Kent's Picks for 2010: The Wikification of Research Reports
The movement to publish more and more demands that we find ways to preserve the trust we’ve built while taking advantage of the sunlight public availability can provide.
Some Lessons From Our Reactions to Wikileaks
Wikileaks teaches us a number of lessons, the most important being that the world will change, whether we like it or not.
Data-mining Google Books: Does the Reader Have To Be Human?
The data-mining of the Google books database has great promise, but who owns the data-mining rights?
For Open Access Journals, Size Does Matter
Is the growth of open access journals a sign of market success or dysfunction? Two new studies analyze the data and come to opposite conclusions.
The Nature Network Implosion — Hmmm, This All Seems Awfully Familiar . . .
Another science blogging network implodes, a sign that the age of exuberance is giving way to the business realities.
The Ambient Authorship and Subtle Potential of Sensor Publishing
Sensors are being applied to mobile phones, which will launch a new suite of publishing opportunities. By aggregating and interpreting the data uploaded from these mobile sensors, publishers can create new services and open up new markets.
Is the Cloud Too Weak to Support What Paper Can?
The Wikileaks scandal shows that commercial cloud providers aren’t ready for the realities of publishing and information hosting.
Privacy, Google, and the Reading Public
Privacy is something we trade in all the time. The questions are about the best trades to make.
Science Cheerleaders Break Down Stereotypes
When watching football on Thanksgiving, remember that those cheerleaders might have more to offer than pulchritude.
Anxiety and Clichés About the Digital Generation? It's Still the Economy, Stupid
A recent New York Times Magazine feature plays off fears that the next generation is prone to distraction and underachievement. The facts, and an apparently superior media outlet, argue otherwise.
Breaking the Silence Around Premature Quantification
Improper use of financial analysis can obscure problems in strategy, a problem faced by for-profit and not-for-profit organizations alike.
Disruption, Aggregation, and Third Parties
Is our future defined by third-party aggregators? Or is there a business opportunity there worth fighting for?
Whither University Presses?
A new collection of essays in the Journal of Electronic Publishing focuses on various issues facing the university press world today, but perhaps does not consider the possibility of presses taking on a more central role in their parents’ strategy.
The Ghostwriter Behind Student Papers
Essay mills are a thriving industry behind successful lazy and illiterate students.
One World Publishing, Brought to You by the Internet
The sale of e-books over the Internet will lead to a restructuring of the book business and the evolution of truly global publishers.