A Little Library Can Make a Big Difference — With Your Help
A little library has big plans, and you can help.
Fleshing Out the World Dreamed Of — What If the Idealistic Recommendations Passed?
A new report for the Center of Economic Development suffers from a strong bias in its authorship. But beyond that, its implicit complaints, if addressed completely, would lead to a trainwreck in the world of scholarly communication. Is nobody thinking these things through?
"Predatory" Open Access Publishers — The Natural Extreme of an Author-Pays Model
A profile of predatory author-pays OA publishers pulls a punch or two, but reveals that all models have extremes. What we do to make these extremes truly marginal and unacceptable is a larger question.
Ask the Chefs: "What Is the Future of Copyright?"
The future of copyright will apparently involve catching up with technological change, cultural expectations of fairness, creative pressures for re-use, and many other factors. The Chefs cook up an interesting set of scenarios and ideas on this month’s question.
Open Journalism and the Three Little Pigs
In the world of social media, when you huff, and you puff, and you blow a house down, there are new consequences.
Digital Disorder — Losing the Signal of Priority and Selection
We used to have editorial selection and ordering as a natural result of editorial control. With algorithms and news feeds dominating, where are the signals of priority and linked information? Did we really need the packaging?
And Now We Are Four!
The Scholarly Kitchen turns four. Are we losing our ability to be provocative, interesting, insightful, and engaging? We’re just getting started . . .
More Heat Than Light — The RWA Miscalculation May Have Burned More Than Elsevier
The firestorm around the Research Works Act forces Elsevier to back away. Where does that leave the rest of us?
The Missing Outcry — Are the NIH and Its Researchers Shirking Their Obligations?
While publishers are the targets of complaints about keeping taxpayer-funded research from reaching the public, where is the outcry when studies show less than 1/4 mandatory reporting requirements are fulfilled by researchers?
Not Excited? "You Need to Exit the Business" — A Great Interview with the Editor of Outside
The transformation of all publishers is underway, and this interview from a popular magazine’s editor sounds all too familiar as we adapt to evolving markets, possibilities, and expectations.
Achieving the "Golden Age of Librarians" — An Ambitious Project of Deep Redefinition
Are you a library or a librarian? How you answer that question may have a direct bearing on your ability to adapt to the digital age, T. Scott Plutchak tells us in a recent paper based on a 2011 lecture.
More on Why Amazon Is Winning the Book Wars
Amazon’s power in book publishing continues to grow, gaining momentum naturally as its success makes failure more likely for incumbents. There’s a lot to respect in what they’re doing.
The Perfect Video for a Backwards Winter — Snowboarding in the Dark Wearing an LED Light Suit
An eye-popping and eerily beautiful set of images of an LED-adorned snow boarder shredding in the dark.
The Price of Parody in an Era of Scorched-Earth Publishing Politics
Why is there such invective around certain topics in scholarly publishing? Perhaps when you ask questions and play with ideas, you’re bound to get some backlash. But how far is too far?
The Approaching Golden Age of Long-form E-content — Coming Soon to a Reader Near You
Judging from the frenetic pace of developments around e-reading and e-writing, the golden age of the e-book may be just around the corner. After that, what e-books evolve into remains to be seen.