Monthly Archives: April 2012

The Virtues of Blogging as Scholarly Activity – The Digital Campus – The Chronicle of Higher Education

We tend to overstate the dangers of open approaches and overlook the benefits, while the converse holds true for the closed system. via The Virtues of Blogging as Scholarly Activity – The Digital Campus – The Chronicle of Higher Education. … Continue reading

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The Future of Peer Review | TechCrunch

Richard Price, founder of Academia.edu, on two possible futures for peer review of immediately released papers (that is, papers that do not receive prepublication peer review). The Future of Peer Review | TechCrunch.

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The Case for the Liberal Arts

Stanley Fish strikes again… Early on in his new book, “College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be,” Andrew Delbanco of Columbia University quotes the economist Richard Vedder and the former university president William Brody to the effect that little has … Continue reading

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NCSES Trends in Interdisciplinary Dissertation Research: An Analysis of the Survey of Earned Doctorates – US National Science Foundation NSF

Working paper just posted on NSF website: nsf.gov – NCSES Trends in Interdisciplinary Dissertation Research: An Analysis of the Survey of Earned Doctorates – US National Science Foundation NSF. From the conclusion: The analyses contained in this report indicate that … Continue reading

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Has Physics Made Philosophy and Religion Obsolete? – Ross Andersen – Technology – The Atlantic

Lawrence Krauss thinks so. Has Physics Made Philosophy and Religion Obsolete? – Ross Andersen – Technology – The Atlantic.

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The Future of China’s Universities

A very informative read for those interested in developments in Chinese higher education. China’s Universities Struggle to Keep Pace With a Booming Economy – Global – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

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What Your Klout Score Really Means | Epicenter | Wired.com

If you haven’t heard of Klout, maybe you should educate yourself. Seth Stevenson tells you why: What Your Klout Score Really Means | Epicenter | Wired.com. Out of curiosity, I looked up Klout’s Klout score: 87. Justin Bieber’s is 100 … Continue reading

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New Open Access Working Group Formed: Formulating Response to Elsevier’s Policy Change

Interesting in that it distinguishes Elsevier from other publishers in terms of their response to Open Access policies: New Open Access Working Group Formed: Formulating Response to Elsevier’s Policy Change.

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Robo-Readers Used to Grade Test Essays

A rather complacent article in Inside Higher Education touts a study out of the University of Akron that compares grades assigned to standardized test essays by humans and those assigned by computers. The news that they found no significant difference is … Continue reading

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‘Huge’ Water Resource Discovered Under Africa – Cui Bono?

Scientists say the notoriously dry continent of Africa is sitting on a vast reservoir of groundwater. They argue that the total volume of water in aquifers underground is 100 times the amount found on the surface. The team have produced … Continue reading

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The question of who ought to count as a peer is THE question surrounding open access | The Sociological Imagination

I respond to Steve Fuller’s claim that Open Access is no more than academic consumerism here: The question of who ought to count as a peer is THE question surrounding open access | The Sociological Imagination. There is a sense … Continue reading

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Arup | Designing the new normal

Our world is changing; it always has and it always will. Our greatest challenge is often not how to recognize change, but what to do about it. What responsibility does it place upon designers? I believe that a big part … Continue reading

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Times Higher Education – Wider open spaces

Alice Bell points out that Open Access is not sufficient to connect science and society. Times Higher Education – Wider open spaces. I wonder if she’d also agree that altmetrics need to include ways to measure societal impact — not … Continue reading

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Open access will be crucial to maintain public confidence in science | Professor Peter Coles | Science | guardian.co.uk

The juciest nugget, perhaps, is what Peter Coles says about the UK’s REF (Research Excellence Framework):   We also need to recognise the extent to which the Research Excellence Framework (REF) feeds the academic journal racket. The REF is a … Continue reading

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Texas Higher Education Must Confront Hard Choices, Penn Study Finds

Texas higher education falls below the national average on most measures of college readiness, enrollment and graduation rates, and below the best-performing states on all of them, the researchers say. Moreover, huge inequities persist in Texas higher education. For example, … Continue reading

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More Americans Linking Global Warming to Extreme Weather

A poll due for release on Wednesday shows that a large majority of Americans believe that this year’s unusually warm winter, last year’s blistering summer and some other weather disasters were probably made worse by global warming. And by a 2-to-1 … Continue reading

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Heart, Soul, and Social Science

Can the medical profession’s often myopic technophilia be reformed by incorporating cross-cultural, social, and ethical questions into the MCAT? Prof. Piers J. Hale knew something was up when his students at the University of Oklahoma were clamoring this spring to … Continue reading

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Unlocking Student Data Could Lead to ‘App Economy’ for Colleges – Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education

“…a “MyData button” for students is on the horizon. A government campaign is urging colleges and companies that hold student data to make information like grades and test scores more portable and user-friendly.” via Unlocking Student Data Could Lead to … Continue reading

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Reforming Laws Governing Student Debt

“Student debt poses a large and growing threat to the stability of our economy,” Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan testified March 20 before a U.S. Senate judiciary subcommittee hearing in Washington on the looming student debt crisis. “Just as the housing … Continue reading

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Libraries, change, and altmetrics

How can libraries effect change in scholarly communication? UKSG eNews.

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President of the British Sociological Association John Brewer — From Public Impact to Public Value

Well-written (and concise!) thoughts about impact and value from John Brewer. Well worth reading! 4. Viewpoint – Brewer 9-12 (proofed).pdf (application/pdf Object).

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Academic journals: an open and shut case | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian

Research assessment “impact” criteria should be overhauled so they look at not just citations, but readership. Well, that’s a start, anyway! via Academic journals: an open and shut case | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian.

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George P. Mitchell, fracking, and scientific innovation. – Slate Magazine

CSID Fellow Adam Briggle argues that it’s time to frack the innovation system. We need to frack the innovation system—create fissures to let in more people and more perspectives. Researchers must obtain the informed consent of individuals participating in trials … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, CSID Publications, Environmental policy, Gas Fracking, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, Transformative Research | 1 Comment

Philosophical Pathologies II

I grant that there are two historical tasks to philosophy, one socratic and outward looking, testing ideas within the community, and a second turned inward, philosophers addressing one another on recondite questions that the community will not understood or will … Continue reading

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Trying to Find a Measure for How Well Colleges Do

This NY Times article focuses on the pressure to quantify collegiate academic quality (but not so much on the motivating factors behind it): “There’s a real shift in attitudes under way,” said David C. Paris, executive director of the New … Continue reading

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