Science and Truth, Stanford President and Student Journalism Edition
A world famous scientist and university president brought down by a student journalist’s investigative reporting. But the big story is how we fund and reward ethical research.
Revisiting — Journalism, Preprint Servers, and the Truth: Allocating Accountability
In light of the recent anniversary of the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, we revisit Rick Anderson’s post on how journalists flag unsupported claims and blatant falsehoods, and whether preprint platforms should do the same.
Guest Post — Responsible Reporting of Suicide During COVID-19: The Role of Academic Publishing
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health are widely discussed in the media, but responsible discussion is vital, and academic publishers have an important role to play. Please be aware that this article talks about suicide.
Journalism, Preprint Servers, and the Truth: Allocating Accountability
Journalists are increasingly flagging unsupported claims and blatant falsehoods–it’s time for preprint platforms to do the same.
Guest Post — Pandemic Reveals Broader Audiences for Science and Carves Out New All-digital Publishing Opportunities
Sabine Louët and Karla Fallon discuss how to realize the opportunities for better communicating research results to a broader audience.
Cutting Through the Headline Hype on Medical Studies
Two videos offer tips on separating the actual research done in medical studies from the often over-hyped media coverage.
Recurring Dream — Organizations with Subscriptions Are More Valuable
Even Silicon Valley is finding that recurring revenues (aka, subscriptions) lead to more valuable businesses, while helping smaller companies thrive.
The Trance of Dysfunction — Why Trolls Have Come to Dominate Discourse
Trolls dominate for many reasons — economics, technology, our predilection for sordid entertainment. But they’ve chilled online discourse and damaged civil exchanges, even making some publishers reluctant to take full advantage of the potential of the Internet. Are we ready for v2.0 of commenting?
The Information Landscape — How Do We Tackle the Problems Caused by Silicon Valley?
Science’s historical progress can’t be assumed. It has to be reclaimed, re-established. That’s more difficult in a fragmented information space geared for extremism.
Publishing in a Time of Information Warfare — A Wakeup Call
The information war requires changes — new research priorities, new personal and professional boundaries, higher editorial hurdles, and a hardened infrastructure.
The Tyranny of Amusements — Science, Spectacle, and the Lowly PDF
Do scholarly and scientific publishers risk more than they realize when they embrace modern media spectacle and seek to marginalize the PDF?
Book Review: “The Death of Expertise” by Tom Nichols
The new book by Tom Nichols, “The Death of Expertise,” is not perfect, but it is an important exploration of existential threats to science, education, and representative democracy.
The Price of Silicon Valley’s "Disruption" — Is It Possible to Now Have Responsible Information Economics?
As we’ve absorbed and adopted the information economy assumptions peddled by Silicon Valley, social isolation has increased, the definition of “fact” has become slippery, and the scientific record has become more superficial, less reliable, and more transitory. In fact, confirmation bias seems to have become our main operating principle. Maybe a change in economic incentives and greater skepticism across the board could help — all driven by more humans at the controls.
A Stocking Stuffer for Christmas
A recommendation of a wonderful short story by Joseph O’Neill, which should serve as a stocking stuffer this Christmas.
Complexity and Misrepresentation in the New York Times
Robert Harington comments on a New York Times article by Kate Murphy , published on Sunday 13th March, 2016, suggesting that when journalists write such an article they, do not fan the flames of fundamentalism, recognize the complexity at hand, and understand that there is a constructive debate to be had.