The Subordination of Browsers, Search, and Links: Will Apps and Mobile Redefine Our Digital Lives?
A recent Atlantic article talks about how the Web is shifting into a subservient role to mobile apps. The implications for strategies are clear.
Signals of Quality — Does Selectivity Attract Better Submissions and Better Authors?
A study from ACM suggests that selectivity — both being selective and being known as selective — has a citation benefit.
The POD Booby Trap and the Lure of Open Access Books
Using POD (print on demand) as a means to support open access is not a viable business model.
The Latest “Library as Purchaser” Crisis: Are We Fighting the Wrong Battle?
More flames on the site licensing frontier, and why these battles are a sign of a fundamentally flawed — and possibly soon-to-be irrelevant — arrangement.
Forgetting the F-bomb: How Cheap Memory Makes Normal Conference Chat Costly
An argument for why conferences should not be recorded and rebroadcast.
Fears and Hopes: Publishing Through the Lenses of Sustainability, Quality, and Chaos
Quality, chaos, and sustainability — terms we throw around, yet each requires more careful thought. Nicholas Carr and Clay Shirky square off to debate where we’re headed in roughly these terms.
Umpiring and Peer-Review: Why a Perfect Game Is Still a Perfect Game
When clearly observable facts are ignored and post-hoc analysis abandoned, great achievements can be undercut by injustices.
Monkeys vs. Robots: The Mysteries of Identity in the Age of Facebook
Facebook continues to try to redefine identity as an addressable single element for its business model. Should we monkeys allow it?
Facebook, Diaspora, Public, Private, and the Fork in the Road
Can Diaspora restore social networking to personal control?
iPad Usability: Confusing, a Prevalence of Print Metaphors, and Weird Interaction Models
Jakob Nielsen releases his first usability studies of the iPad. Bottom line? Users are not being served, interfaces are “wacky.”
The Digital Universe, Information Shadows, and Paying for Privacy
Trends in mobile, cloud, and personal computing all point to a redefinition of privacy, with convenience and value competing effectively for preeminence.
Creating an Incentive: Can Social Media Offer Enough Carrots to Entice Scientists?
Scientists seem uninterested in participating in social media offerings, as the rewards offered are generally of insufficient value to warrant the effort required. Instead of just hoping that scientists will suddenly see the value in your product, why not offer incentives for participation?
How Do You Pronounce ‘Moleskine’?
A short video of the myriad ways to pronounce “moleskine,” the name of a favorite notebook.
Is Facebook Eroding Privacy? Or Does Social Media Require Us to Lower Our Expectations?
Facebook argues that its erosions of privacy reflect changing social norms. But is what it’s doing just plain wrong?
Traditional Measures of Quality: Irrelevant, Miscast, Outdated, and Inhibiting?
How we measure quality may be a form of vestigial elitism, stemming from the print age. And it may be holding us back.