A great review of a recent volume to which I contributed. On metahistorical narratives and scientific metafictions. http://www.miscelaneajournal.net/index.php/misc/article/view/341/180

2017 http://zpr.io/PqjXZ

Happy end of 2016, all. Here's a mix I just recorded live to celebrate: https://soundcloud.com/martin-eve/end-of-days-2016

Not all in the same article, though, which would have been fun.

In fact, that's getting close to my ideal kind of day, really.

Flood of review reqs did mean that I got to read about Roberto Bolaño, Richard Powers, xenolinguistics, & OA author attitudes though #notbad

Flood of peer review requests came in on the 28th. Clearly itchy editors suddenly thinking "RIGHT, BACK TO IT" after enforced Xmas breaks.

Preprint shows that Beall's subjective "criteria" identify many respected subscription journals as "predatory" http://crl.acrl.org/content/early/2016/12/22/crl16-944.short

Journal review form asks me to check whether "all relevant material published in <this journal> has been cited". Err, great lit review bias!

They're trying, I know, to ascertain whether I thought I was treated well etc but it's so odd to think I'd say "I recommend the cardio dept"

Also, nobody comes here for fun, they come because they need to. I'd recommend friends get treatment here if they need it.

I have no knowledge of any other Cardiology department so I can't compare.

Been asked whether 8d recommend the Royal Free Hospital Cardiology department in a survey. What a ridiculous question.

That's this morning's cheer as I once more head in for a tedious hospital appointment. Morning all!

Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow. 1973.

"Once the technical means of control have reached a [...] certain degree of being connected one to another, the chances of freedom are over"

Dark Skies for International Copyright: 2016 in Review http://zpr.io/PqGGF

Special Issue: Words, Things, and Beyond: Foucault’s Les mots et les choses at 50 (2016) http://zpr.io/PqRLP

How to bypass CSP nonces with DOM XSS http://zpr.io/PqtRv

Millions of Websites Vulnerable Due To Security Bug In Popular PHP Script http://zpr.io/PqtR4

Some ridiculously easy grammar quiz on Facebook rated my performance as "English Professor", which was a handy reassurance.

Post-Christmas pyromania.

Technical developments in Cryptography: 2016 in Review http://zpr.io/PGV9y

. @JulietEve & @artofile gave me many lovely Christmas gifts. This one is particularly potent, I must say...

Borrowed biometric bypass https://x.com/KeoNovak/status/812761779663085568

Print from my wife of a mouse in a red shoe!

The Ghost of Christmas Past is clearly the worst because it's not actually a muppet.

Playing computer games never used to be this painful.

Rebooted into Windows. New gfx card has so far taken 30 mins to install. Steam has 27gb of updates to download.

Then thought, maybe I'll do something fun for a couple of hours before Muppet Christmas Carol. Maybe I'll play a computer game!

Finished work on my article on the digital preservation of DOM-node-keyed scholarly web annotations today.

Python 3.6 Released http://zpr.io/PG4GM

US Government Begins Asking Foreign Travelers About Social Media http://zpr.io/PGeqe

And 60 miles up the rockets hanging the measureless instant [...] Christmas star, in helpless plunge to Earth http://unapologetic-book.tumblr.com/post/135768354494/advent-with-thomas-pynchon-4

New University Librarian at Cambridge will build on “the trend towards open access to research publications". https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/new-cambridge-librarian-looks-take-scholarship-world

UK Hits Clean Energy Milestone: 50% of Electricity From Low Carbon Sources http://zpr.io/PGJut

Snivelling with my cold in bed with some Egyptian disco/dub as Christmas inches closer https://soundcloud.com/magzire/reincarnation

The challenge of writing in the accelerated academy http://zpr.io/PGJR3

I just donated to Crisis at Christmas to support those who are homeless at this time of year. I hope you will too. https://community.crisis.org.uk/christmas-2016/reserve-a-place?utm_source=crisis&utm_medium=button&utm_campaign=homepage#_ga=1.156663739.1278860826.1482500838

HTTPS Deployment Growing by Leaps and Bounds: 2016 in Review http://zpr.io/PGL7p

It's as though there is some magic decree that the second I officially stop work I must begin feeling really unwell.

Walking Away From The Table http://zpr.io/PGk3e

An OLH signup on the 22nd December is good going! (Especially as I was getting ready to settle down for Xmas.)

