Open Access: Money and Data talk and say the same thing?

Stephen Curry reflects on open access and the basic principles of bulk buying – for libraries purchasing journals – the articles are cheaper but they end up buying a lot of content that may not be accessed and a study which noticed a ”weakening relationship” between journal Impact Factors and individual papers’ citations. He questions whether the notion of ‘journal’ itself is disappearing with increasing digital access and encourages people to sign up to the White House petition.

There seems no immediate danger; even relatively new and online-only journals, such as PLoS ONE, have a journal identity. But what does that mean in the absence of a physical object that looks like a printed journal? I suspect the dissociation of the concept from the thing itself may weaken people’s habituation to the form

Discussion in the comments challenges the study findings as to whether there is actual data to back up the claims made. They also look at the impact of media that reflect certain perspectives prior to detailed review

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The challenges of digital scholarship

Adeline Koh on Prof Hacker blog says that the call to use new media as part of academic scholarship is growing increasingly louder. She refers to four relevant issues including the importance of educating your audience by understanding who your audience is and how their interests can be addressed. She looks at peer review and where books fit into the process.

Should junior scholars blog their book projects? Will this inhibit them from getting book contracts later? Will their blogs count as scholarship? Workshop participants argued that blogging a book project would associate ideas with the junior scholar’s name. One participant even compared transitioning from a blog to a book to a dissertation to book. In short: we are on the brink of a tipping point in history, where blogging is going to become the norm for the initial exchange of ideas

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29 reasons why every child should blog

On February 29th

Stripped down blogging to its simplest form to record one special day in time across the globe. As soon as the first time zone entered Feb29th.net this blog was open to posts. By simply filling in a form, visitors were able to post onto this blog and record their words on this extra special day. As February 29th has passed by all the time zones, this blog has now closed for posting. Over the next few days, additional features will be added enabling visitors to search tag, posts and keywords. I’d like to thank the 20,000+ unique visitors that descended on this project blog. I think I can say that it was a HUGE success. Thank you!

Including an inviting 29 reasons from the class about why every child should blog

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