July 25, 2012
I'm on my annual summer hiatus for the month of July so I'll be only publishing my weekly Friday Fun posts as well as re-posting some of the interviews I did a few years ago on the old blog with people from the publishing, library and science worlds. Not that my posting of late has been…
July 20, 2012
Academics aren't exactly known for their sartorial splendor. And that may be the understatement of the year.
A fun article by Daniel J. Myers in Insider Higher Ed from a few weeks ago: Faculty Fashion
Here's a quote:
What message might academics be trying to send when they flout the dictates of…
July 18, 2012
I'm on my annual summer hiatus for the month of July so I'll be only publishing my weekly Friday Fun posts as well as re-posting some of the interviews I did a few years ago on the old blog with people from the publishing, library and science worlds. Not that my posting of late has been…
July 13, 2012
This one is from the "kids today" file: Dubstep is "extra-terrestrial communication" NASA scientists reveal
My musical tastes are pretty catholic, but I gotta admit i don't get electronic music.
NASA today revealed that interstellar communications from an alien lifeform have been mistakenly…
July 11, 2012
I'm on my annual summer hiatus for the month of July so I'll be only publishing my weekly Friday Fun posts as well as re-posting some of the interviews I did a few years ago on the old blog with people from the publishing, library and science worlds. Not that my posting of late has been…
July 6, 2012
This one is both kinda funny and kinda sad, from the "so funny it cycles around the funniness circle to not really funny anymore" file. It's basically a bunch of survey questions that someone can take to figure out if they're a troll. And they're a pretty good indicator.
Do you dare? Do I dare?…
July 5, 2012
I'm on my annual summer hiatus for the month of July so I'll be only publishing my weekly Friday Fun posts as well as re-posting some of the interviews I did a few years ago on the old blog with people from the publishing, library and science worlds. Not that my posting of late has been…
June 29, 2012
One thing you have got to give to the more-than-slightly unhinged staff at The Cronk of Higher Ed is that they have a bizarre and hilarious take on the most important issues in higher education.
And sort of dead-on too.
This is a case of So Funny It Hurts.
U-Va. Rector Dragas Aims to Remove God…
June 29, 2012
A follow up to my post from a couple of days ago. It's nice to know that sometimes these stories have the potential for happy endings.
UVa Digital Archive of Materials Relating to the Resignation of Theresa Sullivan
University of Virginia Board Reinstates President
University of Virginia…
June 27, 2012
Archives as Discovery Zones
Don't Use Khan Academy without Watching this First
Credit for Datasets
Digital Makeover in Your Future? (eportfolios)
Are Apps The Future of Book Publishing?
The Finch Report in a global Open Access landscape
Why Johnny Can’t Add Without a Calculator
To Remain Relevant…
June 26, 2012
This collection of posts is only the tip of the iceberg of reaction to the ongoing controversy at the University of Virginia. For more, see the first item in the list for a digital archive.
I consider this particular crisis a very interesting one to follow, one with implications for all…
June 23, 2012
WSJ explains the economics behind lending Harry Potter ebooks by Amazon
Money Talks — How Audience Priorities and Publishing Incentives Can Lead to Unusual OA Behaviors
#scholpub, PeerJ and Tim O’Reilly
The coming revolution in STM #scholpub
Why doesn’t Moore’s law apply to #scholpub?
Who is the…
June 22, 2012
Since it's convocation season, I thought I'd share this one from the ever-amusing, never-lets-me-down-late-on-a-Friday-afternoon-looking-for-something-anything-to-post-for-Friday-fun.
Family of Graduate Sets New Standard in Love-Showing Unruliness
Families at Kennebunkport State University’s…
June 22, 2012
The title of this post might be a bit misleading. I don't really think it's much of a question.
Of course it's ok to get paid to promote open access.
