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ScienceOnline2010 - interview with Misha Angrist

Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2010 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January. See all the interviews in this series here. You can check out previous years' interviews as well: 2008 and 2009. Today, I asked Misha Angrist from Duke (and the blog GenomeBoy), the fourth person in the Personal Genome Project whose entire genome was sequenced (thus one of the first 20 humans with a sequenced genome), to answer a few questions. Welcome to A Blog Around The…

Getting published

Great post at Neil Gaiman's journal on getting an agent (via reddit). Covers much more ground than just agents. Read up. I liked these best: There is no substitute for writing a book that people want to buy and read. If you can do that, you can get published. If you can't, no clever workaround will help, because we can't force people to buy and read books they don't like. Be obviously and extraordinarily good. The first point above is common sense, the most uncommon of all senses. Please don't flatter yourself by imagining that it may hurt your creativity. On the second, a few years of…

Why shouldn't you sell your kidney for an iPad?

So the other week there was collective quivering over the internet at the news that a Chinese teenager had sold his kidney to pay for an iPad 2. I say quivering, because It was an immediate viral hit, a perfect combination of the pre-eminent SEO-friendly technology, body horror, stupid-teens-making-dumb-decisions-for-latest-must-have-item narrative and a conveniently obscure provenance, as if the story had been precisely manufactured by the same Shenzhen factories that Apple uses to make its gadgets. And so, the world rolled its eyes and tutted at the foolishness of youth and decried Steve…

How Much Should Money Cost? (And Whom Should You Pay?)

It's an odd-sounding question, but, if you use a debit card, a very important one. I bring this up as The Huffington Post recently published an article about the political battle over the fees banks charge stores when customers use their credit and debit cards. While the article--and much of the ensuing commentary--has focused on the spectacle of Congress being available to the highest bidder (you needed this issue to tell you that?), it missed the far more important issue: how much should it cost to use money and whom do you ending paying to do so? Because focusing on what one Senator…

Teflon's Legacy in West Virginia - and Everywhere

DuPontâs Washington Works plant near Parkersburg, West Virginia used a chemical called perfulorooctampic acid â abbreviated as PFOA or C8 â to manufacture Teflon. A group of Parkersburg-area residents sued DuPont over PFOA contamination in their drinking water, and they eventually reached a $107.6-million settlement with the company. The settlement required DuPont to clean up local water supplies, included funding for research on the health effects of PFOA, and provided for additional medical funding if that research found health effects linked to exposure. The settlement called for…

The High Cost of Assigned Reading

Inside Higher Ed has a short news story on a new report on textbook prices that finds the big publishers failing to offer low-cost books: In reviewing the catalogs of each of the publishers, the group looked for 22 frequently assigned textbooks, which had an average cost of $131.44 per book. Of the 22 textbooks, less than half had a comparable lower cost book. Two of the books were available in a low-frill format, while nine books were available as e-books. Of course, the publishers are a little upset, Bruce Hildebrand, executive director for higher education at the Association of American…

Darwin Quotes

As for myself I believe that I have acted rightly in steadily following and devoting my life to Science. I feel no remorse from having committed any great sin, but have often and often regretted that I have not done more direct good to my fellow creatures. My sole and poor excuse is much ill-health and my mental constitution, which makes it extremely difficult for me to turn from one subject or occupation to another. I can imagine with high satisfaction giving up my whole time to philanthropy, but not a portion of it; though this would have been a far better line of conduct. - Charles R.…

Orbicular Diorite

Here's some geology for a change. At Slättemossa in the province of Småland, southern Sweden, are found ice-polished outcrops of orbicular diorite ("Napoleonite"). This rock consists of granite balls covered with hornblende and other minerals and then encased in a granite matrix. When the inland ice ground the rock down, a smooth grey surface covered in darker circles resulted. Pretty striking, as seen in the photographs by Anders Möller! Anders and Inger are badass geocachers, having found nearly 1400 caches and hidden more than 200. Visit the site at N57° 22.930 E15° 36.100. It's not far…

Thursday Baby Blogging 050610

This week, we offer a shot from the forthcoming "Casual Living with SteelyKid and Appa" catalogue: If you look closely, you can see two things: 1) a small scrape by her right eye, from an accident at day care-- even SteelyKid is bound by the laws of physics, and gravity is a harsh one, and 2) her new Williams shirt, picked up when I visited there last week. I'm not actually obligated to buy new college-logo clothing whenever I visit, but it amuses me when Kate rolls her eyes at me for buying baby clothes with purple cows. Another decent view of the shirt is here: When I gave it to her after…

Spicy Pi Bacon Squared Wins!

