Taking a Break — The Reasoning Behind a Speaker’s Circuit Sabbatical
Speaking is fun and rewarding, but it has its downsides. Time to pause and refresh.
The Ghostwriter Behind Student Papers
Essay mills are a thriving industry behind successful lazy and illiterate students.
The Publishing Partisans — Conservatives, Reformers, and Upstarts
Publishers today fall into 3 broad categories when discussing the role of digital media, and these categories almost have the outlines of political parties. But which party is equipped to lead?
Interview With a Ghost (Writer)
A bone-rattling interview with someone who may haunt the medical literature.
Openness and Secrecy in Science — A Careful Balance
If openness is an ideological tenant of science, why are scientists so secretive?
Is the Medium Still the Message When the Medium is Pervasive?
McLuhan posited “the medium is the message.” Is it still? GenY might teach us a thing or two.
“Toxie” Illustrates the Difference Between a News Story and a News Narrative
“Toxie” is a story based on facts, and worth waiting for. Why can’t the news media return to telling it like it is rather than playing to the narrative?
Ouroboros and Peer Review: New Proposals Continue to Chase Their Own Tails
Can social reputation metrics provide a meaningful incentive for researcher participation in peer-review and online commentary?
Radiohead Contemplates Digital Realities — Parallels for STM Publishing
Radiohead’s bassist contemplates the band’s journey through digital distribution as they prepare to release another group of songs. Publishers can find parallels.
State of the Art II — The Future of Technology in the Classroom
Harvard’s Paul Bergen: “The slow accretion of technology into the educational system is the result of the teacher and not the learner.”
The Wrong Approach: Harrisburg University Bans Social Networking to “See What Happens”
A provost sees multi-tasking in his home, and decides to make his university suffer — all because he took the wrong lesson to heart.
CrossDress: A New Fashion-Forward Service Where Social Media Meets Glamor
CrossRef announces a new system in conjunction with New York’s Fashion Week.
Privatizing Peer Review — The PubCred Proposal
When authors are unwilling to peer review and incentives are not enough, is it time to privatize the system?
When Solutions Take On a Life of Their Own
What happens when a proposed solution for a problem becomes an end unto itself? Is peer review really more important than research itself?
Starting From the Mobile Web — An Argument for Rethinking Deployments to Reach People
We’ve been building with the assumption that Web sites should flow to the desktop. But if everything is mobile, and people are mobile, and we want to reach people, shouldn’t we think differently?