My university pays me to be a librarian. I have faculty status. I can decide what I think are the most important issues in my field. I can advocate…
June 21, 2012
Why Twitter Matters: Tomorrow’s Knowledge Network
Available now: a guide to using Twitter in university research, teaching, and impact activities
If you don’t have social media, you are no one: How social media enriches conferences for some but risks isolating others
Twitter: My go-to learning…
June 19, 2012
Loud Debate Rages Over N.Y. Library's Quiet Stacks
Shh! Scholars Fight Over Library Plan (more on NYPL renovation plans)
Editors With Ethics
One Culture. Computationally Intensive Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences: A Report on the Experiences of First Respondents to the Digging Into…
June 15, 2012
I always thought Wolfgang Pauli's famous remark was the ultimate insult to scientists, but apparently I was wrong. Perhaps I was not even wrong given the plethora of scientific insults you can find out there.
In any case, many "thanks" to the Knoepfler Lab blog for their descriptive, specialized,…
June 13, 2012
PeerJ Press Release
Scholarly Publishing 2012: Meet PeerJ
New Publishing Venture Gives Researchers Control Over Access
PeerJ launches open access into a new realm
An interview with the founders of PeerJ, an innovative new academic publishing startup.
PeerJ launches & More PeerJ musings
New OA…
June 12, 2012
Welcome to the most recent installment in my very occasional series of interviews with people in the publishing/science blogging/computing communities. The latest is with Peter Binfield and Jason Hoyt of PeerJ. PeerJ is a new startup in the scientific publishing industry, using a rather unique…
June 12, 2012
I'm not one for posting publisher press releases on this blog (and embargoed ones at that!) but sometimes you just have to try something a little different. And this is such an occasion.
Below is the press release for a new science publishing startup called PeerJ. It is founded by Peter Binfield,…
June 11, 2012
John MacCormick's new book, Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers, is very good. You should buy it and read it.
Among all the debates about whether or not absolutely everybody must without question learn to program (pro, con), it's perhaps a good…
June 9, 2012
Academic Librarians As Campus Hubs
Intellectual Freedom and the Library as a Workplace
MLA Shift on Copyright
Book Beat 2012 (on university presses at BEA)
Commencement Address to Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School (Laurence Lessig on political corruption)
How to Fail When Using Internal Social…
June 8, 2012
This past week one of the true giants of fantastic literature died: Ray Bradbury.
I like what Gregory Benford had to say on the Tor.com blog:
Nostalgia is eternal for Americans. We are often displaced from our origins and carry anxious memories of that lost past. We fear losing our bearings. By…
June 6, 2012
Real cost of the smartphone revolution
The rise of libre open access
25,000 signatures and still rolling: Implications of the White House petition
Technology Review Goes Digital First
Journalism: The best of times, and the worst of times
Publishers' Fallback Position (GSU decision)
What Does It…
June 4, 2012
Apologies to my loyal readers for the rather inside-baseball library and Canadian politics focus of my recent posts, but that unfortunately is where I'm at right now. It will probably continue for a least a little bit.
Onward.
The Canadian Library Association held its annual conference in Ottawa…
June 2, 2012
Open access will bankrupt us, publishers’ report claims
What data can and cannot do
I Point To TED Talks and I Point to Kim Kardashian. That Is All.
Why Library and eBooks Issues Matter
Sports Subsidies and Library Spending
Improving Research Skills
RUK: The Maturing Threat of Open Access
Letter…
June 1, 2012
It's unseemly to revel in the misfortunes of others. Words to live by, ones I usually take very seriously. Of course, all bets are off for my Friday Fun posts, so let's revel a bit in the misfortunes of Facebook and the man seated at the throne in King's Landing.
As its share value continued to…
June 1, 2012
#scholpub , Maxwell and the Laws of Acadynamics
Please Don't Learn to Code
Please Don't Become Anything, Especially Not A Programmer
The Radical New Humanities Ph.D.
The Classroom Is Obsolete: It's Time for Something New
Dead-Tree Luddites
Open Access and the Future of Academic Scholarship
Helping…
May 30, 2012
Come work instead of me!
Below is a posting for a 3-year contractually limited appointment in my unit. I'm chair of the search committee, so feel free to ask away with any questions about the position. I'll answer them to the best of my ability given the limitations of being on the committee.
As it…
May 25, 2012
Christopher Lee -- long one of my absolute favourite actors -- is celebrating his 90th birthday on Sunday May 27.
I have fond memories of Lee as Dracula in the Hammer films of the 1950s and 1960s which I watched on TV as a very terrified little tyke. In fact, I can't imagine that today's parents…
