Latest activity → Feed

July 2013

Short thought

Just had a wonderfully exciting Google Hangout. Looks like the OA Toolset Alliance is happening. Website to follow in coming days.

Short thought

Wow. So, latest NSA revelations: if you encrypt documents, use PGP or a VPN, you are an anomalous event. Ridiculous.

Short thought

I continue to battle the post-holiday inbox, though. If you're waiting for a reply, I'm working on it!

Short thought

Phew. Today I typeset an article for Orbit, improving our parser greatly in the process, & read some very good MA dissertation drafts.

Post

Rendering MathML in XSL:FO to PDF using fop

Another brief post on fop. I wanted to render some MathML markup inside an XSL:FO document to be converted to PDF using fop. The way to do this is to use JEuclid. However, the JEuclid page claims to only work on fop versions 0.95beta and 0.95. Turns out this is untrue. In Linux Mint/Ubuntu I got…

Post

Determining glyph availability for FOP

I've just spent the past hour grappling with getting FOP to render the Unicode glyph for a checkmark (U+2713) in PDF output from XSL:FO. I thought I'd share a few things I learnt along the way (that make me feel a bit silly for not knowing them already). The type of errors I was getting were:

Short thought

Have several big writing projects looming. Considering setting up a Gitorious repo on server & trying to get it to diff OpenOffice docs.

Post

HEFCE, the State of Open Access in the UK and Post-2014 REF

Having returned from a glorious week away in Crotia and Bosnia (for Pynchon fans: it was "very nice, very nice, very nice indeed"), I have returned to an inbox that features the current state of play with HEFCE's thinking on open access mandates for a post-2014 REF. In order to ensure that I've got…

Short thought

Oh joy: "The main assumption is that there will be a post-2014 REF that operates, substantially, on the same basis as the 2014 REF"

Short thought

Just returned to the expected mountain of (often exciting) emails after a few days away in beautiful Croatia and Bosnia.

Post

Joining the UK National Monographs Strategy Expert Panel

I'm very pleased to announce that I am joining Jisc's National Monographs Strategy Expert Advisory Panel. As the project's website puts it: The scholarly monograph - the book-length result of dedicated research, the gold standard for authorative academic publication – finds itself in a precarious…

Post

Punchdrunk's The Drowned Man

Last night I went to see Punchdrunk's performance of The Drowned Man, the latest in their series of promenade theatre pieces. Housed in an enormous building next to Paddington station in the middle of London, the piece was a strange mixture of ambient environmental exploration and two loose…

Short thought

Looks like Chase Farm hospital is well versed in spin. It isn't closing its maternity ward, oh no, it's just moving it. To another hospital.

Short thought

What I really want from Google+'s recommended people is not those who might be connected to me, but people who are /active/ on the network.

Short thought

Clearing Inbox and tasks ready for some leave... starting with Punchdrunk's The Drowned Man promenade performance tonight!

Short thought

For those interested, @ReportSchick is live-tweeting the #WarrenHill hearing on constitutional issues around US death penalty.

Post

Speaking at SPARC Japan

I'm extremely pleased to announce that I will be speaking at the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition on "The Front Line of OA in Humanities and Social Sciences" on the 23rd August, 2013 at the Tokyo National Institute of Informatics. I'll post more about the remit of the talk when…

Short thought

"The translator's task is not simply impossible, it is also extremely difficult" -- Nicholas de Lange

Short thought

Had v. enjoyable discussions today with @Nadine_Muller and @sadiseshiah. Am also succeeding in battling down the inbox and writing things!

Short thought

Just received @BobEaglestone's Contemporary Fiction: A Very Short Introduction in the post. Looks good! And mentions @Alluviumjournal...

Post

Displaying EE mobile data usage in Conky

OK, this is probably one of the most specific posts I've ever written, but... I wrote a bash script to automatically fetch and parse the currently used data on the 4G EE mobile network in the UK that can then be used with Conky. It's a compact one liner that looks like this:

Short thought

Not sure it's wise to isolate the racism of the Zimmerman trial to USA; nailbomb outside a mosque in UK on Friday that was barely reported.

Short thought

I have just read a piece where Zimmerman's lawyer says he "just wishes he could get his life back". Words fail me.

Short thought

Have an exciting piece for Orbit forthcoming from @desertnaut. He's exposing some quirks in my typesetter, though! ;P

Short thought

Definitely scope for someone to develop a great open source mechanism for presenting and sharing academic material in git repos...

Short thought

GitHub is proprietary, closed-source, web interface for git repositories. I like GH, but it's bad linguistic framing; like PC = Windows.

Short thought

It's interesting that, when people are advocating for version-controlled publishing using git, they refer to GitHub. Seems problematic.

