The Future (?) of the Scholarly (?) Monograph (?)
As the scholarly communication environment changes, so does the monograph–and the nature of scholarship itself. A few years from now, what will these terms even mean?
Whose Dissertation Is It, Anyway?
Another association of historians has recommended that students be allowed to impose limited embargoes on their dissertations. And so the question arises again: whose work is the dissertation, and who should control it?
The End of an Era for Academia.edu and Other Academic Networks?
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Elsevier has issued a sweeping series of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take down notices regarding Elsevier-published content to Academia.edu, a file-sharing network for researchers and other academics.
This has prompted a storm in the Twittersphere, a response from Elsevier, a number of commentaries on blogs and list-serves, and a truly bizarre article from CNET. Academia.edu for its part is reportedly encouraging authors of affected papers to sign this Elsevier boycott petition despite the fact that their own terms of use prohibit the posting of content that infringes on the copyright or license of publishers such as Elsevier.
Is this a footnote or the end of a chapter in the annals of digital science publishing?
MOOCs and the Cycle of Hype
Thoughts on the future of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).
Dancing Statistics
A new film series offers a chance to dance your way through statistical analysis.
The world is a dynamic mess of jiggling things…
Newly available material from Richard Feynman offers a joyous way to spend your Friday celebrating the wonder of the world.
Webinars, Webinars, Webinars — How Do We Evaluate This New and Increasingly Pervasive Option?
Webinars can serve many roles — B2B, B2C, promotion, education. As they proliferate, the special mix of work and benefit webinars represent will come under scrutiny, and your ability to plan well to grow in this area may be tested.
Questions (and Answers) from the Society for Scholarly Publishing
Some new videos about scholarly publishing from the SSP. You may recognize a few familiar faces.
The Six Second Science Fair
Can you spare six seconds for a short film about science?
Stick to Your Ribs: Science and Web 2.0: Talking About Science vs. Doing Science
Revisiting the subject of social media and scientific research–have we made much progress in the last few years?
Stick to Your Ribs: A Proposed List — 60 Things Journal Publishers Do
Revisiting an attempt to list the things journal publishers do.
Stick to Your Ribs: Challenging the Access Crisis
Revisiting a post from 2011 that called for evidence for a better understanding of access to the research literature.
Dissertation Embargoes and the Rights of Scholars: AHA Smacks the Hornet's Nest
A recent statement by the American Historical Association is generating heated debate about the rights and best interests of junior scholars, the market dynamics for scholarly monographs, and the competing needs of publishers, libraries, authors, and readers.
The Issue Tree Structure of Expressed Thought
This article is about my research into the structure of what we say when we write or speak, and the logical form that underlies the discussion of complex issues.
Disrupting the Faculty: The Changing Face of the College Textbook Business
The college textbook business is being disrupted, but not by outsiders. The publishers themselves are restructuring the industry. One consequence of this may be diminished prerogatives for instructors in their choice of classroom texts.