The Optimism of Criticism
Criticism and optimism are tightly interlinked. Here are some of the things I hope my criticisms help to cultivate.
Read MoreCriticism and optimism are tightly interlinked. Here are some of the things I hope my criticisms help to cultivate.
Read MoreAn accidental overemphasis on bonds instead of bridges may be behind what has made social media so damaging to people and society.
Read MoreThe poker game of Gold OA (and Plan S) indicates that those pushing economics based on authors and funders don’t know quite how to work the table.
Read MoreWhy is quality a natural pursuit of some business models, but an afterthought or accident for others? Incentives and the dynamics involved. It’s that simple.
Read MoreHumans dominate the world through gossip. What does scholarly and scientific publishing look like through this handy lens?
Read MoreOpen access, open data, and open science — and even CC-BY — may create more secrets, because nobody will have any power over how data and articles are used in global private enterprise.
Read MoreFree services are often the most closed, because the user has no leverage to demand anything, and simply must serve the service.
Read MoreConsolidating economic and social power in a few hands seems to stream from “open” attitudes, facilitating commercial collapse and consolidation, which politicians and authoritarians can exploit.
Read More“Open” eliminates business model options, and seems to be leading scholarly and scientific publishing into an age of patronage, surveillance, and manipulation.
Read MoreLeadership isn’t lonely or difficult, but it takes focusing on a special set of definite skills, which too many in scholarly and academic publishing lack or suppress.
Read MoreTransparency may not only lead to misbehavior, but also may hide deeper levels of the game we barely understand or appreciate.
Read MoreModern misinformation campaigns largely depend on creating false equivalencies, so that nothing matters because everything matters.
Read MoreBlockchain’s architecture and philosophy favors the status quo.
Read MoreLoose talk of disruption continues, despite fundamental societal and economic disruption hurting thousands, with much of it caused by unaccountable technologies. Maybe we should talk about fixing things instead?
Read MoreThere are promises implicit when institutions grant degrees, about the value of these degrees. By not matching production of degrees with hiring practices, they are failing their own students.
Read MoreWe continue to behave as if we have a direct, uninterrupted line to our readers. The problem is that our distributors have become untrustworthy, and have agendas of their own.
Read MoreWhat happens when the postman is running a racket while delivering the mail? And becoming a billionaire while doing so?
Read MoreAnecdotal evidence suggests users are souring on PubMed as a discovery tool. Is it too late for the service to save itself from itself?
Read MoreTransactional publishing, like transactional culture, is weaker, fleeting, and more constraining than a culture built for long-term value.
Read MoreBlockchain is being hyped heavily right now, but sober minds view it as less revolutionary and potentially more risky than the enthusiasts.
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