Short thought

Why is @newstatesman publishing Darius Guppy's justification and admission of physical assault?

Short thought

#FF to the people I've bumped into/met up with at the @britishlibrary today! @19thc4d, @collinsactually and @avoiding_bears

Short thought

Argh, apologies for that sudden deluge... it's all good stuff, I promise! A "feed to Twitter" set just all went off at once :/

Short thought

Have spent the morning re-tracing Foucault's engagement with first-generation Frankfurt School. (With a bit of Habermas for good measure.)

Short thought

Overhearing conversation on OA by an advocate and a sceptic in BL café. Don't recognise/know either. #mainstream

Short thought

I am impressed that @ULHistory schedule a visit to a workhouse for new first year undergraduates. Good to lay out work ethic expectations.

Short thought

I'd just like to point out that those in education face the 3rd consecutive year of real-term pay cuts. MPs' salaries going up by £10k.

Short thought

Best moments of yesterday courtesy of @josswinn, @sadiseshah and @mgmcquillan. Kicking off today with @ubiquitypress!

Short thought

Looks like the trains from Lincoln today are operating on @plashingvole's adjectival model. The "alleged" 17:22.

Short thought

Robin Osborne on "Why Open Access Makes No Sense". Suffice it to say that I totally disagree.

Post

Evaluating the Open Access software toolchain

I received an interesting email this week from Nate Wright, who posed the following questions: I'm a web developer interested in contributing to a low-cost, open-source solution for online academic publishing. Prompted by a conversation with a former lecturer of mine, I've spent some time…

Post

Ethics

This is a post that I have found very difficult to write, because it puts me in a conflicted position. A while back, in light of the Troy Davis execution, which profoundly upset me, I promised to boycott travel to any region that implemented the death penalty. This has proved, in light of…

Short thought

Thanks to all at #hack4ac! I got a load further on a good project. Especially enjoyed talking with @IanMulvany, @Protohedgehog & @kaveh1000

Short thought

Level up! Typesetter now semantically marks headings as such, guessing from para's w/ solely bolded text (for instance) #hack4ac

Short thought

Best comment found in own code: "I have no idea why I need this, but I apparently do. TODO: find out what is going on"

Short thought

Achievement of the morning: my typesetter can handle images from MS Word and encode them in NLM-XML. #hack4ac

Post

Digital Literatures; Digital Democracies; Digital Threats?

Digital Literatures; Digital Democracies; Digital Threats? Dr. Martin Paul Eve, University of Lincoln Paper delivered at conference: 5th July 2013 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit…

Short thought

Looking forward to #hack4ac tomorrow, even though fairly tired. Hope someone would like to hack on my XML typesetter...

Short thought

Resisting retweeting every post by @Total_Pynchon is proving very difficult. Setting myself hard limits.

Short thought

Anybody interested in experimenting with Twitter for teaching and learning in humanities, @Joparsons would like to talk! #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Will be showing one of @adelinekoh's ace #dhpoco #DHPocoSS bit strips in my #digitalliteracy presentation, starting soon!

Short thought

Jess Moriarty and Vy Rajapillai now speaking on blogs for student assessment #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Rayner thinks that projects like @dpla are naive. I have no problem w/ pro-publisher stance, but this was false distinction #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Now Rayner is citing example of @dpla. Confused that she cites Darnton's "defence" of such an undertaking. #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Think there are some issues around overlap between academic and trade publishing that need further exploration here #digitalliteracy

Short thought

The Marlowe Papers by @rosbarber being cited by Rayner as a Star Text, despite far lower sales figures. #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Place of the publisher in keeping some forms of genre in circulation. I'm going to do stuff on this later. #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Academic book by PJC Fields shown. £150. Has taken 2 decades to research (but that's Fields' time primarily I assume?) #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Rayner looking at scholarly versions of Malory and focusing on canonisation and versioning/authenticity #digitalliteracy

Short thought

This, of course, is in marked contrast to many more radical theorisations seen at #oabooks earlier this week #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Rayner focuses on authenticity of texts and stability for business models for publishers both academic and trade. #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Oh, there are a LOT of Star Trek puns in the first 5 mins of this presentation. It's a book, Jim. #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Often value the critical comments and article works out better as a result, but there's always that first moment of irritation!

Short thought

Had another pair of reviews (3rd time of this experience) where 1st reads: major revisions. The 2nd: don't change this at all it's amazing.