Woot! Mrs. Pontiff's entry into the Scienceblogs pie competition is the winner! Mrs. Pontiff is on a role. This year we decided not to buy each other gifts for Valentines day. So instead of buying a gift, Mrs. Pontiff entered a photo contest from a flower company and won me some beautiful flowers. We need to plan our trip to Las Vegas immediately. Thanks to all who voted and to the dog for not jumping up and eating the pie off the table. And a special shout out to Bacon, is there anything it can't do? Lisa: I'm going to become a vegetarian Homer: Does that mean you're not going to…

Free Online Access to Journal of Biology

The latest collection of articles in Journal of Biology is now available to view free of charge on the Journal of Biology website. The Journal of Biology is the open access journal for exceptional research. Published by BioMed Central, it provides free access to research articles of the broadest importance and interest. By providing immediate, permanent, unrestricted access to these articles, Journal of Biology ensures the widest possible dissemination of the research it publishes. In the most current issue avaliable, the featured open access article written by Dr. Lukas Sommer and…

Skamby 2005 Boat Grave Report On-Line

Readers of my blogging over the past 14 months will have come across many references to, and tidbits from, the work with the archive report for 2005's Viking Period boat grave excavation at Skamby in Östergötland. Howard Williams and myself directed the excavations of the first boat inhumation in that county and the third Pre-Roman Iron Age bronze casting site identified in all of Scandinavia. I am very happy to announce that the report is now complete, on-line and available for free in English with lots of pics! Get it here, tell me what you think, ask me if anything is hard to understand.…

Why a Luddite like myself likes teaching an online course.

Regular readers of this blog know that I'm a Luddite who composes her posts on wax tablets before uploading them.* So it may seem curious that nearly every semester I teach at least one section of my Philosophy of Science course online. What would possess me to do such a thing? The ability to make active student learning inescapable. Let me first give you a bit of background on where Philosophy of Science fits into the curriculum at my university. As I described it a long time ago: [A]t this university, th[e] philosophy of science course satisfies the upper division general education…

Delicious Internet Noms

Telling Stories: February's Scientiae Carnival Hooray, hooray, for Scientiae! This month's theme brings us lots of stories about what sexism looks like in everyday life... and some less depressing entries as well. Stratigraphic layer-cake T-shirt I would buy it immediately, but fortunately for my wallet I got stuck nitpicking the weird clastic dikes. Callan Bentley has more about why it is a wholly unrealistic piece of art. Global warming skeptics claim Patriots win Superbowl "Common sense demands that a team which makes up less than 0.05% of the population of Hudson County can't possibly be…

Andrew Bolt says that radiation leaks are good for you!

After arguing that people should trust the scientists about nuclear power, Andrew Bolt is back with a post advancing the claim that anyone exposed to excess radiation from the nuclear power plants is now probably much less likely to get cancer. Said claim comes not from a scientist but from Ann Coulter, a creationist. PZ Myers, who is an actual scientist, writes: I only know about hormesis from my dabbling in teratology; a pharmacologist or toxicologist would be a far better source. But I know enough about hormesis to tell you that she's wrong. She has taken a tiny grain of truth and mangled…

When Online and Offline collide (or collude) - at ScienceOnline2010

A number of sessions at the Conference are looking at sociological aspects of the Web and science. I have already pointed, in quite a lot of detail, to the session on civility and politeness, as well as several other sessions that touch on the topics of language and trust. Let's look at several others that approach the social aspects of science online (and offline) from different angles: Casting a wider net: Promoting gender and ethnic diversity in STEM - D.N.Lee and Anne Jefferson Description: We will introduce programs that attract wider audiences to science, math, and engineering at…

