Stick to Your Ribs: A Proposed List — 60 Things Journal Publishers Do
Revisiting an attempt to list the things journal publishers do.
Book Review — "The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths"
A new book about the role of governments in long-term R&D and market-creation functions should send shockwaves through the political system over the coming decades. Fortunately, you can read it now.
Have We Forgotten Readers in Our Worries Over Access?
A long-term observation among physicians and their relationship with the scientific literature leads to thoughts about the risks we run with our increasing focus on authors and funders — the producers, not the consumers.
Jaron Lanier Discusses Power Laws, Centralized Publishing, and the Social Perils of Free Information
An interview in IEEE Spectrum with Jaron Lanier touches on the perils of free information, including shrinking the information economy, creating a few powerful players, and providing the government free tools of power.
The Price of Posting — PubMed Central Spends Most of Its Budget Handling Author Manuscripts
New documents obtained via an ongoing FOIA request show that PubMed Central spends most of its money tagging author manuscripts, and that its stricter rules for NIH authors may double its costs.
PubMed Central and F1000 Research — More Signs of Favoritism and Activism, and More Conflicts of Interest
More indications of favoritism and cronyism, this time stretching back from F1000 Research to BioMed Central, and more mismanaged conflicts of interests. The common thread may be a new “old boys” network.
A New Head Chef in the Kitchen — Changes in Leadership Mean Changes in Leadership
Changes are afoot in the Kitchen, as leadership roles switch and we position ourselves for future success.
Observations from the SSP Annual Meeting — Dogma, Domination vs. Disruption, and Working to Scale
As Day 1 of the SSP Annual Meeting draws to a close, a few ideas seemed worth sharing.
Internet Trends 2013 — Growth in Iran, Gaps in Mobile Ads, and Dogs Caught Using the Internet
The 2013 Internet trends are worth examining, as they turn an iconic Internet cartoon on its head, among other things.
Joining a CHORUS, Publishers Offer the OSTP a Proactive, Modern, and Cost-Saving Public Access Solution
A proposed partnership between publishers and the US government in response to the OSTP memorandum may show the way forward for public-private networked information solutions.
Austerity Research — When Ideology and Polemicism Overwhelm Facts and Logic
An economics paper’s failings in substance and pre-publication and post-publication processes holds many lessons, not the least of which is about the poisonous environment of discourse we have allowed to form.
A History of Intellectual Property in the United States
Intellectual property in the United States — not an ideal topic for a podcast . . . or is it? This episode of BackStory with the American History Guys is compelling on many levels.
True Innovation Requires Knowledge — The Myth of the Naïve Disruptor and the Marginalization of Staff
The myth of the naive outsider is persistent and powerful, but even expert outsiders aren’t the only possible source of knowledge. What about the expert insider? What if most of your insiders are experts in some surprising way?
Synchronization — Five Metronomes Walk Into a Bar . . .
Conformity through synchronization as demonstrated by metronomes.
Do We Need a Consumer Reports of Journals, Written by the Authors?
A proposal for a community site to review author experiences at various journals suggests the need for a new player in the trust economy of journals.