jdupuis | March 14, 2014Earlier this week I was invited (er, invited myself, really) to give a talk to a class of first year computer science students about open access and open science. Sadly, there was a partial snow day that day and I was unable to actually give the talk. Which is too bad, because I've done similar talks before for undergrads and really enjoy the opportunity. In particular, the challenge I wanted to set forth for those budding computing professions was to be a part of developing software solutions for science on the web be they open access journals systems or web data hosting or whatver.
In any…
jdupuis | February 25, 2014I'll be at Science Online Together for the next few days. I missed last year so I'm really looking forward to getting back into the Science Online swing of things.
As is occasionally my habit, I'll be listing here some attendees that are either Canadian, librarians or, in a few select cases, both. I'm adding websites and Twitter handles in the lists, but only if they're included in the directory listing.
Librarians
KT Vaughn
Karen Ciccone
Michael Habib (Twitter)
Stephanie Brown (Twitter)
Barrie Hayes (Twitter)
Laksamee Putnam (Twitter)
Zoe Pettway Unno (Twitter)
John Dupuis
Canadians…
jdupuis | February 19, 2014I have a son who's in the middle of his second year as a physics undergrad. As you can imagine, I occasionally pass along a link or two to him pointing to stuff on the web I think he might find particularly interesting or useful. Thinking on that fact, I surmised that perhaps other science students might find those links interesting or useful as well. Hence, this series of posts here on the blog.
By necessity and circumstance, the items I've chosen will be influenced by my son's choice of major and my own interest in the usefulness of computational approaches to science and of social media…
jdupuis | February 14, 2014I love science, I love science fiction. The common misconception about science fiction in particular is that it is somehow about the future, about predicting and describing it. Same with science, in a slightly different way. Science (and technology...) should be about inventing the best gizmos to make life the easiest and most pleasant.
In both cases, not so much.
But somehow the temptation has always been with us to extrapolate and predict and usually we get it wrong. Things we think are going to be huge don't materialize and the biggest things seem to come out of nowhere.
Cracked has done…
jdupuis | February 12, 2014Welcome to the rebooted science interview series here at Confessions of a Science Librarian! The previous incarnation mostly concentrated on people in the broadly defined scholarly communications community, like Mark Patterson of eLife, Peter Binfield and Jason Hoyt of PeerJ or author Michael Nielsen.
The series has been extremely irregular for the last few years so I thought my more recent involvement with Canadian science policy advocacy presented an interesting opportunity to start over. In particular, my participation in the recent iPolitics science policy series presented itself as a…
jdupuis | February 11, 2014Many of my readers may recall that back in October I published a post announcing the Draft Open Access Policy consultation process launched by the Canadian Tri-Councils -- Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council, Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The deadline for submissions was December 13th. Since the deadline was just before the holidays I thought it best to wait awhile before compiling all the publicly posted responses. And that was probably a good idea, as many of the responses were published in the new year. I…
jdupuis | February 10, 2014Sometimes a book isn't quite what you expected. And you're disappointed.
Sometimes a book isn't quite what you expected and you're pleasantly surprised.
Chris Impey and Holly Henry's Dreams of Other Worlds: The Amazing Story of Unmanned Space Exploration definitely falls into the latter category. What was I expecting? From the subtitle I was hoping the book would be a fairly straightforward account of the history of unmanned space exploration -- all the missions, how they were planned, the engineering challenges involved in getting them off the ground, the logistical challenges of keeping…
jdupuis | February 5, 2014Taking a Longer View
Why librarianship is difficult and contentious
Schism in the Stacks: Is the University Library As We Know It Destined for Extinction?
The Future of Libraries: Harvard Students Are Thinking Outside the Box
Why piles of bad applications may not portend disaster
Silencing, librarianship, and gender: sticking up for stories
Making Space for the Silenced
A New Year’s Vision of the Future of Libraries as Ebookstores
How Users Search the Library from a Single Search Box
5 Futures for Libraries
How Netflix Reverse Engineered Hollywood
Who needs facts? We appear to be in the Post…
jdupuis | February 4, 2014Silicon Valley goes to school – notes on Californian capitalism and the ‘disruption’ of public education
The End of Higher Education’s Golden Age
The Death Of Expertise
Closing Time for the Open Internet
Tech Workers, Political Speech and Economic Threat
Does Ikea Hold The Secret To The Future Of College?
Let’s Be Real: Online Harassment Isn’t ‘Virtual’ For Women
Can Pearson Solve the Rubric’s Cube?
Who Takes MOOCs? For online higher education, the devil is in the data
Making It: Pick up a spot welder and join the revolution
Higher Education Is Now Ground Zero For Disruption
Stupid Simple…
jdupuis | January 29, 2014A couple of weeks ago I was approached by Rabble.ca to write a piece for them with some of my thoughts about the current controversy surrounding the government of Canada's closure of several Department of Fisheries and Oceans libraries. I have a link compilation here.
