop I presented an idea of how we could do science related to white dwarfs a little differently. We white dwarf researchers are already quite an open community and we work together, if the need arises, to accomplish results. Because of this, I think we are a very good test case for an open science project in astronomy.
     To promote this cooperation I thought that we could use a platform where we can exhange ideas and discuss our work openly in a manner that allows outsiders to follow our work and give helpful comments. By outsiders I mostly mean other researchers in the field but nothing prevents other people interested in the field to contribute to the scientific discourse.

     This blog is meant to be a platform for planning the actual open science project. I have a vision of a dedicated website that would include various tools that allow us to have discussions, share our ideas, information and knowledge about white dwarfs and, in general, aids in the process of making science. I also hope that this project will lead to new discoveries and plenty of papers written by the participants.
     So I hope you take part in the discussions actively and post comments where you feel you have something to say. I would especially appreciate your suggestions on what the project page should include and perhaps how to make those suggestions become a reality.

     I have to note that I have never had a blog so I will probably add things to this blog and modify it to be more usable. For example, it should be possible to have tabs there at the top, which I would find very useful. I just have to figure out how to do them. I have in mind a test case of how open science works in the form of a question that I would like to put in a separate thread, if I can figure out how to do it.
     This is not meant to be a one man show, so I would also like to have several authors to this blog. Again, how that works I have no idea, but I will find out. 

     With these disclamers, I wish the project gets a good start and that we find this way of working fun and productive.

     I also have to mention some practical matters. You can sign you comments with your google account or using some other methods of identification. You can also leave anonymous comments. I personally don't have anything against anonymity, but it would be nice if you at least write your name under your comment.

- Tommi Vornanen