Happy Birthday to the eBook!
On July 4, 1971 Michael Hart posted the first ebook file on the ARPANET and transformed content distribution.
Book Review: “Technically Wrong,” by Sara Wachter-Boettcher
A new book explores how biases and broken systems get built into technology products and platforms.
How To Live Safely in a Post Factual Universe
2016, The. Laughs. Just. Keep. Coming… This is a post about how events in the non-scholarly publishing world are going to have a very big impact on us. Question is, what are we going to do about what’s going on?
Book Review: "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
An excellent book about humankind in general holds important fundamental insights for scholarly publishers, editors, and researchers.
The Importance of Academic (History) Writing
Historians can and do play a vital role in the public humanities, but there are vital reasons not just why but how we write for one another, too.
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Our Story: Hamiltunes and the Burden of Founding Histories
The musical “Hamilton” raises questions about history and historical practice that reflects what scholars are and aren’t doing.
When Do Citations Reflect "Impact?"
Citation practices vary between and within STM and HSS; they also vary by discipline and within disciplines. Though citation metrics presume evidence of “impact,” in fact a citation may represent a range of intentions. Given the emphasis on citation indices, isn’t it important to query what scholars are actually doing when they cite another scholar’s work?
iAnnotate — Whatever Happened to the Web as an Annotation System?
A meeting about annotation services and software shows how new tools may be on the horizon, and reminds us that our audiences are likely to be the heaviest users once these emerge.
The Historians Are Revolting — Leading History Journal Editors Take on the Research Councils UK
A group of history editors in the UK publish an open letter stating they will not comply with aspects of the RCUK mandates for OA. What can we learn from this?
Great Microbiologists: Remember Them This Weekend
This fun Lego animation takes you through an important part of Memorial Day history — the history of how we’ve partially tamed microorganisms.
The Steve Jobs Commencement Address
This week’s Friday fun — Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford. An inspiring message from one of our true luminaries of innovation.
An Auto-Tuned Carl Sagan (feat. Stephen Hawking)
Carl Sagan remains relevant, even moreso thanks to this brilliant little video featuring the Sagan song stylings and a special appearance by Stephen Hawking.