"Make all publicly funded research open access" says Australian report http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/make-all-publicly-funded-research-open-access-productivity-commission-report/news-story/bb2b3c8c349bc573eec7014d44b7efe8

NIST Asks Public For Help With Quantum-Proof Cryptography http://zpr.io/PGrHB

China Claims Tests of 'Reactionless' EM Drive Were Successful - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/ijGNw1OaANo/china-claims-tests-of-reactionless-em-drive-were-successful

Took a holiday. Now have a sore throat. (Typical.) Examining a PhD tomorrow.

EU's Highest Court Delivers Blow To UK Snooper's Charter - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/mOhoDUNiuLc/eus-highest-court-delivers-blow-to-uk-snoopers-charter

My gym gives yearly visit stats (some would say: tracks you). Spot when I was seriously ill this year.

About to announce a workshop on regex for humanists spring next year... (!) https://x.com/HLPitts/status/811303016607387653

Pointless Arrows http://zpr.io/PG977

Sale of student loans – confusing post-2012 and pre-2012 loans http://zpr.io/PGbBJ

Reference Rot Is Worse Than You Think http://zpr.io/PGbBL

For Him that Cannot Reade: The Index as Graphic Novel http://zpr.io/PGhef

Material trace of the virtual space.

The UN Will Consider Banning Killer Robots http://zpr.io/PGXVS

RIP Dr. Henry Heimlich, Inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver http://zpr.io/PGXGZ

Researchers Find Roads Shatter the Earth's Surface Into 600,000 Fragments http://zpr.io/PGaza

I have now migrated almost everything I have to @ReclaimHosting. Amazing customer support and tech. capacity!

Building a Coder's Paradise Is Not Profitable: GitHub Lost $66M In Nine Months Of 2016 http://zpr.io/PGYGe

Researchers add to evidence that common bacterial cause of gum disease may drive rheumatoid arthritis http://zpr.io/PGjxY

Standards deviations, and suggested amendments to the Bill http://zpr.io/PGjxs

What do we mean when we talk about Big Data? http://zpr.io/PGjxj

Interest rate swaps for universities come out of the woodwork - https://andrewmcgettigan.org/2016/12/16/interest-rate-swaps-come-out-of-the-woodwork/

German universities take the nuclear option: No full-text access to Elsevier journals to be expected from 1 Jan 2017 https://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/en/news/details/voraussichtlich-keine-volltexte-von-zeitschriften-des-elsevier-verlags-ab-dem-112017/

Job: Head of the Digital Library Program at UCLA http://zpr.io/PGzmn

Good bye USA - thanks for having me. Leaving on a jet plane and beginning a holiday break soon!

Maybe beware of microservices http://zpr.io/PGRYY

Where should the Copyright Office live? A response from Duke Libraries http://zpr.io/PGRYs

Financial Monitoring & Credit ratings of universities - https://andrewmcgettigan.org/2016/12/14/financial-monitoring-credit-ratings/

Three important questions about TEF metrics http://zpr.io/PGgps

Announcement: New Wayback Machine – Beta http://zpr.io/PGnpk

Job as research manager at the fantastic @birkbeck_arts! http://jobs.bbk.ac.uk/fe/tpl_birkbeckcollege01.asp?s=4A515F4E5A565B1A&jobid=62566,4535255877&key=107627640&c=98351412562147&pagestamp=seffgmjsumgpbpxtca

At work. @elotroalex #xpmethod

CFP: DHSI Colloquium http://zpr.io/PGUVq

Come halfway around the world. Poster for Brexit discussion featuring Rick Rylance.

What we mean when we talk about preprints http://zpr.io/PfWYc

Know others have done more and better on this but have enjoyed diving in. Looking forward to working more on it.

Not so hard to detect strong re-use well. It's the bad OCR/bad citation practices/short common reuses that are difficult.

Text re-use/citation detection remains hard for many reasons. Particularly if you need good coverage in large dataset for analysis.

Next steps for project include trying a set of different text matching/reuse engines. Want to see @ryancordell et al's /passsim/ in there.

I spent the day making a set of regression test cases for what we can and can't find. Dubbed it MiddleMatch. https://github.com/MartinPaulEve/middleMatch?files=1

Basically, we have Middlemarch and a corpus of 6k academic journal articles. Interested in changing focus of citations over time.

