Librarians and Societies and Publishers – Oh My!
A meeting between librarians, publishers, and society leaders reveals common concerns and the ways in which roles are overlapping and mingling.
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.
Library Group Reveals Failed Plans for Free Romance Site — eLove
A library group reveals that its plans to launch an open access romance portal have fallen through.
BBC Contemplating Reality TV Show to Decide How Research Councils UK Block Grants Are Dispersed
Leaked emails show the the BBC and certain university administrators have been contemplating launching a competition reality television show based on the APC allocation battles the RCUK OA policy will create.
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.
Blog Buys Newspaper — Portlandia Tackles Modern Journalism
What happens when a blog buys a newspaper? Stories get shorter. Much shorter.
SXSW Interactive — Where the Geeks (and Geek Watchers) Go
SXSW 2013 is heavy on hardware, invention, lessons about taking risks and exploring, usability, and discussions about how best to achieve authority and credibility.
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.
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.
Copyright Transfer As a Click-through – It’s So Easy to Sign Away Your Rights
Click-through agreements are efficient for publishers and software companies to offer, but is it right for this efficiency to cloud the rights picture? Can’t we create systems that are slightly more subtle and customized?
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.