Lois Smith: “Comment-ier” Isn’t Better
Commenting is one option among many for measuring the success of a blog.
The Perfect eBook?
A design competition winner suggests we’ve scrolled back.
Summer Reading — By the Book, or By the Box?
60% of book purchases now happen outside the traditional brick-and-mortar bookstore
The Efficiency of Peer-Review
Recently, Cambridge Economic Policy Associates completed an analysis trying to assess the “hidden” value of peer-review, according to a story in the Times Higher Education. They estimate the value to be £1.9 billion (or about US$3.8 billion), with the UK […]
Crisis? What Crisis?
The “crisis in scholarly communication” makes good narrative.
Printeractivity — A Forgotten Constant?
We’ve all been amazed at the interactivity of print. What?! Yes. The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest. Need I say more? Well, yes, I do. Or, more interestingly, I can. Take This Old House, a magazine derivative from the PBS […]
SSP TMR Blog Debuts
The Society for Scholarly Publishing‘s Top Management Roundtable meeting, scheduled this September 3-5 in Philadelphia, PA, now has its own blog, updating interested parties about the meeting’s format, linking to interesting work from speakers, and allowing for blogging at and […]
Info at your fingertips (without a screen or a keyboard)
Is it possible for people to have information at their fingertips without being tied to the usual web brower or even a book or journal? In her talk “Just-in-Time Info” Pattie Maes, Associate Professor, MIT, Program in Media Arts and […]
Phil Davis — Another New Cook in the Kitchen
My, what a week it’s been! Two people I admire greatly have agreed to join the Scholarly Kitchen, serving up hot and tasty insights for our hungry STM guests. First, Nature Publishing Group’s Howard Ratner agreed to be an occasional […]
Stuart Brand’s Gift
In an interesting interview with John Markoff, author of “What the Dormouse Said,” Stuart Brand is described as having the uncanny ability of showing up at the right place and right time to influence major ideas. One of these cases […]
Book Digitization Will Continue
The recent announcement by Microsoft that it is canceling its Live Search Books and Live Search Academic doesn’t mean that book digitization initiatives are coming to a halt, states Joseph Esposito in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. […]
Howard Ratner — A New Cook in the Kitchen
Please join me in welcoming Howard Ratner, Chief Technology Officer and EVP for the Nature Publishing Group, as a new contributor to the Scholarly Kitchen. Howard will be writing occasionally. I’m personally thrilled to have the help, especially from such […]
Live Entry 2: Green
An interesting session on “Green Publishing,” meaning more environmentally aware publishing choices. One observation from the audience is that there were two types of “green” being mentioned in the same breath — the type when choices are made solely based […]
Live Entry 1: Crowds
The SSP Annual Meeting is going on in Boston, and attendance is amazing on this beautiful spring day in Boston. Alex Wright, author of “Glut: Mastering Information Through the Ages,” gave this morning’s keynote. He did a nice job of […]
Watch Out, “Professionals”!
According to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle, a new publishing entity called 8020 Publishing is showing that the wall between amateurs and professionals sometimes collapses when tested. While creating travel and photography magazines named, respectively, Everywhere and JPG, […]