A Decade of “Crossing the Chasm” — The Mountain Has Moved
My copy of “Crossing the Chasm” is 10 years old. What’s changed? Are we crossing it fast enough?
Ghostwriters & Ghostresearchers: Supernatural Forces in Scholarship
Ghostwriters and unnamed contract researchers might scare up controversy, and frighten away the truth. And they’re only part of the problem.
Why Everything Sucks
Why does the world suck so much right now? Craig Ferguson provides a fairly compelling hypothesis.
$80,000 per Song, and Perceptions of Copyright
Two court decisions assign enormous fines for infringing copyright by sharing songs online. Is this a sign that the public is not as jaded about copyright as we’ve been led to believe?
Gaming the Rating System
Manipulating online rating systems may be more common than you think. Journals promoting highly-downloaded and rated articles should take note.
Interview with Jason Roberts from the ISMTE Annual Conference
An audio interview with Jason Roberts, founder of the ISMTE, recorded after a keynote in Baltimore Tuesday.
Will Feudalism Fade from Knowledge Exchange?
Feudalism was a necessary step in social organization, but is it the end-state for academic organization? A number of related events this past weekend make me think not.
Stochasticity — and You Can Dance to It!
A video tribute to randomness, with a beat you can dance to. What better for a Friday?!
Diversion, Invention, and Socialized Medicine
A study of social citation reveals diversion, invention, and distortion, and provides a cautionary tale about how socialization of knowledge in medicine can have downsides.
Downloads, Citations, and Positional Effects in the arXiv
When it comes to downloads and citations, position in the arXiv matters, a new study finds.
What It Takes to Run a Blog
How much work is it to run a blog? After 18 months, I think I finally have enough experience to share some insights.
Research4Life’s Dubious Claims and Missing Report
Free scientific journal access programs claims to boost article output in developing countries. A deeper analysis of the data shows otherwise.
Service or Content? Another False Choice
The more arguments I hear about service vs. content, the clearer it seems that this is a false choice.
Horns of a Dilemma: Open Access or Academic Freedom
Librarians must choose between fiscal irresponsibility and a conflict with academic freedom when establishing open access publication funds.
The “Article of the Future” — Just Lipstick Again?
Elsevier’s “Article of the Future” prototypes appear, and only spotlight the underlying conceptual problems for a traditional, article-centric publisher.