Monthly Archives: August 2011

Cutting Edge Mapping Science Exhibit

CSID is a proud co-sponsor of the Spaces & Places: Mapping Science exhibit. The University of North Texas is pleased to be the first Texas host of this important exhibit as well as the world premier site for the 7th set of … Continue reading

Posted in Conferences Upcoming, Libraries, Public Philosophizing, Science and technology ramifications, Transformative Research | Leave a comment

Happy Words Trump Negativity in the English Language

Shazaaaam! Wonder what score that word received from these folks? Happy Words Trump Negativity in the English Language | Wired Science | Wired.com.

Posted in Science and technology ramifications | Leave a comment

Collaborative Learning for the Digital Age – The Chronicle Review – The Chronicle of Higher Education

What do you get when you put a philosopher, a dyslexic vice provost, a gorilla, and some basketballs in the same room? Insight into collaborative learning in the digital age, of course! Cathy Davidson, of HASTAC fame and contributor to … Continue reading

Posted in Future of the University, institutionalizing interdisciplinarity | Leave a comment

NSF – Changing the Conduct of Science in the Information Age

Just got wind of a new report that looks pretty interesting. NSF – OD – OISE – Changing the Conduct of Science in the Information Age

Posted in Future of the University, Libraries, Metrics, NSF, Open Access, STEM Policy, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Leave a comment

When Technical Feasibility Doesn’t Matter…

…might be a prudent thing to consider when evaluating transhumanist technological utopias: When technical capacity is considered in isolation, it becomes possible to do all sorts of things. And indeed, many of those things probably will be done – and … Continue reading

Posted in Environmental policy, STEM Policy, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Leave a comment

The Revolution Will Not be Tweeted

The conventional wisdom that electronic media destabilizes authoritarian regimes is dead wrong, according to two papers recently published by political scientists at Yale and MIT. Through their 2009 study of the effects of West German television on East Germans able … Continue reading

Posted in TechnoScience & Technoscientism, Transdisciplinarity | 5 Comments

The Paradoxical Indicators of Global Warming…

While Hurricane Irene failed to produce the 100+ mph wind catastrophe many predicted for New York City, massive flooding in Vermont is going to make Irene the 10th extreme weather disaster of 2011 with damages to exceed $1 billion  - breaking … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security | Leave a comment

Economics of food: Neoliberalism for the win

Britt’s post below about food ethics motivated me to revisit my extended commentary on the economics of food. Previously in the series, I described the apparent zero-sum game between economic success on a global scale and local economic prosperity. Aid … Continue reading

Posted in Environmental policy, Public Philosophizing, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security | Leave a comment

Is food ethics about hunger, or something else?

Paul B. Thompson on Food Ethics: I argue that food ethics enters into development ethics through the door marked “agriculture”, rather than the door marked “hunger.” Many of that third [of the world's population] in extreme poverty are poor because … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Environmental policy, Public Philosophizing | 1 Comment

Virtual=Real control of the world

Study shows powerful corporations really do control the world’s finances. Following a line put forward by Alex Mosiak in the post previous to this one, we do have to ask how the future of research & development will change as … Continue reading

Posted in Economics & STEM Research, Public Philosophizing, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security | 1 Comment

The Privately Financed Public University

The Freedom Center, a new interdisciplinary center at the University of Arizona, is attracting some critical attention due to the notoriety of two of its donors, the Koch brothers (as well as the fact that another major donor is undisclosed). … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Future of the University, Open Access, Transdisciplinarity | Leave a comment

Citizens Voice Opinions on Gas Drilling in Denton | North Texas Daily

About 75 Denton residents attended a public meeting to voice their opinions and concerns about gas drilling in front of the newly formed Citizens Task Force for gas well regulations. The Drilling Advisory Group (DAG) is partly the brainchild of … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Environmental policy, Multidisciplinarity, Public Philosophizing, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, Transdisciplinarity | Leave a comment

North Texan Posthumans | Beyond The Beyond

North Texan Posthumans *No, really, they’re in mortal seriousness about this. *”The Denton Singularity,” I reckon. Hey, I’d go. via North Texan Posthumans | Beyond The Beyond.

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U. of Texas Adopts Plan to Publish Performance Data — If you can measure it, you can …

Mr. Powell said in a written statement that the plan adopted on Thursday “charts a clear path toward providing UT institutions the most cost-efficient means for producing graduates, while at the same time, increasing the quality of education for our … Continue reading

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Almanac 2011: The Profession – The Chronicle of Higher Education

A handy resource for those of us at universities interested in their future (and yes, the ambiguity is intentional). Professors and college leaders were challenged by legislators and others to prove their worth this year. And resources diminished, leading to … Continue reading

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Nanotechnologists Are Targets of Unabomber Copycat, Alarming Universities – Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education

via Nanotechnologists Are Targets of Unabomber Copycat, Alarming Universities – Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

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Times Higher Education – Get off your high horse

Get off your high horse Academics should back a case-study approach to impact in the REF [the UK's Research Excellence Framework] or risk getting far worse, says Claire Donovan For some, the old maxim that “a camel is a horse … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, Future of the University, Metrics, STEM Policy, Transdisciplinarity, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Research Impact Metrics

Impact is a strong weapon for making an evidence-based case for enhanced research support but a state-of-the-art approach to measurement is needed Research impact may be a new feature of the Research Excellence Framework, but the research evaluation community has … Continue reading

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A Newly Unfolding Story of an Older History

“Poets are more like mushrooms, or fungus—they can digest the symbol-detritus.” (Gary Snyder, “The Real Work”) “Give me for my friends and neighbors wild men, not tame ones. The wildness of the savage is but a faint symbol of the … Continue reading

Posted in Environmental policy, Interdisciplinarity, Public Philosophizing, Transdisciplinarity | Leave a comment

Synergy First: An Interdisciplinary Story

    I am an archaeologist and an ecologist who specializes in studying modern animals and animal remains from prehistoric sites.  I pursue my research and teaching interests at the University of North Texas in the Department of Geography, and … Continue reading

Posted in Environmental policy, Interdisciplinarity, Public Philosophizing, Transdisciplinarity | Leave a comment

Tomorrow’s Scientists & Philosophers…

…are already at work today in our compulsory education system: The Secret of the Fibonacci Sequence in Trees. Reading this piece calls to attention that it is not in universities that we should be seeking to ensure the brightest minds … Continue reading

Posted in Public Pedagogy, Public Philosophizing, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Leave a comment

More specialization: please and thank you!

A new report on education from the National Research Council “offers new framework to guide K-12 science education,” and advocates for a shift in the philosophical framework undergirding the US education system: The new framework is designed to help students … Continue reading

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Everything is too big to fail

…density has consequences. Cramming more than half the world’s population and production onto a relatively small area of mostly coastal land means that the cost of natural catastrophes of all kinds will rise dramatically… We can look forward to bigger … Continue reading

Posted in Economics & STEM Research, Public Philosophizing, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security | Leave a comment

Google is god

but you already knew that.

Posted in Economics & STEM Research, Open Access, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Leave a comment

Broader Impacts Grab Bag

No, that’s not a commentary on the National Science Board’s proposed new Broader Impacts Criterion — which some might describe as including a grab bag of ‘national needs’! I’m referring instead to the fact that lots of folks have commented … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, CSID Publications, Economics & STEM Research, Metrics, Peer Review, STEM Policy | Leave a comment