Legal Commentary

The NYT ran, a few days ago, this piece, "Scholars test web alternative to peer review," in which the author notes, among other things, that:

[S]ome humanities scholars have begun to challenge the monopoly that peer review has on admission to career-making journals and, as a consequence, to the charmed circle of tenured academe. They argue that in an era of digital media there is a better way to assess the quality of work. Instead of relying on a few experts selected by leading publications, they advocate using the Internet to expose scholarly thinking to the swift collective judgment of a much broader interested audience. . .

The traditional method, in which independent experts evaluate a submission, often under a veil of anonymity, can take months, even years.

Clubby exclusiveness, sloppy editing and fraud have all marred peer review on occasion. Anonymity can help prevent personal bias, but it can also make reviewers less accountable; exclusiveness can help ensure quality control but can also narrow the range of feedback and participants. Open review more closely resembles Wikipedia behind the scenes, where anyone with an interest can post a comment. This open-door policy has made Wikipedia, on balance, a crucial reference resource. . . .

Any thoughts?  Do such developments represent a welcome "democratization" of the process, or instead a failure to appreciate the fact that (as Michele Lamont is quoted in the piece as saying) "knowledge is not democratic"?  Or something else?