I’m not sure why, but I always find something hypnotic in these assembly line videos. The first video below, from Faber-Castell, shows how they manufacture their highlighter markers, certainly an object familiar to most in our community. It reminded me of the second video below (which I can’t believe I haven’t featured in The Scholarly Kitchen before!!). For those of a certain age, Mister Rogers trip to a crayon factory was a formative moment, and perhaps the answer to the riddle of the moments of zen such videos provide.

David Crotty

David Crotty

David Crotty is a Senior Consultant at Clarke & Esposito, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategic issues related to professional and academic publishing and information services. Previously, David was the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He oversaw journal policy across OUP’s journals program, drove technological innovation, and served as an information officer. David acquired and managed a suite of research society-owned journals with OUP, and before that was the Executive Editor for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he created and edited new science books and journals, along with serving as a journal Editor-in-Chief. He has served on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc., as well as The AAP-PSP Executive Council. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.

Discussion