I was happy to write up something and it appeared here. Rabble also allows authors to keep all rights to their work so we agreed that after a few days I would be able to repost it here on my blog. Which is what I've done below.
I will reiterate my thanks to Kaitlin McNabb for offering me this opportunity and for her very…
jdupuis | January 28, 2014Looking over all the books I read in 2013, there's one non-fiction book that really stands out as the best. Former astronaut Chris Hadfield's memoir An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth. wasn't the deepest or most information-packed book I read last year, but it was the most entertaining and involving. And it's core message was compelling enough and it's narrative drive put it right at the top of my list.
While perhaps a bit predictable in it's "science rah rah we all need to take care of the one planet that we all share" storyline that's common to this sort of popular hero autobiography,…
jdupuis | January 16, 2014I have an article up at Rabble.ca today about the library closure situation at Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
When closures happen, the librarians and staff work very hard to minimize the impact on their community, especially to make sure valuable collections are not lost and that research support services are maintained.
This is where the DFO situation takes a downward turn.
Apparently, this careful process to keep irreplaceable material was not, at all, what happened at the DFO libraries that are being closed. Instead, chaos and confusion seemed to reign.
Check it out over…
jdupuis | January 13, 2014Welcome to the rebooted science interview series here at Confessions of a Science Librarian! The previous incarnation mostly concentrated on people in the broadly defined scholarly communications community, like Mark Patterson of eLife, Peter Binfield and Jason Hoyt of PeerJ or author Michael Nielsen.
The series has been extremely irregular for the last few years so I thought my more recent involvement with Canadian science policy advocacy presented an interesting opportunity to start over. In particular, my participation in the recent iPolitics science policy series presented itself as a…
jdupuis | January 9, 2014As is occasionally my habit when a big story breaks, I have gathered together all the relevant documents I could find concerning the recent controversy about the Canadian Conservative government's recent consolidation of the libraries at their Department of Fisheries & Oceans. The consolidation has resulted in severely weeded collections, library closures and staff layoffs.
I have more to say on the situation, probably next week, but I thought I'd compile this list first both for the common good and to help me frame my own thoughts.
As usual, if you note any errors or omissions in my,…
jdupuis | January 7, 2014The story on Albert Einstein is pretty well known. Great scientist, had probably the best year anybody ever had in anything, made a lot of important discoveries revolutionized the way we understand the physical world.
But.
But somehow he never seemed to get on board with quantum theory. Relativity was his thing and somehow he could never get his mind around the whole god playing dice statistical nature of reality in the quantum world. To me at least, this flaw, this blind spot seemed endearingly human. Hey, if Einstein can have a such a weakness, they're hope for the rest of us in an…
jdupuis | January 6, 2014Every year for the last bunch of years I’ve been linking to and posting all the “year’s best sciencey books” lists that I can find around the web in various media outlets.
From the beginning it’s been a pretty popular service so I’m happy to continue it. The previous posts for all the 2013 lists are here.
Here's a bunch of lists:
Foreign Affairs: The Best Books of 2013 on Economic, Social, and Environmental Subjects
Energy for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines by Richard A. Muller
Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre
Newsday:…
jdupuis | January 6, 2014Welcome to the rebooted science interview series here at Confessions of a Science Librarian! The previous incarnation mostly concentrated on people in the broadly defined scholarly communications community, like Mark Patterson of eLife, Peter Binfield and Jason Hoyt of PeerJ or author Michael Nielsen.
The series has been extremely irregular for the last few years so I thought my more recent involvement with Canadian science policy advocacy presented an interesting opportunity to start over. In particular, my participation in the recent iPolitics science policy series presented itself as a…
jdupuis | January 5, 2014Every year for the last bunch of years I’ve been linking to and posting all the “year’s best sciencey books” lists that I can find around the web in various media outlets.
From the beginning it’s been a pretty popular service so I’m happy to continue it. The previous posts for all the 2013 lists are here.
Here's a bunch for today:
Publisher's Weekly Best Nonfiction
The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performances by David Epstein
Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach
Publishers Weekly…
jdupuis | January 4, 2014Every year for the last bunch of years I’ve been linking to and posting all the “year’s best sciencey books” lists that I can find around the web in various media outlets.
From the beginning it’s been a pretty popular service so I’m happy to continue it. The previous posts for all the 2013 lists are here.
This time it's The Guardian Psychology books of the year – review, Science books of the year – review.
Strictly Bipolar by Darian Leader
The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves by Stephen Grosz
How We Feel by Giovanni Frazzetto
What Has Nature Ever Done For Us?: How Money Really…
jdupuis | January 4, 2014Every year for the last bunch of years I’ve been linking to and posting all the “year’s best sciencey books” lists that I can find around the web in various media outlets.
From the beginning it’s been a pretty popular service so I’m happy to continue it. The previous posts for all the 2013 lists are here.
This time it's Library Journal Best Books 2013 Top Ten, Sci-Tech.
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink
Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan
The World’s Rarest Birds by by Erik Hirschfeld, Andy Swash, Robert Still
The Devil’…