When Online and Offline collide (or collude) - at ScienceOnline2010

A number of sessions at the Conference are looking at sociological aspects of the Web and science. I have already pointed, in quite a lot of detail, to the session on civility and politeness, as well as several other sessions that touch on the topics of language and trust. Let's look at several others that approach the social aspects of science online (and offline) from different angles: Casting a wider net: Promoting gender and ethnic diversity in STEM - D.N.Lee and Anne Jefferson Description: We will introduce programs that attract wider audiences to science, math, and engineering at…

Advent Calendar of Science Stories 17: Kickstarter in 1921

There's no way I could possibly go through a long history-of-science blog series without mentioning the great Marie Skłodowska Curie, one of the very few people in history to win not one but two Nobel Prizes for her scientific work-- if nothing else, Polish pride would demand it. She made a monumental contribution to physics through her work on radioactivity (and through being nearly impossible to kill-- while her work on isolating radium made her ill for many years, she outlived an amazing number of her assistants...), and there are a lot of great stories about her. This series is partly…

Freethinker Sunday Sermonette: December 21, 2012. End of the world.

Forget about climate change. We're not going to make it that far. December 21, 2012 is earth's final day. If you'd like to know the details you can buy the exciting video teaching from Drs. Jack and Rexella Van Impe, December 21st 2012: History's Final Day. Everyone seems agreed on the date. Everyone, in this case, being ancient Romans, ancient Mayans, the Chinese I Ching, and a 16th century English prophetess named Mother Shipton. This is not parody. The Reverend Jack van Impe and his wife, are among the world's most experienced at predicting the End of the World and selling videos about it…

I thought it was just razor blades in the apples

Kimberly Daniels of the Christian Broadcasting Network has a warning for trick-or-treaters. "[M]ost of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches," Daniels wrote. "I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference." I think Kimberly is just one of those obnoxious cheapskates who wants an excuse to hand out bible tracts on Halloween. Although, if I were a witch, I'd…

Free Influenza Medical Text

Just to let everyone know, if they don't already: freebooks4doctors has a downloadable text, Influenza Report 2006. It is a 225-page, 2.7 MB PDF. Being from 2006, it does not specifically cover the current situation. Rather, it focuses a bit on avian influenza. Still, it is a reasonably good source of information. If you want, you can buy a hard copy for 25 Euros, but anyone can download the free copy. Influenza Report ISBN 3-924774-51-X Influenza Report is a medical textbook that provides a comprehensive overview of epidemic and pandemic influenza. Influenza Report has also been…

If you liked the lab rat and frog...

If you thought the knitted Lab Rat and Frog were cool, check out these guys: They're Food Chain Friends! Thanks to someone's great insight at FAO Schwarz, you can buy your kids these loveable critters which demonstrate the food chain in all its plushy goodness. Food Chain Friends are from Daro, a small green planet modeled after the planet Earth 200 mya. "Daro teems with wildlife, and its exceptionally social and gracious species flourish in a complex - but oddly, very friendly - ecosystem." The best part, however, might be the slogan: "They're friends. They eat each other. It's a complicated…

Panda poop to be made into paper

I just though you all would be interested in this ;) There's a new Chinese saying: When life hands you panda poop, make paper. Researchers at a giant panda reserve in southern China are looking for paper mills to process their surplus of fiber-rich panda excrement into high quality paper. ... The Chiang Mai Zoo in northern Thailand already sells multicolored paper made from the excrement produced by its two resident pandas. Making paper there involves a daylong process of cleaning the feces, boiling it in a soda solution, bleaching it with chlorine and drying it under the sun. Here's the…

Killing Birds With Your Grocery List

Spring is in the air. And birds are starting to show up in America and elsewhere from their wintering grounds, gearing up to sing their little hearts out. Unfortunately, many of us are contributing to the decline of those birds by the food we choose to buy. It is a complicated, globalized world these days. But, if you like those birds singing at your windowsill in spring, you may want to modify your grocery list. In today's New York Times, Bridget Stutchbury wonderfully articulates the link between our food shopping habits and birds dropping dead left and right. And more importantly, what we…

Luminous wine-throated hummingbird

An absolutely beautiful hummingbird illustration by paperfashion, AKA Kathryn Elyse: According to the etsy listing, it's pencil, ink and watercolor. That tickles me, because yes you can get those bold colors in watercolors, but few people do, and I thought it might be digital. As you can see from her etsy shop (where you can buy a print), the artist predominantly does fashion illustration -- but then, this hummingbird looks like it's wearing bird haute couture. It positively glows. Painting by Kathryn Elyse, based on an original photo by Jose Yee. (The photo is on a velvety black field, so…