Short thought

I'd like some more critical framing of production from Wisker. Authors "inviting" fan contributions (Gaiman) are commercial #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Wisker's most viewed paper is called "Vampires and Schoolgirls". So, if you want an unsavoury audience, you know how! #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Aesthetic of paratextual interface determined by extra-textual sociality says @zara_dinnen (I think) #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Emails as numbered list in smaller fonts, graphically distinct. Do people write emails as short as Heti's? #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Sheila Heti also one of @zara_dinnen's focuses. Been meaning to read "How Should a Person Be". #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Don't have to be defined as digital humanities for the humanities to be digital says @zara_dinnen #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Mention of Refresh Refresh by @zara_dinnen - she did some work on this at #bbkiraq earlier in the year, also. #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Now up: @zara_dinnen on how various modes of software studies are applicable to literary studies #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Halden's demonstration of fan canons just shows me how implicitly "alive" the author remains. Bad luck Barthes. #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Freedom, uncertainty of results, element of unproductiveness, governed by some kind of rules, imaginative quality. See? #digitalliteracy

Short thought

The list that Halden puts up from Caillois' ingredients of play could, basically, define "research"! #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Fan forums generate consensus for "head canon" - agreement on speculative aspects of authoritative canon says Halden #digitalliteracy

Short thought

We're getting some definitions of "fandom" terms from Halden. "Text extension" is paratext? #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Mediation of personal and solitary reading practice with shared public space of digital interconnection noted by Halden #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Grace Halden now up on The Digitalisation of Reader Response. Starts with The Velveteen Rabbit! #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Bassett ending with intersection of aesthetic that shows eruption of digital into physical. #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Bassett turning new formalist mode to think through history of book. #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Lots of Moretti in Bassett's talk. We know how to read texts. Now learning how not to read them. New formalist mode. #digitalliteracy

Short thought

"What is left of the literary, what is left of the specific in these vast data readings?" asks Bassett rhetorically #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Bassett concerned with integration of close and distance techniques. Sounds quite critical theory-esque in whole-and-part #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Bassett shows gephi diagram of fact to fiction in Ian M Banks. Extremely distanced reading technique. #digitalliteracy

Short thought

(ie it showed how this ideology of the book can lead to dubious propositions! #digitalliteracy)

Short thought

Bassett's study "showed" how book produced ipad... BUT genealogy only emerges if ideology of book is presumed #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Bassett having fun talking about ipad version of Hitchhikers' Guide & levels of influence and remediation #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Bassett suggests, though, that might be more profitable to think of network, rather than device #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Bassett: Digital devices that have produced latest claims of death of book all replicate cultural imaginary of book object #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Literalist correctionism: eg "Joyce would have been better if he'd used/had hypertext" - Bassett critiquing #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Book has been "digital" for ages. Bassett cites rise of PC & union disputes in Wapping. Rise of "literalist correctionism" #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Popular understanding of "history of the book" pre-shapes thinking of the "book" says Bassett #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Critique of starting point from Bassett: "e-books" transposes an ideology of the book #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Bassett's 3 qs: why future & death of book at same time?; what implications for lit?; what is influence of idea of book? #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Caroline Bassett talking about networks and the universal library into which books and other libraries will be wired #digitalliteracy

Short thought

Book-as-dead-tree itself is perhaps skeuomorphic of the idea of the book already says Caroline Bassett #heaconf

Short thought

Presenting tomorrow at the "e-reading between the lines" conference on overlaps of value systems in diff forms of publishing.

Short thought

The most exciting uses of our research are those we can't foresee. @CameronNeylon #oabooks

Short thought

I don't think we in the humanities are much/any better at critiquing our contexts and practices, by the way! #oabooks @CameronNeylon

Short thought

I'm a big fan of this thinking - discourse control forms disciplines and enables/limits thoughts in those spheres #oabooks

Short thought

Ha ha ha! @CameronNeylon has had his slides randomised and is speaking off the cuff on them #oabooks

Short thought

Tension of the integral physical object monograph against the purpose of scholarly communication in Hums: discourse! says @CameronNeylon

Short thought

The fantastic @ahacker now talking about Heidelburg's strong library-driven OA publishing programme #oabooks

Short thought

“@carenmilloy @martin_eve we can call the next conference 'on page'?” < Enter the Codex? #oabooks

Short thought

Ok, I'm definitely on page with their idea of building open source free academic publishing tool chain. On page. Good metaphor for #oabooks

Short thought

Hybrid Publishers talking about "dynamic publishing" - "when the book becomes unbound". Assume this is versioned changes? #OAbooks

Short thought

Scientific backdrop to #altmetrics has left research monographs at the starting gate says @LucyMontgomery #oabooks

Short thought

Lots of worse things to be called than "Dr Batman" says @willbrooker. "Mr Batman?" says @the_blochian. #OAbooks

Short thought

Promoting self also helps institution and department, notes @willbrooker #oabooks

Short thought

We're now getting @willbrooker on promotion and social media for academics! #oabooks

