Women in Academia Unite
A look at inequality in research and knowledge systems, and in particular, how gender issues in higher education are exacerbated in the Global South.
Ask The Chefs: How Can We Increase Diversity In Scholarly Communications?
Why is increasing diversity in scholarly communications seemingly so difficult? What should we be doing differently?
Book Review: “The New Analog” by Damon Krukowski
Is “signal” meaningful in the absence of “noise”? Damon Krukowski asks what important things have been lost in our transition from analog to digital media in his book, “The New Analog”.
Biological Science Societies Hope to Convince Authors to Stay in the Society Family
Hoping to woo authors away from commercial publishers, a group of biomedical science societies have launched a new alliance to promote the value of publishing in society journals.
Guest Post — Academics and Copyright Ownership: Ignorant, Confused or Misled?
Elizabeth Gadd takes a look at the contradictions between scholarly culture and copyright culture, and the cognitive dissonance created.
Book Review — “World Without Mind,” by Franklin Foer
Franklin Foer’s new book is a bracing account of the current information economy, the monopolies and motivations at its heart, and the weakening of democratized knowledge.
Guest Post — “Essential and Existential”: The Work of Equity and Inclusion in Scholarly Publishing
Jocelyn Dawson and Rebecca McLeod gather together helpful advice for recruiting and maintaining a more diverse workforce in publishing.
Building Healthy Online Communities — An Interview with Rachel Happe
Community management has become a key part of social media and online publishing, whether we realize it or not. In this interview, an expert in the fields shares some views of how organizations can benefit from a more singular focus.
Retirement Wave To Hit Academic Librarianship
Like other greying professions, demographic data for ARL libraries warn us of a breaking wave of retirements but may paint an unrealistic picture of what the beach will look like after the surf has settled.
Defining Moment — What Do We Mean When We Say “Diversity”?
The term “diversity” can be thrown around like we know what it means, but it is highly contextual, not always visual, and tricky to implement meaningfully.
About Face — Scholarly Publishing and Social Media Regulation
A possible consequence of moves to more tightly regulate social media companies may be they start looking for new investments. And they already have some in scholarly publishing.
Technology as the New Tobacco
Comedian Bill Maher draws a disturbing parallel between social media and cigarettes.
Science, Publishing and Government Bills: Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR)
Scholarly publishers are already doing much to make government funded research as free as possible as soon as it is published. Why do we need a law to enact what is already taking shape? Robert Harington suggests it comes down to politics.
Guest Post — When Metrics and Politics Collide: Reflections on Peer Review, the JIF and Our Current Political Moment
Sara Rouhi from Altmetric reflects on the biases of the “research industrial complex”.
The End of Summer and Musings on Nostalgia in an Age of Abundance
We’re taking the last week of summer off. To hold you over, a brief book review, some rare concert footage and some musings on memory and storytelling.