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by berryg 2995 days ago
I have not given this much thought or did any research. It is just an idea that popped into my head reading this thread. Why not just replicate the open source software model? Author opens a git repository on a github like repository. Reviewer can comment on the content repository. Article versions are stored and changes are stored for future reference. Even research data can be stored in same repository. Reviewers can build up a reputation by reviewing articles. Articles can even be forked or referenced. Articles with the most references and reviewed by reviewers with a good reputation can thus rise to the "top". Technically everything is in place. Or I am too much of a technical optimist?
2 comments

That'd be nice if top repos on github were the best ones. But they're quite often the most marketed instead (though these two qualities are not necessarily mutually exclusive).
As a programmer, it’s hard not to wish we had git-for-publishing, git-for-Photoshop, git-for-homework, etc. it’s just such a powerful system! I think the steep learning curve is the reason it hasn’t already caught on beyond where it’s absolutely essential in software engineering. Maybe that means we need a more approachable git. It would also mean getting people onto the platform. Maybe a platform that already has the users could gradually introduce a version control system piece by piece.
FWIW, I've already got git-for-homework, git-for-academic-articles, git-for-slide-decks, git-for-lesson-planning, and probably a few other things. I'd be curious to see what passes for version control in fields other than software/CS, but I don't think I've heard of any such thing in use. I don't even hear "git is too complicated" -- people don't seem to talk about (anything I recognize as) version control at all.