The Race to the Bottom — Short-term Bargains versus Long-term Vitality
Haggling for cheaper content today will certainly have hidden and unpleasant costs — large and small — down the road.
Guest Post: One LGBT Perspective on Bias in Scholarly Publishing
John Linton offers his thoughts on diversity, perspective, and the need for empathy.
Interview: Keith Marmer, AVP & ED for Technology & Venture Commercialization at the University of Utah
How can secrecy and openness most productively coexist when it comes to the intellectual property of universities and their research faculty? Some thoughts from the new vice president for technology and venture commercialization at a Tier 1 research university.
Can Blockchain Withstand Skepticism? An Inquiry
The buzz around blockchain is mounting. But does it fit with scholarly publishing’s incentives and practices?
On Being Excluded: Testimonies by People of Color in Scholarly Publishing
These powerful testimonies, by people of color, about their experience of racism in scholarly publishing, clearly show that we have “a great deal of powerful and humbling work to do” to address racism and the white-dominated culture of our industry.
Dolly Parton: Champion of Literacy
You may know Dolly Parton as an amazing musician, but her greatest accomplishment may be the powerful literacy program she leads.
Writing Support Across Global Research Communities: A Case Study for Public Health
PREPSS follow ups writing intensive workshops with mentoring Health researchers from low resource regions through the publication process.
Guest Post: Towards a Diversity Manifesto Part 2 – Making Long Overdue Change Happen in Scholarly Communication
In part 2 of Nancy Roberts’ and Phill Jones’ collaboration, Nancy, the founder of Business Inclusivity lays out the starting point for an emerging manifesto on diversity based on the recent workshop at the Researcher to Reader conference.
Is #DeleteFacebook Going to Change Academic Life and Scholarly Publishing?
What might the recent backlash to revelations about how Facebook was exploited mean for the scholarly ecosystem?
Openness and The Two Cultures
Robert Harington addresses openness, and the widening divisions in the “Two Cultures” — which C. P. Snow would likely be appalled to find are as apparent as they ever were.
Towards a Diversity Manifesto Part 1 – How a White, Middle-aged, Straight, Cisgender Man Co-organized a Workshop on Diversity Without an Apparent Shred of Irony.
At the end of February, Nancy Roberts of Business Inclusivity and I co-organized a workshop on diversity for the Researcher to Reader conference. In this post I explore my motivations for doing so and talk about why I think so few men seem comfortable participating in these discussions.
Artificial Intelligence and the Infrastructure of Surveillance Authoritarianism
Techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufecki provides a stark view of the potential future of artificial intelligence (AI) and the possible dystopia toward which we are heading.
Calling It Out, Spelling It Out, Stamping It Out: Recognizing and Avoiding Bias
In honour of International Women’s Day, Time’s Up, #MeToo, and a range of recent initiatives trying to tackle equality in the workplace, Charlie Rapple provides thoughts on how to avoid inappropriate comments and behaviors that unintentionally give offense.
Blindspot — Was a Key Factor Missed in the Study of Viral Lies?
A recent study of the spread of lies on Twitter is an important advance, but the authors missed a potentially huge factor, and one we can’t ignore.
Catching the Wave — The Tide Turns Toward the Subscription Model
Silicon Valley’s advertising model has been exploited, and free information’s price is more apparent. Will we be saved by subscription model innovations?