News blog

My experiences with figshare

My first pleasant surprise was how quickly information traveled. I had just made my first posting when I refreshed the page a few minutes later and saw that it already had views. “That can’t be right”, I thought.

Bill Gates Backs „Open Science“ Social Network ResearchGate In Push For Nobel Prize

Most social network founders want to make money. Ijad Madisch, the scientist-CEO behind ResearchGate, has a higher goal: He wants to win a Nobel Prize for the network. Five years after its founding, Madisch's plan doesn’t seem so far-fetched. ResearchGate, which has been described as “LinkedIn for scientists,” has 2.9 million users — about half of the international scientific community. Madisch has built a list of success stories in which scientists used ResearchGate to speed up their work. And as of now, he’s got a formidable supporter you may have heard of: Bill Gates. readwrite.

Course: How to use an online open access notebook

ScienceOnline open access NoteBook

Scifund 201 – Open Notebook Science: Enhance your research through open access note taking.

Cost: FREE. However, we aren’t just giving this course away. Course participants must pledge to share what they have learned with their colleagues.

When: June 17 – 30, 2013 (two weeks)

Where: The Internet! This course will be a highly interactive community effort and will take place largely through Google+ and WordPress blogs. Who: Active research scientists in any country in any discipline at any level (from graduate student to emeritus professor to government scientist to NGO scientist). This course is intended to introduce open access into the research environment. What course participants will gain from the course:

  • An understanding of open philosophy and how it pertains to research.

  • Experience publishing your notes openly, which encourages responsible lab behavior, develops writing and communication skills, and can supplement your outreach efforts.

  • Benefits of electronic note taking such as search, easy organization, and real-time access for collaborators and lab mates (as well as yourself).

Time that course participants should expect to spend on course: The course is broken down into 4 modules (roughly one every three days) and will require 1-2 hours to complete each module. Expect 3-4 hours of time dedicated to the course each week. Deadline for completing course application: June 12. To keep the class size reasonable, course participants will need to fill out a brief application form. Decisions on applications will be given by June 14. Requirements for course participants. Course participants must:

  1. be fluent in written and spoken English

  2. have access to a computer with a webcam

  3. have access to the Internet (with speeds capable of video chatting)

  4. want to have fun and willing to share their research with the world.

Course instructors:

  • Anthony Salvagno, Biophysicist, University of New Mexico, open notebook curator

  • Jai Ranganathan, Conservation Biologist, University of California, Santa Barbara. Co-founder, SciFund Challenge.

Publishers offer their “solution” to public access

CHORUS (for ClearingHouse for the Open Research of the United Status) is clearly an effort on the part of publishers to minimize the savings that will ultimately accrue to the federal government, other funders and universities from public access policies. If CHORUS is adopted, publishers will without a doubt try to fold the costs of creating and maintaining the system into their subscription/site license charges – the routinely ask libraries to pay for all of their “value added” services. Thus not only would potential savings never materialize, the government would end up paying the costs of CHORUS indirectly.
Michael Eisen. Blog. See also this skeptical post and this list of assembled links.

Happy 9th Birthday to the Open Knowledge Foundation!

Nine years ago today the Open Knowledge Foundation was born. We’ve come a long way from our humble beginnings in Cambridge in 2004. From government to science to culture, open knowledge is now on its way to being established as an essential part of our information environment.
See also the Global Open Knowledge Foundation MeetUp, wich will take place in the Public Library of Science, San Francisco, CA, this thursday, June 6th, 2013.

Global Research Council: Action Plan towards Open Access to Publications

endorsed during the 2nd Annual Global Meeting, 27 – 29 May 2013, Berlin / Germany. The proposed activities aim at raising awareness for open access, at promoting and supporting open access, and at assessing the implementation of the actions suggested. The action plan is designed to take into account that participants in the GRC come from various backgrounds, have various degrees of expertise in dealing with open access, and have different remits. Thus, funding agencies need to consider which of the proposed activities are appropriate to be taken up by (possibly consortia of) participants in the GRC.

Open data and open access – what society loses when knowledge is offline

Interesting enough, research shows that there is a weakening relationship between the impact factor and papers’ citations in the digital age. And that can have consequences, according to the authors: ”If this pattern should continue, it might bring an end to the use of impact factor as a way to evaluate the quality of journals, papers and researcher”.

Harvard profs consider Mooc ethics

Fifty-eight faculty members have called for Harvard University to create a new faculty committee to consider ethical issues related to edX, the entity created by the university and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to provide massive open online courses.
Times Higher Education. 

Platforms: access, participation and publishing

Three arguments for open access. Today!

29 May 2013, 6-8pm, UCL, Archaeology Lecture Theatre G6, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY.

Confirmed speakers:

  • Dr Mike Taylor, Earth Sciences, University of Bristol and The Guardian
  • Professor Johnny Golding, Professor of Philosophy & Fine Art, Director, Centre for Fine Art Research, Birmingham City University
  • Dr Rathna Ramanathan, Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design