Stage Two Disruption in Scholarly Communications
Popular opinion to the contrary, scholarly publishing has not been disrupted. But only superior management can navigate the many challenges ahead.
What Will Scholarly Information Providers Do About Voice User Interfaces (VUI)?
OK Google, can you find this for me? Don’t worry. If you’re busy, I can always ask Alexa instead.
Crossref: How Stakeholders Across the Publishing Industry Collaborate
Robert Harington talks to Ed Pentz, Executive Director of Crossref, exploring the past, present and future of Crossref, a fabulous example of how for-profit and non-profit organizations alike may collaborate when needs must.
Fixing Instead of Breaking, Part Two — The Subscription Model
Business models that exploit vulnerabilities are unfair. Can a model that aligns producer and consumers help fix the Internet?
Fixing Instead of Breaking, Part One — Open Citations
With so much broken by the Internet, we may be moving into a mode of fixing things. Are open citations part of the solution, or more of the problem?
Roadblocks to Accessibility
Accessible publishing is better for publishers, better for the bottom line, better for readers of all stripes. If we agree that egalitarian dissemination of academic content is the thing to do, including those with physical, learning, or cognitive challenges, then why does end-to-end accessible publishing continue to elude us?
Not Every Publisher Can Support A Cascade Journal
Solving the transfer problem has created a widespread perception that rejecting a manuscript–especially after considerable time and resources have been devoted to its review–is downright wasteful. If it’s publishable, why not publish it?
Identity Is Everything
Publishers are understandably concerned about piracy, but the STM/NISO initiative RA21 “to align and simplify pathways to subscribed content across participating scientific platforms” has scoped its problem the wrong way. Simply put: It’s not about security. It’s about identity. Every individual should be in control of their own identity. Can RA21 realize its potential to serve the broader interests of scientists and academia, not just the understandable objectives of publishers and vendors?
Algorithms Are Opinions Embedded in Code
Would an AI-driven peer review system improve objectivity? Cathy O’Neil, author of Weapons of Math Destruction explains the biases and subjectivity inherent in algorithms.
Ask The Chefs: What Are Your Predictions For Scholarly Communications in 2018?
Prediction is a strong word. Does anyone really know the future? Of course not, but it’s fun (and can be helpful) to speculate. Come add to the Chefs’ predictions for 2018.
What Will You Do When They Come for Your Proxy Server?
RA21 aims to replace IP address authentication (and proxy servers) with federated identity authentication – but have we thought through the implications?
Book Review: “Technically Wrong,” by Sara Wachter-Boettcher
A new book explores how biases and broken systems get built into technology products and platforms.
Discovery Should Be Delivery: User-Centric Principles for Discovery as a Service
Library discovery can only succeed in reaching a high market share if it is intensely user-centered. Articulating user-centric principles for discovery has enabled the University Library to Illinois to evolve a discovery environment that meets the needs of its community of users.
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?
The End of Aperta: Journal Submission Systems Remain Challenging
Why is it so hard to build a good journal article submission system?