Just came across a set of packages under development for R that provide interface to open source resources for science: http://ropensci.org .
Examples include Taxize, which provides an R interface to a variety of (species) taxonomic databases and rMendeley, which provides an interface to the Mendeley online citation system.
A new educational focus is emerging in some institutions of higher education. These schools are taking an interdisciplinary approach to educating tomorrow’s information professionals, by mixing together science, technology, social science, and design. These new programs are beginning to educate students in these new professions – not as programmers or coders or software developers, but as professional analysts, architects, and creators of our planet’s critical information infrastructure.