A Corporate Culture to Slip the Management Trap
A company’s culture defines a great deal. Here’s a peak inside Netflix, a company undergoing disruptive innovation and choosing to embrace it.
Google Announces Opt-Out Village
In response to consumer concerns, Google announces its new Opt-Out Village. Happy Friday!
Pubget: Time-saver or Content Aggregator?
The Pubget search engine delivers search results along with PDFs. Should we view this new service as a time-saver for readers or as a threat to publishers?
Think Social Media is a Fad?
A video compilation of data, set to a familiar tune, showing why social media is changing the world.
Two Stories from the Management Trap
Two owners, two magazines — but one magazine wishes it could flee, while another is part of a larger digital strategy. It shines a light on what can happen when the owner is the problem.
Questioning the Attention Economy
Rupert Murdoch’s plans to charge for access to his newspapers has been widely criticized as it will cut the material out of the wider online conversation. But what good is it to be part of a conversation that doesn’t bring in any revenue?
Wikipedia’s Plateau: A Sign of Elitism, Maturity, or Both?
The plateau of entries in Wikipedia has people scratching their heads. Are the editors becoming elitists? Is quality beating quantity? Or is it a little of both?
Free Digital Textbooks Win in California
An initiative to see if free K-12 textbooks in math and science could exist, California tested the waters. The results have been released. They’re surprising, and may portend changes for educational publishers.
The Strength of Weak Ties: Why Twitter Matters in Scholarly Communication
The special nature of Twitter makes it ideal for information sharing, and allows it to exploit the links that matter most for information dissemination — the weaker links in the social space.
Facebook Acquires FriendFeed, Hitler Throws a Fit
The social media world was thrown for a loop when Facebook announced its acquisition of FriendFeed. Even historical villains were upset, as captured in a smart parody video.
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?
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.
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.