Look What Happens When Censorship Comes to a Familiar Street
When two innocents are censored inappropriately, hilarity ensues.
PubMed Central Reduces Publisher Traffic, Study Shows
PubMed Central reduces article downloads from 14 biomedical society websites when articles are made freely available after embargo.
SSP Board Decides to Reinstate Removed Posts
The Board of the Society for Scholarly Publishing votes to restore disputed posts in order to stand for the organization’s core principles of discussion, freedom of expression, and welcoming all perspectives.
The Lens We Look Through — Are We All About Containers or What Goes Into Them?
An analysis of publishing costs continues the theme of accountability and transparency, but perhaps focuses too much on the containers of information rather than how and why the containers are filled in the first place.
Posts Removed Because We've Received Letters From Edwin Mellen Press' Attorney
We have received letters from the attorney for Edwin Mellen Press, and have removed two posts as a result. We have reproduced the letters here.
Another Door Opens (Quietly) for MOOCs
Recent initiatives around MOOCs, if successful, may open a completely new chapter in the history of colleges and universities. It’s hard to see what serious roadblocks remain.
Federal Research Funding and the Unwillingness to Cut Bait
Recent austerity measures have shone a light on the need to make choices. Can professionals in academia discriminate between more valuable and less valuable activities in the same manner?
Who Is the Mook Among the MOOCs?
Who will be the winners and losers in the world of MOOCs? It may be that the decision by prominent universities to partner with online venues may undermine their own activities.
The Fall and Rise of Market Segmentation
Recent court rulings concerning copyright have put an end to traditional market segmentation practices, but new forms of segmentation will arise based on the analysis of data about individuals.
Whoops! Are Some Current Open Access Mandates Backfiring on the Intended Beneficiaries?
OA mandates like the RCUK mandate seem to have aspects that actually put the burdens of OA on the academics, universities, taxpayers, and scientists they were meant to help.
Welcome to the Surveillance Society of Google Glass — Should We Be Worried or Relieved?
Google Glass has the potential to transform personal, social, and political relationships dramatically. Is this increased surveillance in the hands of Google an improvement? Or is it just another sign of problems ahead?
The 1% Infographic Animation — An Exercise in the Slow Shock of Reality
A new infographic presentation shows just how effectively a story can be told around data. It also reveals how divergent perceptions, ideals, and reality can be.
The RCUK Open Access Policy Is Revised — Complexity, Confusion, and Conflicting Messages Abound
After a great deal of public and political resistance, the RCUK revises its OA policy. Unfortunately, the revisions only highlight the same problems, sow more confusion, and reveal how central the issue of academic freedom is to this approach.
One Down, One to Go: Edwin Mellen Press Blinks One Eye
Edwin Mellen Press drops one of its suits, but does so in a bizarre way, raising more questions.
Financial Realities — A New Analysis Suggests OA Will Have a Benign Effect on Publishers
A new financial analysis of open access and two major publishers suggests that many of the trends we’re seeing aren’t about adversarial ideas and win:lose propositions, but about relatively small market adjustments and incremental changes.