SSP Launches Sharp, Redesigned Web Site
The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) launches its new Web site — a sharp, usable, and useful update that makes it easier to take advantage of SSP resources.
The Guardian Reveals an Important Truth About Article Comments
Recent data from the Guardian suggests that commenting remains a fringe activity, often dominated by a few voices. What might this mean for initiatives based on altmetrics and post-publication review?
Update from the Blog — Thanks for an Amazing Year
The Kitchen continues to thrive — more than a million views in 2012, thousands of followers, and a lot of energy going into 2013. Here are some details.
Social Media, the Onion Parody — "And Remember, Any Teenager Could Have Done What We Did"
Using your brains to think of an idea and your skills to implement it? That’s the old-fashioned way.
Dark Social — A New Concept in Analytics That Explains Much of What We (Don't) See
The dark matter of social sharing may be visible now, thanks to some smart theory, not more data.
Not Free, Not Easy, Not Trivial — The Warehousing and Delivery of Digital Goods
The idea that digital goods have no ongoing cost and can therefore be free has several problems, the basic one being reality itself.
We're All Publishers Now? Not So Fast
An exchange at the recent SSP Annual Meeting put the concept of “everyone’s a publisher” into stark contrast with reality. We’re not publishers. We’re unpaid writers for publishers like Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress.
The Price of Parody in an Era of Scorched-Earth Publishing Politics
Why is there such invective around certain topics in scholarly publishing? Perhaps when you ask questions and play with ideas, you’re bound to get some backlash. But how far is too far?
Tweets, and Our Obsession with Alt Metrics
Can tweets predict future citations? A study of article tweets raises validity and ethical concerns.
Giving Thanks By Blog
As Thanksgiving envelopes the US in turkey, tradition, and rituals of all sorts, its good to take stock of where the Kitchen finds itself, and to thank its most important element — its audience.
Short-term Thinking, Twitter, Economics, and the Change Process
Technology adoption in the academic space may occur more slowly, especially when the technology requires a bit of what feels like hackery to become adept at it. But it does occur. And by watching the long-term trends, recognizing the compatibility of the motivators and reward, and watching the fundamentals, we can think about their implications now instead of later.
Sometimes We Post Pictures of Cats, and Sometimes We Speak Truth to Power
The network effect is a peculiar thing. It can be about lolcats or insurrection. Either way, it’s a new and different power.
The New Face of Social Media
Social media continue to evolve, with Google Plus being the most recent conspicuous entry. Scholarly publishers may find these new platforms can be useful in evolving new forms of communications.
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Clay Shirky? Or, Silicon Valley Discovers Impact Factor
Boiling down the social Web to create a measure of influence? Not as easy as it looks.
The Power of Curation — "The Drudge Report," Connectedness, Serendipity, and Simplicity
The Drudge Report provides a useful service and drives a disproportionate amount of news traffic. Could academics be disciplined enough to emulate it?