Matchmaker, Matchmaker Make Me an International Collaboration

Jeff Young at The Chronicle of Higher Education's Wired Campus blog explains a new "online matchmaking service" called Anianet, which aims to link researchers with collaborators overseas and help Chinese scientists spread word of their research to the West. Young says that Anianet — which "boasts about 6,000 registered users" so far, is backed by a partnership with the publishing firm Springer, and contains both Mandarin and English content — allows researchers to post a résumé or CV and other documents related to their research. The site's creator, Greg Tananbaum, told Wired Campus that users decide for themselves how much information to share, though "we go back and attempt to explain why it's more advantageous" to create a complete profile. "So far, most Chinese researchers on the site have chosen to provide only the most minimal details, with many posting only a photo and research field," Young says, adding "that would be little help to someone trying to evaluate the researcher’s work." Still, Anianet's Tanabaum says users have credited the site with facilitating networking. "We have members who have e-mailed us notes of thanks and said, 'I have connected with a conference and was invited to speak,'" he told Wired Campus.