A Surveillance System Disguised as a High School Reunion
John Oliver takes Facebook to task for their seemingly insincere apology advertisements.
Engaging the Public in Scholarship: A Case for Small Scale
Sharing research with the public is critical, and there are multiple platforms and approaches to this kind of outreach. We tried a local book group for sharing both scholarship and the scholarly process.
Dropping the Hammer — Predatory Publishers Get Pounded by Regulators and the Press
Recent coordinated investigatory journalism articles, along with separate regulatory actions, are squeezing predatory publishers. But are the root causes being addressed?
The Oligarchy of Amazon
Robert Harington describes how the recent, under the radar launch of the Amazon Global Store is putting local businesses at risk.
Guest Post: Safiya Umoja Noble and the Ethics of Social Justice in Information (Part 2)
Jocelyn Dawson and Rebecca McLeod interview Safiya Noble, author of “Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism”.
The Core vs. the Crowd — Why Barriers to Entry May Help Restore Trust
A history of the rise of coercive media suggests that raising barriers to entry may be a remedy. Could a business model shift do most of the work for us?
Interview: The BMJ’s Patient Review Initiative — A Novel Expansion of Peer Review
Kent Anderson looks at an innovative approach to peer review that has expanded, changed review approaches, and impressed authors.
Guest Post: Building an Inclusive Culture in Scholarly Publishing is “Everybody’s Everyday Work”
Jocelyn Dawson reviews the panel on Building an Inclusive Culture in Scholarly Publishing from the recent SSP Annual Meeting.
Has Google Become a Journal Publisher?
Google’s journal about artificial intelligence (AI) coming from editors and authors associated with Google and Google Brain raises questions about conflicts, vanity publishing, and Google as a media company.
Guest Post: MLA InSight – A Constructive Forum Emerges
Steven Heffner and Shalu Gillum present the results of the first MLA InSight Summit, an innovative new forum helping libraries and publishers find common ground.
Journals Lose Citations to Preprint Servers
Why do authors continue to cite preprints years after they’ve been formally published?
Peer Review – Authors and Reviewers – our “North Star”
Robert Harington suggests that publishers need to do more for researchers to help authors, and to help reviewers understand their role as a reviewer and be recognized for their work. We need to tackle implicit bias in peer review. We need to focus on our “North Star”
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.
Is Copyright Piracy Morally Wrong or Merely Illegal? The Malum Prohibitum/Malum in Se Conundrum
Is copyright infringement malum prohibitum (wrong only because it’s prohibited) or malum in se (morally wrong in and of itself)? Interestingly, scholcomm commentators and legal reference materials often characterize it as the former–while both statute and case law treat it like the latter, classifying it as “property theft” and regularly awarding its victims both statutory and punitive damages.
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.