Networked

Apparently, the State Department is working on building the infrastructure to help scientists in North and South America communicate with each other. The Department's providing space for conversations on the Western Hemisphere Affairs bureau's website, hosting webchats, and looking at setting up a social network. This strikes me as smart and potentially valuable. It provides a resource for universities and research institutions without explicitly setting an agenda. Providing pipelines for communication is useful, it's not always something universities have the resources to set up and maintain themselves, it provides a venue other than conferences for scientists to talk to each other, and it provides a somewhat low-stakes forum for the State Department to test out its ability to build this kind of network.