April 1, 2012
Hi everybody,
It is with great pride and excitement that I'm finally able to announce something that's been in the works for a few months now. I will be accepting the role of inaugural editor-in-chief of an exciting new journal to be published by Elsevier: The Journal of Applied Publishing…
March 30, 2012
Undergrads, we all love'em, right? You bet.
Of course...
Undergraduate Research Assistant Finally Sharpens Perfect Pencil
After months of stupefying repetition, undergraduate research assistant Thomas Floyd, 19, emerged from the Nelson Physics Laboratory this afternoon to announce that his faculty…
March 30, 2012
Every year for the last several years I've collated and extracted the science books from all the various "best books of the year" lists in different media media outlets. I've done the same this year for books published in 2011! I can tell it's been popular among my readers from the hit stats I…
March 29, 2012
Philip Pullman: Libraries are not just about books
The Tech Savvy Presidency
Spain's Libranda Grows Up: E-reader, Library Lending Planned
Doing It for Themselves: Libraries and E-books
Visibility is currency in academia but it is scarcity in publishing. The push for open access shows that academic…
March 27, 2012
This post has superseded my two previous link collection posts here and here.
The first focused solely on the Research Works Act, the second added posts on the Elsevier boycott and this one also incorporates posts on the reintroduction of The Federal Research Public Access Act. These three…
March 24, 2012
Promise & Perils of Pinterest
Abundance vs disruption: dramatically different views of the future
Beyond the Textbook
My Experience With eBooks: Yea or Nay?
Of dead trees, living networks, and encyclopedic ambition
Ask the Administrator: If I Become a Dean, Will My Faculty Colleagues Shun Me?…
March 23, 2012
I've always been a big comics and graphic novel fan. In particular in my youth I was a huge superhero fan.
So this one was just a natural for me. Especially since one of the heroes that is profiled was one of my youthful favourites: The Incredible Hulk!
6 superheroes who got their powers from…
March 20, 2012
Knowledge, science, information, common sense, openness?
A whole bunch of things are under attack by various conservatively-minded levels of government here in Canada.
Those of you thinking of moving north to avoid the insanity might want to have a second thought.
It seems that we normally smug…
March 20, 2012
Why we need blue-sky research
Internet con men ravage publishing
Why I Pirate - An Open Letter To Content Creators
Open Access Tenure: Put it in the File
Bletchley Park tweet saves Alan Turing computing papers
The little guys stand up to Amazon: Book distributor IPG fights for say in e-book…
March 16, 2012
This one is clearly inspired by the recent Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs op-ed in the New York Times by Greg Smith.
But this parody is clearly much funnier.
Although, maybe not?
From the Smith article:
I hope this can be a wake-up call to the board of directors. Make the client the focal point of…
March 15, 2012
Dear FSM, by all that is unholy, I think this is the last one.
A final bunch of lists for your reading, gift-giving and collection development pleasure.
Every year for the last bunch of years I've been linking to and posting about all the "year's best sciencey books" lists that appear in various…
March 15, 2012
A couple more lists for your reading, gift-giving and collection development pleasure.
Every year for the last bunch of years I've been linking to and posting about all the "year's best sciencey books" lists that appear in various media outlets and shining a bit of light on the best of the year.…
March 14, 2012
Another list for your reading, gift-giving and collection development pleasure.
Every year for the last bunch of years I've been linking to and posting about all the "year's best sciencey books" lists that appear in various media outlets and shining a bit of light on the best of the year.
All the…
March 13, 2012
Another list for your reading, gift-giving and collection development pleasure.
Every year for the last bunch of years I've been linking to and posting about all the "year's best sciencey books" lists that appear in various media outlets and shining a bit of light on the best of the year.
All the…
March 13, 2012
Read E-Books On Multiple Devices
Another Library Is Possible
Should Libraries Get Out of the eBook Business?
Alternative Uses for the Pesky eBook Budget
In which container is the journal article I need?
The Library in the City: Changing Demands and a Challenging Future
Anarchy and Commercialism (…
March 9, 2012
I'm kinda hoping my provost isn't reading this (Hi, Patrick!)...