Beer Microscopy Project

Long nights, sitting at the microscope, slide after slide.......don't you just wish you had a beer? Slurp slurp. Ahhhh, thats better. Wait, I wonder what *beer* would look like under the microscope! Let's try it! I think thats what someone at Florida State thought when they decided to start this project, Molecular Expressions: The Beershots Photo Gallery, which has digital images of bunches of famous beers from around the world. Chinese beer Tsingtao: Pilsner Urquel: Guinness: Heineken: You can buy prints, posters, and even a book. No money? There's a free screen saver. And if beer ain't…

Donors choose---almost there!

You guys are great. Large donations continue to trickle in, but really, we can live quite well off of small donations. It would be really cool if we finished off the drive with a bunch of micro-donations, in the 1-10 dollar range. These small donations add up really quickly. A Story to Tell is $97 away from being fully funded, allowing the teacher to buy a laptop and printer. Inner City Soccer Team is a bit more of a challenge with $376 to go. There is no reason we can't get this done before the end of the week. So let's do it---a buck here, a buck there, and soon enough...

Science Blogging Conference - who is coming? (The Serbs are coming!)

There are 83 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. There are already 109 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we'll cap at about 230). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time. Tatjana Jovanovic, better known to the readers of this blog by her online pseudonym 'tanjasova' was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia,…

Monday What-to-Eat Post

So here's what we actually ate yesterday. In addition to the list below, btw, C. and K., the new guys ate a fair number of totally non-local oranges and bananas, as well as some local apples. Because they've experienced real hunger, they have a bowl of fruit in their room that they can eat anytime, so that they never need to worry there won't be food. The first night they were with us Eric took them shopping and let them pick out some junk food to put in the bowl (sugary granola bars and fruit-roll ups), but when we ran out of that stuff, we moved on to just fruit, which is going very well…

Hoarding vs. Storing: Examples from Fukushima

In the latest news from Fukushima, water in Tokyo has been deemed unfit for babies to consume because of high radiation levels. Not surprisingly, shortages of bottled water are emerging, as people buy up larger quantities. A top Japanese official urged residents of the nation's capital not to hoard bottled water Wednesday after Tokyo's government found that radioactive material in tap water had exceeded the limit considered safe for infants. "We have to consider Miyagi and Iwate and other disaster-hit areas," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. "I'd like to again urge consumers not to…

Textbooks: where are they going?

In the past couple of weeks, we have had two different publishers 'pitch' their online homework system. First, they are fine people and interesting products, but I just don't think this is going to work. Online Books I think the publisher's plan is to have a textbook, and offer extra stuff to go with it (including an ebook). However, for all the ones I have seen, there are problems with the ebooks. You can't keep them forever. It depends on the terms of the service, and maybe this is long enough. The terms seem to vary from 1 year to 5 years. If you are in certain fields (physic or…

Computers vs. the science class: IT 1, Instructor 0

It's hard to teach bioinformatics when schools work so hard to keep us from using computers. Anecdotes from the past Back in my days as a full-time instructor, I fought many battles with our IT department. Like many colleges, we had a few centralized computer labs, tightly controlled by IT (aka the IT nazis), where students were supposed to go to do their computing. Instructors also had a centralized computer lab, but over the years, we gained the right to have computers in our offices. Our major battle was whether or not we'd be allowed to use Macs. There are certainly advantages in…

Future Farms Will Be Run By Robots

I have a love-hate relationship with farmers. I have a great deal of respect for the enterprise and for those who dedicate their lives to it. But, I also become annoyed at the culture in which modern American farming embeds itself. And, I don't feel a lot of reticence talking openly about that. Having done plenty of farming myself, I don't feel the need that so many others do to be extra nice to farmers out of lack of understanding. I know when the farmers complain about too little or too much rain, they are studiously ignoring the fact that if it is harder to plant or harvest, they make out…

