SelectedPapers.net lets you recommend papers, comment on them, discuss them, or simply add them to your reading list.
But instead of "locking up" your comments within its own website - the "walled garden" strategy followed by other services - it explicitly shares these data in a way that people not on SelectedPapers.net can easily see. Any other service can see and use them too. It does this by using existing social networks such as Google+, so users of those social networks can see your recommendations and discuss them, even if they've never heard of SelectedPapers.net.
For example, if you're a Google+ user, you post comments on SelectedPapers.net using your usual Google+ identity and posting process, with key hashtags automatically added to identify the paper you are discussing. And of course your post will be seen by your usual Google+ audience -- in addition to people who see it on SelectedPapers.net.
So: if you want to strip the idea down to one sentence, it's this: given that social networks already exist, all we need for truly open scientific communication is a convention on a consistent set of tags and IDs for discussing papers. That makes it possible to integrate discussion from all social networks -- big and small -- as a single unified forum.
To see how it works, take a look here:
Under 'Recent activity' you'll see comments and recommendations of different papers, so far mostly on the arXiv.
Right now SelectedPapers.net works with Google+. Support for other social networks such as Twitter is coming soon. But here's how you can use it now:
We suggest that you first create (in your Google+ account) a Google+ Circle specifically for discussing research with (e.g. call it “Research”), unless you already have such a circle.
Click Sign in with Google on https://selectedpapers.net or on a paper discussion page.
The usual Google sign-in window will appear (unless you are already signed in). Google will ask if you want to use the Selected Papers network, and specifically for what Circle(s) to let it see the membership list(s) (i.e. the names of people you have added to that Circle). SelectedPapers.net uses this as your initial "subscriptions", i.e. the list of people whose recommendations you want to receive. You should include all Circles that contain researchers who work in your field (including your new Research Circle, if you created one).
Note the only information you are giving SelectedPapers.net access to is this list of names; in all other respects SelectedPapers.net is limited by Google+ to the same information that anyone on the internet can see, i.e. your public posts. For example, SelectedPapers.net cannot ever see your private posts within any of your Circles.
Now you can initiate and join discussions of papers directly on any SelectedPapers.net page.
Alternatively, without even signing in to SelectedPapers.net, you can just write posts on Google+ containing the hashtag #spnetwork, and they will automatically be included within the SelectedPapers.net discussions (i.e. indexed and displayed so that other people can reply to them etc.). Here's an example of a Google+ post example:
This article by Perelman outlines a proof of the Poincare conjecture! #spnetwork #mustread #geometry #poincareConjecture arXiv:math/0211159
You need the tag #spnetwork for SelectedPapers.net to notice your post. Tags like #mustread, #recommend, and so on indicate your attitude to a paper. Tags like #geometry, #poincareConjecture and so on indicate a subject area: they let people search for papers by subject. A tag of the form arXiv:math/0211159 is necessary for arXiv papers; note that this does not include a # symbol.
For PubMed papers, include a tag of the form PMID:22291635. Other published papers usually have a DOI (digital object identifier), so for those include a tag of the form doi:10.3389/fncom.2012.00001.
Tags are the backbone of SelectedPapers.net; you can read more about them here.
You can also post and see comments at https://selectedpapers.net. This page also lets you search for papers in the arXiv and search for published papers via their DOI or Pubmed ID. If you are signed in, the homepage will also show the latest recommendations (from people you're subscribed to), papers on your reading list, and papers you tagged as interesting for your work.
Papers are the center of just about everything here. Here's what you can do with a paper:
click to see the full text of the paper via arXiv.org or the publisher's website.
read other people's recommendations and discussion of the paper.
add it to your Reading List. This is simply a private list of papers -- a convenient way of marking a paper for further attention later. When you are logged in, your Reading list is shown on the homepage. No one else can see your reading list.
share the paper with others (such as your Google+ Circles or Google+ communities that you are part of).
tag it as interesting for a specific topic. You do this either by clicking the checkbox of a topic (it shows topics that other readers have tagged the paper), by selecting from a list of topics that you have previously tagged as interesting to you, or by simply typing a tag name. These tags are public; that is, everyone can see what topics the paper has been tagged with, and who tagged them.
post a question or comment about the paper, or reply to what other people have said about it. This traffic is public. Specifically, clicking the Discuss this Paper button gives you a Google+ window (with appropriate tags already filled in) for writing a post. Note that in order for the spnet to see your post, you must include Public in the list of recipients for your post (this is an inherent limitation of Google+, which limits apps to see only the same posts that any internet user would see -- even when you are signed-in to the app as yourself on Google+).
recommend it to others. Once again, you must include Public in the list of recipients for your post, or the spnet cannot see it.
We strongly suggest that you include a topic hashtag for your research interest area. E.g. if there is a hashtag that people in your field commonly use for posting on Twitter, use it. If you have to make up a new hashtag, keep it intuitive and follow "camelCase" capitalization e.g. #openPeerReview.
Note that thanks to our open design, you do not even need to create a SelectedPapers.net login. Instead, SelectedPapers.net authenticates with Google (for example) that you are signed in to Google+; you never give SelectedPapers.net your Google password or access to any confidential information.
Moreover, even when you are signed in to SelectedPapers.net using your Google sign-in, it cannot see any of your private posts, only those you posted publicly - in other words, exactly the same as what anybody on the Internet can see.