Bryan, at Hevel.org, has some thoughts on what he calls “open peer review.” I think he is on to something. The SBL forum is a nice start, but it would be far better if there was some way to comment on the published pieces. Even better would be some kind of “issue in progress” where each essay could be open for review up until a predetermined publication date. This gets pretty close to the type of feedback one might get if one were sitting across the table from a friend or advisor, as Bryan suggests.

To some extent, we need someone to step out on a limb, put a manuscript up using the proper backend (such as the example Bryan linked to), and see what happens. Perhaps later this year when Google Wave releases someone will have the courage to do this. It could be done, as in the example linked above, with currently available tools, but it requires someone willing to go out on a limb and allow their work to be reviewed publicly–whereas it appears Google Wave will allow more control of those viewing the document.