The Scholarly Kitchen
Archive for April 2008
Wikidemia — Scholarship and the Internet
“Wikidemia” is a term I hadn’t heard before I read this very interesting roundtable discussion from the UPenn Department of Romance Languages. At the heart of the discussion is the notion that scholarship without the Internet and its collaborative tools would be radically deprived today. It’s a thoughtful roundtable on many levels, with three different … Continue reading
Exploit Your Cognitive Surplus!
Image via Wikipedia One question I’ve been asked consistently since I’ve started writing this blog for the SSP is, “How do you find the time?” In some cases, it’s said with wonder. In some cases, it’s stated with what I take as a suspicion that I also spend hours in the basement playing with dolls. … Continue reading
The Printed Wikipedia — A Prediction Comes True!
A recent news report from Germany confirms an idea I’d been toying with for a couple of years (apparently along with a few other people) — that printing online content can be a good business. To quote from the Associated Press story: Germany’s Bertelsmann AG will publish what could be the first in a series … Continue reading
Web 2.0 — The Vital Echo Chamber
Skeptics keep you honest, and should be celebrated. A skeptic about Web 2.0 is David Crotty, author of the Cold Spring Harbor Protocols blog “Benchmarks.” In a recent post, he pointed me to a review of Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everybody,” in which Tara Brabazon derides Web 2.0 as a “digitised echo chamber.” (She’s British. … Continue reading
Free and Not Free: The $500K iPod
Last week, I wrote about the new “racetrack memory” described in a recent Science paper. The commercial application of such high-capacity devices naturally falls toward high-demand media like music and movies. An interesting tangent of this is that while the devices may or may not be expensive to purchase, they will become increasingly valuable when … Continue reading
Students Cave When Asked to Give Up Digital Tools
A recent exercise at the University of Central Florida in which students could earn extra credit by giving up their digital devices for a week (5 days) ended with only 2 of the 28 earning the bonus points. The digital devices — cell phones, iPods, laptops, and video games — were too much of a lure, … Continue reading
Fed Up, Librarians Feed the Patrons
In a display of customer-centric thinking, librarians are allowing food in their buildings and even introducing cafes, according to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. As libraries change, they are catering more to their customers. Taking down the “No Food Allowed” signs and recognizing that patrons secretly snacked despite these prohibitions, librarians are … Continue reading
MLA Seeking Conference Bloggers
The Medical Library Association (MLA) is seeking 15 bloggers to cover their conference in Chicago, May 16-21. As an incentive, the MLA is offering its bloggers free wireless access at the hotel throughout the conference. As the MLA puts it: If you blog and want the convenience of wireless Internet access throughout the hotel, this … Continue reading
Is the Age of Anti-Plagiarism Software Upon Us?
Last Friday, the Chronicle of Higher Education ran a story about the emerging anti-plagiarism software marketplace, with CrossRef’s CrossCheck spotlighted. It’s a good story that broadens nicely upon the CrossCheck angle. Defining plagiarism is potentially fraught with difficulty, but it has been done: Plagiarism is the deliberate attempt to deceive the reader through the appropriation … Continue reading
Friday Fun at Phatfusion: Drive Google Maps!
Looking for that vicarious feeling of freedom on a Friday at your desk? Try GoogleDrive at Phatfusion, a nifty little time-wasting mashup that lets you drive Google Maps. It’s a little fussy, and you should read the instructions, but you’ll get the hang of it soon enough. Entering an address may or may not work … Continue reading
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The mission of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) is "[t]o advance scholarly publishing and communication, and the professional development of its members through education, collaboration, and networking." SSP established The Scholarly Kitchen blog in February 2008 to keep SSP members and interested parties aware of new developments in publishing.
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The Scholarly Kitchen is a moderated and independent blog. Opinions on The Scholarly Kitchen are those of the authors. They are not necessarily those held by the Society for Scholarly Publishing nor by their respective employers.
