The iPad in Medicine: The Good, the Bad, and the Germy
A physician uses the iPad, and it works great. But can you wash it enough for the hospital setting?
PLoS ONE: Is a High Impact Factor a Blessing or a Curse?
PLoS ONE’s relatively high impact factor may compromise its ability to support PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine.
Forgetting the F-bomb: How Cheap Memory Makes Normal Conference Chat Costly
An argument for why conferences should not be recorded and rebroadcast.
Fears and Hopes: Publishing Through the Lenses of Sustainability, Quality, and Chaos
Quality, chaos, and sustainability — terms we throw around, yet each requires more careful thought. Nicholas Carr and Clay Shirky square off to debate where we’re headed in roughly these terms.
A Weapon of Mass Instruction: The Bookmobile Meets the Batmobile
Giving books away for free, with panache!
Lessons Learned and Lessons Learning: STM Stalwarts Reflect on Career Paths and Making Choices
In an industry where energy, youth, and innovation are often valued over experience, what can be learned from a panel of wizened members of the publishing industry?
Get the Picture: PowerPoint, Systems Dynamics, the Military, and the New York Times
What we know is important, but how we interpret it is vital. Getting the NYTimes/PowerPoint narrative right requires a little more complex knowledge.
Etiquette and the Electric Friendship Generator
This film from the early days of Facebook illustrates the perils of poor etiquette with online friendship generators.
The Stick and the Carrot: Why Direct Incentives in Science are Dangerous
Reputation — fragile, cumulative, and indirect — is the reward of science. Direct compensation to motivate specific behaviors is a dangerous proposal.
The First Four Years of College: Why Are Students Spending Less Time Studying?
A new economic analysis of the time spent realizing a four-year degree shows decreases across the board since 1961. What does it mean? Why is it happening?
How Do You Pronounce ‘Moleskine’?
A short video of the myriad ways to pronounce “moleskine,” the name of a favorite notebook.
Is Facebook Eroding Privacy? Or Does Social Media Require Us to Lower Our Expectations?
Facebook argues that its erosions of privacy reflect changing social norms. But is what it’s doing just plain wrong?
Education Set to Music: The Cognitive Bias Song
Cognitive bias is on display all around us. Which one are you seeing? This song teaches you the differences.
Friday Fun: Bill Murray Reads Poetry to Construction Workers
While building a new poetry center, construction stops so Bill Murray can share a few poems (and jokes) with the workers. A lovely moment, captured in video.
Has Publishing Revealed the Achilles’ Heel of Webist Political Philosophies?
Does the power of prestige and prestige-granting organization confound the politics of the Web?