On my last trip to Paris I had lunch with Gilles Prigent, founder of Take Part Media and creator and administrator of Scitizen. Scitizen is a peer reviewed science news source: news edited and created directly by the scientists who make it, directed to well, everyone.

The technology that allows Scitizen to work is brand new, but the idea of peer review, which is a core element of Web 2.0, is as old as science itself…

Whether we are looking at Wikipedia, del.icio.us, Scitizen or the process of open source programming, a self regulating community review is what makes these sources of information so reliable.

Scitizen is an excellent example of how Web 2.0 is democratizing the means of information production, blurring the line between scientist and journalist and cutting out the traditional TV or newspaper middlemen.