Short thought

Some grim stats from @ellenscollins on green OA for books. 36 month embargo. 1 chapter. #OAbooks

Short thought

Culture change from Wellcome might be more on funders than researchers initially says @ellenscollins #oabooks

Short thought

Wellcome has strong OA mandate on phased implementation for books. Oct 2014 for new grantees, Oct 2014 for grantees. #OAbooks

Short thought

RCUK will consider applications for monograph APCs says @ellenscollins, a fact that she picked up from panel earlier #oabooks

Short thought

HEFCE, RCUK and others not mandating OA monographs as models not developed enough #oabooks

Short thought

My question for Adema, which looks like it won't get asked, was whether DOAB simply replicates blacklist probs on whitelist basis #oabooks

Short thought

Adema brands DOAB as the anti-Beall in some senses. A criteria-driven whitelist. #OAbooks

Short thought

Many OA activists need to be confessed conservatives in the quality control sphere to counter vanity perception notes Adema #oabooks

Short thought

Janneke Adema showing the familiar (to me) spam email from predatory book publishers. Oh look, not an OA publisher though... #OAbooks

Short thought

Getting a good summary of the collaborative process that underpinned the Jisc CC guide from @ernestopriego #oabooks

Short thought

I'm basically wary of being tracked by ORCID, despite privacy assurances... #OAbooks

Short thought

If entering ORCID when submitting, will the system track pub. rejections? Is this the kind of "value-added" for paying members? #oabooks

Short thought

Not sure that @epentz example of Facebook as an analogous model of the strong privacy features of ORCID was the best choice! #OAbooks

Short thought

Looking forward to ORCID integration strategies - not having to populate multiple sources (IR etc) would be good #oabooks

Short thought

I like the ORCID idea & have an ID but always feel that nagging worry in further quantification of research. #OAbooks

Short thought

Good question for @kfitz on how to persuade people that creating artificial scarcity through peer review is not the way. #OAbooks

Short thought

We now have @kfitz presenting very finely on her findings re peer-to-peer review. #OAbooks (lots of this in Planned Obsolescence)

Short thought

YES! Brilliant chairing from Martin Hall. Asks HEFCE rep whether neg response was mostly because of extreme APCs. #oabooks

Short thought

Fantastic impassioned speech from @rupertgatti - @MikeTaylor's argument reiterated: if an LS paywalls, it's cart before the horse. #OAbooks

Short thought

OA only a piece in an ecosystem of digital dissemination says @rupertgatti. Embargo period of anything is a nonsense. #OAbooks

Short thought

Predatory publishers /not/ unique to OA. I get emails all the time asking me to submit my stuff to subscription predators. #OAbooks

Short thought

I think Hardy has it the wrong way around on CC licenses. The world that is wrong is the one that won't allow inclusion... #OAbooks

Short thought

0.45% of regional studies income comes from books. Compared to ~50% for journals says Hardy. #OAbooks

Short thought

Sally Hardy speaking on behalf of learned societies (a heterogeneous group). LS have been slow to engage. #OAbooks

Short thought

HEFCE representative will be interesting. "Will they mandate?" is what we all want to know! #OAbooks

Short thought

Change to symbolic value of research must come from those securely in system. ECRs can't take risk says @jcdrg.

Short thought

Examination of peer review process is key to understanding value in the humanities says @jcdrg. These are the social fixes. #OAbooks

Short thought

I'm loving this part. Back to lineage of FLOSS and Stallman for #OAbooks. Tracing of genealogy in free/open code says @jcdrg.

Short thought

Ah ha - now @jcdrg getting on to the system of accreditation and prestige of economy. Comes down to type of social entity needed. #OAbooks

Short thought

Symbolic economy of "author" and "ownership" are /not/ the point of research and publication notes @jcdrg. #OAbooks

Short thought

My q: despite internet as driver, isn't this all constrained by national & institutional assessments? Social problem, not tech... #OAbooks

Short thought

A more collective mode of production argued for by @jcdrg. Abandoning the lone romantic author. Easy to say, but hard to do... #OAbooks

Short thought

Very used to fixed system of production - thesis to book for example - says @jcdrg. All will fade and be reversed, he argues. #OAbooks

Short thought

Citation of @kfitz by @jcdrg on importance of thinking differently about relationships between texts #OAbooks

Short thought

Not about "monographs", it's about people says @jcdrg. Explicating through reference to "What is an Author?" #OAbooks

Short thought

Sociology of documents is 1st touchstone for @jcdrg. Extension of McKenzie's sociology of texts. How do books relate to each other? #OAbooks

Short thought

By the way, I've heard that there will be hard copies of the @britac collection for all attending the Jisc OA monographs conference today.