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Sure, you can certainly do research outside of academia. But, for all practical purposes, you cannot publish at a reputable journal without an academic or R&D c
by beryilma 2y ago
Sure, you can certainly do research outside of academia. But, for all practical purposes, you cannot publish at a reputable journal without an academic or R&D center affiliation.
However, what you call "nitty gritty of writing essays" is there for a reason: to streamline the communication and acknowledge the contributions of others. As long as you are not inventing something unseen before, you just cannot "do research" without also doing those things.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- carlosjobim 2y agoWho gives a damn about publishing in journals? With the internet anybody can publish anywhere. And if it's the truth then it's the truth. Anybody can seek and find the truth.
- jrvieira 2y agoseek, yes. find, is a hard problem
- carlosjobim 2y agoMost of the time you will end up in a dead end, no matter what idea you're trying to find evidence for. And this is true within academic research as well. Academic knowledge is but a tiny fraction of the knowledge that is discovered every day. Most of it is far from the public eye, being discovered and applied in all different kind of workplaces all over the world. Maybe that knowledge is not "fancy" enough for the academically minded, but it is the knowledge that propels the world forward.
- musicale 2y agoThis is exactly right. I have found all kinds of interesting work via HN, arxiv, github, youtube, random blog posts, etc.
- tugberkk 2y agoWe should give a damn. As you said, anyone can publish anything on the internet, how would we know whether it is valid or not? Peer-review is important. I know it is not working great, but it is working to some degree.
- carlosjobim 2y agoI don't agree with even the concept of peer review. Reality is the only deciding factor in what is true or not, which is discovered in real world testing and not by asking somebody with a title.
- tugberkk 2y agoIt is very hard to do testing on theoretical side of things. It is also possible to cheat on experimental results. On top of that, it eliminates the possibility of redoing (or publishing previously done results) if there is no significant contribution. I think academic publishing is not in a good place right now and should be improved, but I don't personally see any problem with the concept. Thank you for your insights on the matter.
- musicale 2y agoGovernment and industry research labs are still around and do lots of research. Companies with R&D departments also do "R" as well as "D" though it is typically more applied and product-focused. However, I've also seen independent researchers (Smith Research, Doe Consulting) and undergraduates publish and present work at technical conferences and workshops. There is usually no requirement for an academic or large company affiliation, or a graduate degree. What is required, as you indicate, is a carefully written academic paper that presents a clearly identified (and "novel") contribution to the field, clear explanation with convincing evaluation, and adequate review of, comparison with, and citation of prior work, in the preferred writing and publication style. If you're not used to this kind of writing, you might want to see if you can get help from someone who is.