ResearchID.org:About
From ResearchID.org
ResearchID.org is a wiki database exploring hypothetical, empirical, and technological research possibilities for intelligent design. This site is intended as a "springboard" for research ideas and is seeking to theoretically (theoria) and experimentally (praxis) investigate intelligent design. Investigating the explanatory power and predicative abilities of ID is of particular interest here.
Research Foci. The scope of research in the database covers the breadth of human knowledge. Research being catalogued is from every discipline of the arts and sciences that are considered academic, including biological, geological, cosmological, astronomical, social sciences and many others.
Site design. The website is designed to be very accessible and intuitive, providing introductory information on current and potential ID research. Simplicity, efficiency, and utility are the ideals strived for. See also: Site Design Team.
Usage. The database can be used in many ways. It can be a "brainstorm" resource for developing research. It provides simple factual overviews in the abstracts. ResearchID.org can be used as a primer for developing lab research. The information here could be potential topics for a paper written independent of empirical research. This information would also be useful in finding new research ideas for empirical study. Please let us know if you are able to use ResearchID.org in a new way that we could share with others. Legal and ethical accountability is a standard of ResearchID.org, and all contributions must comply with these two ideals or will be removed.
Research co-op. ResearchID.org also assists in establishing partnerships and collaboration in ID research. Utilizing the collaborative advantages of Wiki software, ResearchID.org will maintain this collaborative site of research application article contributions and discussions. If you desire to be listed as an active researcher, please contact us, or add your name to a research page as an active researcher.
Goals. To catalog every known ID topic and research application. This will take a cooperative effort with hypothetical and empirical knowledge being shared among theorists and researchers.
Professionals and non-professionals are encouraged to use this site as a resource for their academic efforts, or just for 'surfing'.
ResearchID.org Mission Statement
Development of Positive Research of intelligent design, by providing
Resources for intelligent design research, through
Collaboration among researchers in building information sources, and establish
Networking between individual intelligent design researchers and theorists.
ResearchID.org Website Design Philosophy
Design and layout: We desire this site to be simple and digestable, and not overwhelming to the average person. As efficient and useful as possible, by eliminating all elements not necessary to fulfilling the mission and goals.
Content and information: Concise and relevant articles on the "outer layer" of the site, with more technical information on the "inner layers."
- Outer layer relaying the most information in the least amount of time and space, and presenting clearly how the information pertains to design-theoretic research.
- Inner layer containing detailed research as specific as the researcher would like to contribute.
Participation and collaboration: Effective, Relevant, and Fun. We desire that ResearchID.org be an enjoyable experience, and be as pain-free as possible to contribute to and participate in.
See also Open Source Intelligent Design.
ResearchID.org Research Philosophy
Scope: Breadth. Widest possible range of research.
Interdisciplinary and specialized: ResearchID.org is developing research that is very specific to a field or sub-field, as well as applications that are interconnected with the proper fields.
Modest: Research should not over-reach the explanatory limits appropriate to a discipline.
ResearchID.org is not...
...is not a site for the defense of intelligent design formulations.
This is a site that develops research of intelligent design. Other groups and websites, like Discovery.org, IDtheFuture.com, and TelicThoughts.com and many others are on the job. Development of experimental, technological, and theoretical research of ID must and will continue here unabated. Useful critiques of ID will be catalogued, acknowledged, and incorporated wisely by ResearchID.org for the purposes of improving research, not for formulating defenses of ID. Linking articles to well-written and scholarly defenses on other sites is highly encourage, but not necessary.
...is not a polemical wiki.
Debating points of contention is perfectly fine and dissenters are welcomed. However, those who cannot agree to contribute constructively, or those who attempt to subvert our mission, are not welcomed. ResearchID.org is considered an "open source" project, and if you are opposed to the project, there's no sense in you being a part.
For example, let us say someone thought that XML aggregators were a horrible idea. If this doubter went to an aggregator project on SourceForge, joined in, and started emailing everyone in the project that aggregators are terrible and useless, they would ignore the new member and probably boot the person from the project. We will do likewise if someone wants to subvert our purposes.
We are too busy with scientific research to argue about whether ID is science.
There are plenty of websites out there if someone desires to debate polemically. If you would like to tell the world why intelligent design is the worst thing to ever happen to science, please go to the EvoWiki and become a productive member of their community.
...is not an exhaustive compendium of information.
As a springboard, this site does not always have full-length research papers or in-depth scholarly work. Our main focus is on providing content that is relevant and concise. If exhaustive resources are what some users are interested in contributing, ResearchID.org will gladly accomodate this desire. Complicated and exhaustive research analyses may be included in our database, but mainly we will offer links and citations to such resources. Other groups, like ISCID.org, have taken up the effort to provide detailed research information. Our focus is on pointing people in the right direction.
...is not an organization that claims intelligent design is absolutely proven.
Natural science does not advance by asserting absolute truth, but only through an accumulation of data, evidence, and facts, leading to probabilistic inferences that are reasonable. ResearchID.org seeks to catalogue facts and hypotheses concerning them.
...is not a database of research claiming that evolution is false.
