Fixing Instead of Breaking, Part One — Open Citations
With so much broken by the Internet, we may be moving into a mode of fixing things. Are open citations part of the solution, or more of the problem?
Roadblocks to Accessibility
Accessible publishing is better for publishers, better for the bottom line, better for readers of all stripes. If we agree that egalitarian dissemination of academic content is the thing to do, including those with physical, learning, or cognitive challenges, then why does end-to-end accessible publishing continue to elude us?
Book Review: “Technically Wrong,” by Sara Wachter-Boettcher
A new book explores how biases and broken systems get built into technology products and platforms.
Discovery Should Be Delivery: User-Centric Principles for Discovery as a Service
Library discovery can only succeed in reaching a high market share if it is intensely user-centered. Articulating user-centric principles for discovery has enabled the University Library to Illinois to evolve a discovery environment that meets the needs of its community of users.
The Wake-up Call — Looking Back at 2017, and Some Factors Affecting 2018
2017 may have been a watershed year for the Internet and its future. What did we learn? And what factors may shape 2018?
The End of Aperta: Journal Submission Systems Remain Challenging
Why is it so hard to build a good journal article submission system?
Book Review: “The New Analog” by Damon Krukowski
Is “signal” meaningful in the absence of “noise”? Damon Krukowski asks what important things have been lost in our transition from analog to digital media in his book, “The New Analog”.
Innovative Research and Creative Output: From Ideas to Impact
Evolving forms of digital scholarship such a 3-D images, multimedia, and geographic data are relatively new elements in the scholar’s workflow. These formats appear in stark contrast to the legacy books and journal articles required for career advancement within the […]
Design Matters: How an Audio Illusion Adds Tension
The Shepard Tone is an audio illusion that hightens tension in the listener.
The Invisible World of Schlieren Photography
A primer on an imaging technique that lets us visualize the invisible forces that surround us.
Platform Diving — Top Journals, UX, and the Lure of Harmonization
A review of top journals in 18 fields show they are on a variety of platforms, suggesting cognitive burden for users which may be driving them to aggregated options with unified user experiences.
Data Visualization and Scale
A clever visualization that makes it easier to understand statistics about human populations be reducing their scale.
Design Matters: Why Are So Many Cartoon Characters Yellow?
Why do so many animators choose yellow for their characters?