Fightin' words

Jim Zumbo is a famous hunter, and has been writing about guns, the outdoors, and hunting, for decades. He has a TV show and is an editor and writer for the second largest outdoor magazine in the nation. Or rather, he was all those things. He lost it all one evening, when, after a hard day of hunting on a Remington Arms funded coyote hunt, Zumbo blogged the following words: "Excuse me, maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity," Zumbo wrote in his blog on the Outdoor Life Web site. The Feb. 16 posting has since been taken down. "As…

Ten Days to Go: Carbon Neutral Touring

Well, there are ten days until the official publication date of the paperback Republican War on Science (August 28). And I have decided, based on the suggestion of an e-correspondent, to do a countdown here on the blog, adding a relevant new angle, analysis, or update every day. So here's the first: I am doing a book tour over the course of September, and having just booked the travel, I can now calculate that it will require flying some 11,000 miles. Back in July when I flew over to London, folks really kicked my butt about the size of my carbon footprint, and rightly so. And so I decided…

Liberals & atheists are smarter than conservatives & very religious, but why?

Why Liberals and Atheists Are More Intelligent: The origin of values and preferences is an unresolved theoretical question in behavioral and social sciences. The Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis, derived from the Savanna Principle and a theory of the evolution of general intelligence, suggests that more intelligent individuals may be more likely to acquire and espouse evolutionarily novel values and preferences (such as liberalism and atheism and, for men, sexual exclusivity) than less intelligent individuals, but that general intelligence may have no effect on the acquisition and espousal…

Neuromarketing

Last week, I reviewed Buyology, a new book on neuromarketing, in the Washington Post. Although the book is based on a large, privately funded neuromarketing experiment, I wasn't so wowed by the science: If "Buy-ology" itself is any indication, these companies got ripped off. It's not that the book doesn't have interesting moments: I enjoyed learning about how slices of lime got indelibly associated with Corona beer and why the logos plastered on race cars are so effective at getting consumers to buy particular brands. However, what makes these stories interesting is that, unlike the rest of…

My Picks From ScienceDaily

Origins Of Nervous System Found In Genes Of Sea Sponge: Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara have discovered significant clues to the evolutionary origins of the nervous system by studying the genome of a sea sponge, a member of a group considered to be among the most ancient of all animals. [PZ Myers explains it better] Hives Ferment A Yeasty Brew, Attract Beetle Pest: The honeybee's alarm signal may not only bring help, but also attract the small hive beetle. Now, an international team of researchers has found that small hive beetles can detect some alarm pheromones at…

Social media and scientific conferences: the discussion continues

There has been some very interesting online discussion in a number of venues today about the topic of social media and scientific conferences. For those who missed my post yesterday, the discussion was sparked by an article in ScienceInsider reporting that Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory had produced a new policy on the use of social media at its conferences, which essentially states that attendees should ask permission from presenters before discussing their work online (it's worth noting that this policy is one that CSHL has long applied to affiliated reporters). The policy release was…

ASIS&T update

A quick update on the Milwaukee events.... The first time I went to Mocha's (much better wifi than the hotel and it is free) I saw a familiar face walk in - from Scifoo! World is small. She promised to come to the Science Blogging Conference (I am leaving the name out so not to play Gotcha later if she manages not to come in January). Jean-Claude, Janet, Christina Pikas and I went to dinner at Water Street Brewery last night - all four of us will meet again in January at the Science Blogging Conference. Janet, Jean-Claude and I had lunch at 105-year old German Mader's Restaurant. Back at…

House to Vote on Anti-Gambling Measure

The House is set to vote today on a bill to ban online gambling in the United States. And you've gotta love the sober, logical analysis of those who support such legislation: John Kindt, a business professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who has studied the issue, calls the Internet "the crack cocaine" of gambling. "There are no needle marks. There's no alcohol on the breath. You just click the mouse and lose your house," he said. Wow, it's that simple? Just click your mouse and lose your house? That will make a great ad campaign for the gaming sites. You know, because it…

Real sign, real poll

The Joliet Jackhammers, a baseball team in Illinois, have put up an interesting sign to get people to buy tickets. Some people are unhappy and want it taken down. "It's in very poor taste," Councilwoman Jan Hallums Quillman said. "To have God tell you to buy tickets? Give me a break." I wonder if Quillman felt the same way about the serious billboard campaign that had God announcing his will and intentions? There was one that read, "Let's Meet At My House Sunday Before the Game -God." Was that in poor taste? It seems to me that many people think it's perfectly alright to put words in their…