ID does not preclude evolution per se; it challenges the notion that evolution happened by blind chance. ID has problems with the claim that any and all evolutionary processes are strictly based on "blind" forces and "random" chance. ResearchID.org is not trying to defeat Darwin either. Here we are researching intelligent design, and evolution only when it has a direct intersection with ID proposals. We are in pursuit of signs of intelligence, and what those signs might mean in the context of scientific research. Evolution is a very viable candidate for us to investigate when fulfilling these purposes.
...is not a database of research exclusively about intelligent design.
Rather, it covers any topic that can yield scientific fruit as part of para-reductive, telic, or quasi-design theoretic research.
...is not a platform for promoting a specific view.
ResearchID.org does not emphasize or encourage a specific view on the following topics:
- value of specific research philosophies
(unless it necessarily denies that design detection is possible)
- value of evolutionary explanations
(unless they are unsupported by evidence)
- social or political views
- views of religion or anti-religion
ResearchID.org is a forum for open discussion and all views will have equal access, so long as they are logical, coherent, non-offensive, ethical, and further the mission of ResearchID.org.
...is not a wiki for researching Creationism.
The methods of study employed by researchers of intelligent design differ sharply from proponents of Scientific Creationism.
Michael Ruse, an anti-ID philosopher of science, stated, "Clearly, intelligent design is different from scientific creationism."
From the CreationWiki website:
ID is ultimately inferred from empirical evidence in nature, not deduced from scripture or religious doctrines. ID is not religiously-based. Many ID advocates are not Christians, Jews, or Muslims. It should also be noted that some ID theorists entertain the idea of common descent. ID is most clearly distiguished from religious creationism due to the fact that it makes no claims about who the creator is, nor does it use references from scripture when forming theories about the history of the world. ID simply postulates that the cosmos possesses evidence that it was intelligently designed.
Please visit the CreationWiki for resources on studying Creationism.
...is not a dictionary.
ResearchID.org is not compiling lists of definitions for their own sake. There are defined informational requirements that go beyond dictionary standards, like our short bibliographies and research objectives. Additionally, original research is encouraged. If you would like to help with a dictionary, you may be interested in our glossary.
...is not an indiscriminate collection of information.
This is a collaborative database about intelligent design and research that would have at least an indirect relationship to ID.
The ResearchID.org community is not..
...is not a battleground.
Every user is expected to interact with others civilly, calmly, and in a spirit of cooperation. Do not insult, harass or intimidate those with whom you have a disagreement. Rather, approach the matter in an intelligent manner, and engage in polite discussion. If a user acts uncivilly, uncalmly, uncooperatively, insultingly, harassingly or intimidatingly towards you, this does not give you an excuse to do the same unto them ("he started it!"). Two wrongs do not make a right. Either respond solely to the factual points brought forward and ignore its objectionable flavouring, or ignore the relevant message entirely.
Also, do not create or modify articles just to prove a point. Threats are not tolerated and may result in a ban.
...is not an anarchy, a democracy, or a bureaucracy.
ResearchID.org is free and open, but restricts both freedom and openness where they interfere with the purpose of creating a research database of ID. Accordingly, ResearchID.org is not a forum for unregulated free speech. The fact that ResearchID.org is an open, self-governing project does not mean that any part of its purpose is to explore the viability of anarchistic communities. Our purpose is to build an ID research database, not to test the limits of anarchism.
ResearchID.org is not an experiment in democracy. Its primary method of finding consensus is discussion, not voting. In difficult cases, straw polls may be conducted to help determine consensus, but are to be used with caution and not to be treated as binding votes.
In particular, ResearchID.org is not a system of law. Disagreements should be resolved through consensual discussion, rather than through tightly sticking to rules and procedures. Instruction creep should be avoided. A perceived procedural error made in posting anything, such as an idea or hypothesis, is not grounds for invalidating that post. Follow the spirit, not the letter, of any rules, policies and guidelines.
The Logos of ResearchID.org
The graphics and images used by ResearchID.org in our logos are chosen carefully and with much intentionality.
The main logo of ResearchID.org is the likeness of a cross-section of a nautilus (Animalia Mollusca Cephalopoda Nautilus). The rate and pattern of growth of this mullosk will form what is commonly called a Fibonacci sequence. Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci was an Italian Medieval mathematician and businessman who wrote about recursive sequences in his treatise Liber Abaci. The Ancient Greeks called this sequence the 'Golden Mean'.
More on Fibonacci Sequences: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]
Statement on Freedom of Knowledge
"Keep Knowledge Free; Because Knowledge Frees."
- - Joseph C. Campana, ResearchID.org founder and webmaster
See also Open Source Intelligent Design.
ResearchID.org Supports the Universal Human Rights of:
- Freedom of Thought
- Freedom of Access to Academic Knowledge
- Law of Liberation of Information
Therefore, the content of this website is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click the graphic at the bottom left of any page on ResearchID.org for more information. All submissions to ResearchID.org fall under this license.
Genius is born--not paid.
- - Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
Dedication
This site is dedicated to:
- All lovers of knowledge and truth. "Seek and you will find."
- Students who will change the world by: graduating, getting jobs in research fields, and utilizing ID premises to generate great empirical research, theoretical works, and technological applications.
- The brother I never knew.
