Category: Uncategorized

  • How do you define access in scholarly publishing?

    academic journals, a photo by davidsilver on Flickr. I’m taking this time before the semester and the TRB Annual Meeting and SLA Leadership to whip some data into shape. I’m analyzing the citations from our PhD students’ dissertations from the past 5 years. I hope to learn something about our collection development (is it on…

  • I can’t hear you, you’re not prestigious enough: Thoughts on Open Access and respected, white men.

    1950s Ted in office, a photo by BigJohnWingMan on Flickr. This post isn’t so much about Open Access (OA) so much as it is about people talking about Open Access. The OA movement has gained traction recently. The OSTP Memo has definitely helped raise awareness in some circles and given it weight. People are starting…

  • Peer Review is full of excuses

    No Excuses, a photo by LowerDarnley on Flickr. Is peer review broken? Probably, but it’s sort of all we have. We’re stuck with it. There problems are varied: long and vague turnaround times, the lack of transparency, and the need for incentives other than good feelings and prestige. I just tried my hand at shepherding…

  • Big Data still has its training wheels.

    Ill-Defined Body, a photo by Wires In The Walls on Flickr. People love talking about Big Data. It’s often thrown out like a life preserver to show you’re hip and with it in the research sphere. “Let’s talk about Big Data!” gets you some knods with lots of different groups – Informatics, Computer Science, Life…

  • Sometimes, you gotta be blunt with your users.

    Gary Neville and Paul Scholes kissed, Manchester United 1:0 Manchester City, April 17, 2010, a photo by Jennifer M. Rukyo on Flickr. Sometimes, you have to just cut to the chase and speak openly. It’s one thing I like about Gary Neville, like how he doesn’t hold back criticism as a pundit. He dishes it,…