Blog Memes I: Five Things

Evolving Complexity tagged me in.  Here they are: 5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago Buzzing on yerba maté Learning Portuguese Living in Asunción's transvestite district Picking out sites for the incoming Peace Corps volunteers Applying to graduate school 5 Things On My To-Do List Today Process the latest batch of RNA pol II sequences Buy stamps Pay the bills & the rent Renew my subscription to National Geographic Email the Brazilians 5 Snacks I Love Bagels Junior Mints Cheese (various) Double-chocolate cookies Is bacon a snack? 5 Things I'd do if I was a Millionaire Buy a…

A Sickly Computer May Delay Joy of Science Course

My laptop appears to be suddenly dying, one component at at time...first the touchpad went away, and now the keyboard doesn't work. I can still operate it with an external mouse and keyboard but I'm afraid it's about to die on me completely. Fortunately I have everything backed up but if it does die, I'm going to be offline for a few days till I either get it repaired or buy a new computer. I'm sure it will cost so much to get it repaired it will almost be enough to buy a new computer, but I really can't afford a new computer right now. Dammit. If you do not see postings on Monday, Feb…

Science Blogging Conference - Videos and essential blog posts

[Bumped up to make it easier for me to update, and links placed under the fold so not to clutter the front page] Here's a collection of blog posts written during the Science Blogging Conference (more will be added over the next couple of days as people write their posts after recovering from travel) and the collection of video recordings of several sessions. Also, check out all the other action from today.... Friday, January 18th, 2008: Blogging101, Lab Tours and Dinner A Blog Around The Clock: Science Blogging Conference - Blog and Media Coverage A Blog Around The Clock: No matter where you…

Links 1/22/11

It's kinda cold. Warm up with some links. Science: Conspiracies Don't Kill Birds. People, However, Do. A 34,000 year old bacteria has come back from the dead and is breeding Octopus tool use Woman science bloggers discuss pros and cons of online exposure Global vaccine efforts offer hope to millions (Stopped clock, twice a day, and all that) Other: 5 Things I Love About the New BPL Online Catalog What Makes Abortion Dangerous. Congress Passes Socialized Medicine and Mandates Health Insurance -In 1798 The Civility Diversion A requiem for Israel's Labor Party Maybe Jared Loughner Was a Bigot…

Darwin's diary images online

Courtesy of the inimitable Jason Grossman, who passes such things along to me, comes this announcement from the even more inimitable John van Whye who is responsible for the Darwin online project: Friends of Mr Darwin may be interested to learn that images of his diary or 'Journal' (DAR158) now join the online transcription (provided by the Correspondence Project). The transcription and new images can be seen here. I am of course aghast that Dr van Whye failed to note that Darwin died with a doctorate honoris causa, and hence should be called Dr Darwin, even at the risk of confusing him…

Airlock examples

I was going through and tagging some old posts. While looking at a post attacking the movie Sunshine, I accidentally found something else on youtube. Gravity in Sunshine I could not find a clip online of the scene I want, so I made a cartoon. Basically, (oh - spoiler alert) some guys are trying to get from one spaceship to another by shooting out of the airlock and into the other. They fly through space and into the other airlock, close the door and emergency pump the air in. When the closed air lock fills with air, they all fall down. Since there was no online video version, I made a…

Open Laboratory - old Prefaces and Introductions

One difference between reading Open Laboratory anthologies and reading the original posts included in them is that the printed versions are slightly edited and polished. Another difference is that the Prefaces and Introductions can be found only in the books. They have never been placed online. But now that four books are out and we are halfway through collecting entries for the fifth one, when only the 2009 book is still selling, I think it is perfectly OK to place Prefaces and Introductions that I wrote myself online. I wrote Prefaces for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 book, as well as the…

Age and Privacy

Media reports teem with stories of young people posting salacious photos online, writing about alcohol-fueled misdeeds on social networking sites, and publicizing other ill-considered escapades that may haunt them in the future. These anecdotes are interpreted as representing a generation-wide shift in attitude toward information privacy. Many commentators therefore claim that young people "are less concerned with maintaining privacy than older people are." This report is among the first quantitative studies evaluating young adults' attitudes. It demonstrates that the picture is more nuanced…