Students Still No Closer to Knowing What the Heck a Provost Is
While a leading Washington think tank maintains that its recent survey of college provosts offered fresh insights into the role of these decision makers in academia today…
March 9, 2012
The Future of the Book Business: A Classicist's View
Rich Books, Poor Society: Random House's Price Spike
Random House's eBook Price Hikes are GOOD for Libraries. IF...
Electronic Mini-Books That Allow Writers to Stretch Their Legs
How TED Makes Ideas Smaller
Mike Shatzkin: In Five Years, Only 17…
March 6, 2012
Engineers Crashing Our Gates
From Credibility to Information Quality
Youth and Digital Media: From Credibility to Information Quality
How Bots Seized Control of My Pricing Strategy
Most Smartphone Apps are Spyware
Work for Hire? and Work for Hire update
Letter from the trenches (science PhD…
March 2, 2012
Personally, I find it inconceivable that any writer could come up with such a wonderful list.
Lines from The Princess Bride that Double as Comments on Freshman Composition Papers.
Here's a few to refresh your memory:
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
"At a…
February 28, 2012
Breaking the barriers of time and space: the dawning of the great age of librarians.
The Great Age of Librarians
Achieving the "Golden Age of Librarians" -- An Ambitious Project of Deep Redefinition
Nobody cares about the library: How digital technology makes the library invisible (and visible) to…
February 25, 2012
e-Books: Why Bother
Truly moving literature: Enhanced eBooks
Science Finds a Better Way to Teach Science
The Future of Science Publishing
Introducing Download the Universe: A new science ebook review
Canadian universities sign bone-stupid copyright deal with collecting society: emailing a link is…
February 24, 2012
The actual content of the post I'm highlighting isn't really all that amusing. It's actually quite pertinent in a real-world context.
But I really love how they've taken actually useful information that might be a bit dry and businessy and using a Star Wars / pop-cultural reference made it into…
February 23, 2012
'Academically Adrift': The News Gets Worse and Worse
The Case for Publicly Owned Internet Service: Susan P. Crawford
On the 10th Anniversary of the Budapest Declaration
By one benchmark at least, we are probably halfway through the (r)evolution
Will Business Step Up or Step Out?
Attendance,…
February 21, 2012
A little while back the Cost of Knowledge site started up a boycott pledge list in response to mathematician Timothy Gowers' pledge to stop contributing to Elsevier's operations by ceasing writing, reviewing and editing for them.
Here is the call to action:
Academics have protested against Elsevier…
February 17, 2012
Given all the fuss and bother going on in the library world these last few days about ebooks, I thought this one would be a pretty fine choice to highlight today.
I just love me some Cracked!
8 Unexpected Downsides of the Switch to E-books
You Can't Hide a Gun in a Kindle
You Need Physical Books…
February 16, 2012
The Great Age of Librarians
Amazon Will Destroy You
Confessions of a Publisher: "We're in Amazon's Sights and They're Going to Kill Us"
Mobile Sites vs. Apps: The Coming Strategy Shift
Instructional Designers Wanted: No Experience Necessary
Libraries and the Commodification of Culture
Innovating…
February 15, 2012
We have here what is sometimes known as a wicked problem.
On the one side, communities would like to be able to pool the resources of their members to acquire digital content that may then be shared and consumed by everyone in that community.
On the other, content creators and publishers would like…
February 14, 2012
Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'
Reading and Believing
Who really benefits from putting high-tech gadgets in classrooms?
"if libraries did not exist, it would be necessary to invent them"
Academia as Music Industry
Wolfram Alpha Pro democratizes data analysis: an in-depth…
February 13, 2012
I was really angry riding home on the bus last Friday night. Not angry because the transit system here in Toronto is royally fudged in general or that transit to York University is fudged in particular.
No, it wasn't that particular aspect of the public sphere that had me upset.
It was the growing…
February 12, 2012
Another list for your reading, gift-giving and collection development pleasure.
Every year for the last bunch of years I've been linking to and posting about all the "year's best sciencey books" lists that appear in various media outlets and shining a bit of light on the best of the year.
All the…
