There was an exciting announcement today about a fall series of webinars that are being scheduled among a group of the major Data Science institutes at key research institutes -- UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, Stanford, Rice University, University of Washington and NYU (forgive me if I'v missed anyone). For one version of the announcement see

https://bids.berkeley.edu/news/data-science-coast-coast-seminars-launch-october-21

Not only is this an important development in its own right, as higher education tries to situate the emerging discipline of data science within its institutions, but it begins to suggest how the current pandemic and the shift to virtual venues is changing scholarly communication patterns. Events such as seminars and symposia that were historically institutionally based are moving to much broader (sometimes internationally based ) community participation, with implications that we have yet to understand. This demands closer examination and consideration than I'm aware is occurring, particularly in the context of the growing emergence of what might be called "scientific nationalism" driven by government policies.  

Clifford Lynch
Director, CNI