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.
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.
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.
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.
Fixing Instead of Breaking, Part Three — Blockchain, RA21, Privacy, and Trust
We continue to battle the tidal wave of data with a bucket brigade of individual privacy settings. Maybe it’s time to pause and consider a state-level solution, ala Estonia.
Focusing on Value — 102 Things Journal Publishers Do (2018 Update)
In this update, the focus shifts to the value journal publishers offer, and who benefits.
The Varieties of Lock-in in Scholarly Communications
There are various ways that customers get locked in to services in scholarly communications. These methods are longed for by publishers and disliked by customers, but they naturally emerge as a part of the economy.
Book Review: “Technically Wrong,” by Sara Wachter-Boettcher
A new book explores how biases and broken systems get built into technology products and platforms.
The Wake-up Call — Looking Back at 2017, and Some Factors Affecting 2018
2017 may have been a watershed year for the Internet and its future. What did we learn? And what factors may shape 2018?
All the News That Fits — What’s Really Driving Altmetric’s Top 100 Articles List?
The Altmetric “flower” is an icon, and the annual Top 100 list a much-anticipated event. But is the flower really a stalk?
Tackling Diversity in Scholarly Communications – Part 2
Researchers from Africa, Asia and Latin America answer the question, “How do we increase diversity in scholarly communications?”