Web 2.0 and the ever elusive balance between information explosion and data mining

In a fascinating tussle of perspectives in Volume 6 and issue no 3 of april 2008 Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Martin A Nuñez and Gregory M Crustinger enlist ways to brace up with the recent literature. They advocate that PhD students should choose a well studied system to have better chances of success. On the other side of this fascinating tussle Daniel Simberloff and Nathan J Sanders agree with there enthusiastic case and approaches for bracing up with the recent literature. However, they disagree with the play safe strategy of start-ups in ecology and evolution.

For me this tussle of perspectives is really fascinating. It underlines the story of our times. In the times of information explosion, should we concentrate on mining this information for knowledge or should we keep adding to this information explosion. This dilemma fits well in the context of the tussle by a quote from Nassim Nicholas Taleb “ It is almost impossible these days to finish PhD without excessive intellectual curiosity and it is impossible to get a faculty position without narrowly specializing in a chosen field ”.
Here in this letter, I want to harmonize the two perspectives by arguing that coexistence of information explosion and data mining is possible. We should strive for that ever elusive balance and I discuss below how Web 2.0 will enable it. Web 2.0, still in its infancy already shows promising results and I discuss below these usages

Loop Quantum Gravity: Four Recent Advances and a Dozen Frequently Asked Questions

As per organizers' request, my talk at the 11th Marcel Grossmann Conference consisted of two parts. In the first, I illustrated recent advances in loop quantum gravity through examples. In the second, I presented an overall assessment of the status of the program by addressing some frequently asked questions. This account is addressed primarily to researchers outside the loop quantum gravity community.Comment: 21 pages, to appear in the Proceedings of the 11th Marcel Grossmann Conferenc