Sci-Hub is a pirate website that enables users to access content that is held behind publisher paywalls. This is how it works. Continue reading
This time, Virtual Reality is not a gimmick. This post summarises my investigations and thoughts on the possibilities for VR in the context of scholarly publishing. Plus there’s a quick primer to get you started. Continue reading
The photographer who got picked on by Wikimedia over his photo of a Back Crested Macaque, resulting in a claim of public domain for the image, has now been sued by PETA who claim that the monkey should hold the copyright and that he should pay damages. You couldn’t make it up. Continue reading
A number of recent articles have posited the idea that information distribution on the Internet is undergoing a massive change – driven by the failure of site advertising and subscriptions as a general purpose economic model, and the rise of mobile powered social media as the discovery tool of these times. To what extent is this way of thinking applicable to scholarly publishing? Continue reading
When we talk about impact and metrics and understanding the customer, we are actually talking about surveillance data. We should have an open debate about what this means. Continue reading
Monkey Copyright… of all the juxtapositions of words; I never thought I’d be entering that particular two word combination into Google. This particular search combo was prompted by (what else) a selection of updates in my twitter feed about a monkey that took a selfie and a takedown notice for the photo in question. Over here it’s … Continue reading
Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation is critically examined by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker. If he is wrong, why is the idea of disruption such a compelling one? Continue reading
Can machine readable articles, built on author/editor/publisher curated declarative statements and the associated data (or links thereto), be a way of generating metrics that get us nearer to a ‘standard candle’ of scientific research output? Continue reading
If there was a word of the year competition for Scholarly Publishing, #Altmetrics would be a favorite to win. David Sommer, co-founder and Director of Kudos discusses how this new service could offer usable measurements of the array of article promotion and influencing activities undertaken by scholars. Continue reading
Preparations are underway for the 2014 Society for Scholarly Publishing Annual Meeting. Lend a hand and help shape the program. Continue reading
As the US government shuts down, what happens to the scholarly materials it distributes? Continue reading
A music label sues a streaming service claiming copyright over playlists of certain tracks in a certain order. Is this level of curation really deserving of copyright protection? Continue reading
Attending the SSP 35th Annual Meeting in San Francisco? Want to learn more about MOOCs? Ask your questions now, and we’ll try to answer them. Continue reading
When a popular and iconic product is ended, the outrage doesn’t match the pragmatism and agility we all espouse. TOC’s end is one such example. Continue reading
Leaked emails show the the BBC and certain university administrators have been contemplating launching a competition reality television show based on the APC allocation battles the RCUK OA policy will create. Continue reading
Microsoft’s Surface RT marks the software stalwart’s entry into the hardware and tablet market. Too bad it’s late and awkward. Continue reading
Google’s new initiatives show how impressive their knowledge of knowledge might become, especially if they pull off all the surprising and jaw-dropping mobile initiatives (Glass, driverless cars, others) they’re pursuing. Continue reading
The participants in the recent SSP session debating the value of publishers reflect on the session, the audience interactions, and their talks. And, of course, the Romans. Continue reading
Time for your input for a session at the upcoming SSP Annual Meeting — pose your questions now! Continue reading
The UK Government Science Minister articulates a plan for open access and open data for UK research. The implications aren’t clear, but the intentions are. Continue reading