Spent the day working on a project with friends at Columbia to see which portions of Middlemarch are cited in academic journals over time.

Good morning New York city! And there's an article acceptance email in my inbox. #goodstart

Soft Stern or Hard Stern: how serious are we about reforming the REF? http://zpr.io/PfdrK

That mashup of Elastica's /Connection/ and Moloko's /Sing it Back/ that I never knew I didn't want to hear until now is playing in my hotel.

Researchers Successfully Fight Colon Cancer Using Immunotherapy http://zpr.io/Pfihr

Still find it odd to be able to tweet on a transatlantic flight. But: hello from 30,000 feet!

Heathrow Express is making a veritable fortune out of Piccadilly Line failure. Packed.

The Routledge Handbook of Biopolitics (Forthcoming 2017) http://zpr.io/PfLWd

Eimear McBride in Conversation with Jacqueline Rose http://zpr.io/PfkEi

5-Year-Old Critical Linux Vulnerability Patched http://zpr.io/PfkE5

The Christmas Rat

Scopus has chosen a metric that quite strongly favors the portfolio of journals held by its parent company Elsevier http://eigenfactor.org/projects/posts/citescore.php

Textometrica, a tool review http://zpr.io/PfFsw

UI Change http://zpr.io/PfF6X

New issue of 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century out @openlibhums! The Arts and Feeling - http://www.19.bbk.ac.uk/91/volume/2016/issue/23/

Social Humanities DataHack event http://zpr.io/PfwJT

Spoke with someone the other day who still thinks open-access means no peer review and is incompatible with "real" presses. What a joke.

Why is it that all the terrible news of 2016 turned out to be real, not fake, news?

Birkbeck President champions part-time study in House of Lords debate http://www.bbk.ac.uk/news/birkbeck-president-champions-part-time-study-in-house-of-lords-debate

Citescore. More like Shitescore. Amirite? - http://www.nature.com/news/controversial-impact-factor-gets-a-heavyweight-rival-1.21131

Changing the Culture in Universities http://zpr.io/PfDSL

Oh god so Elsevier just produced another /journal/-level metric. Thanks. - http://www.nature.com/news/controversial-impact-factor-gets-a-heavyweight-rival-1.21131

What a great book launch we had at @birkbeck_arts w/ @gylphi! Some of editors & authors (subjects of books) here.

Consultation on the second Research Excellence Framework http://zpr.io/Pfbgs

I note it doesn't say what the "credit" will actually be for exceeding OA reqs, but does say that info will be provided by a unit statement.

Annex C, on open-access monograph requirement for REF2026 (? the one after next), appears identical to previously pulled version.

Census period for outputs: 2014-01-01 to 2020-12-31.

Proposed quality profile weightings: outputs 65%, institutional impact 5%, impact 15%, environment 7.5%, institutional environment 7.5%.

Introduction of institutional-level impact case studies to show multi and inter -disciplinary work.

Good clarification on my description of "academic impact" https://x.com/DSweeneyHEFCE/status/806855744465289216

Credit for exceeding open access reqs based on submitting outputs as OA that are beyond reqs (eg books), and w/ re-usable licenses.

More quantitative data proposed for REF2021 environment templates.

Impact can be based on underpinning research, a research activity, or a body of work.

HEFCE proposes to keep number of impact case studies at around the same level as REF 2014.

HEFCE proposes to maintain the non-portability of impact.

HEFCE suggests broadening impact to include "Academic impact", as per Stern.

REF after 2021 will require monographs to be open access.

My question on that is: how will UoA volume account for units with a large number of maternity leaves?

HEFCE proposes to remove individual staff circumstances exceptions b/c of variable output volumes. Equality & diversity panel to be formed.

ORCID still up for discussion as mandatory for REF2021.

Off to lunch now, but more REF-related fun after that.

HEFCE does not seem keen on non-portability for practical reasons. Asks, broadly, for advice on how it could be done.

HEFCE ask whether lower-bound per researcher should be zero or one output(s).

HEFCE could prescribe UoA volumes of return by _average_ staff number over census period to avoid gaming/changes to teaching contracts.

(With a measure of independence to exclude research assistants)

HEFCE propose "research-active" to mean: HESA activity codes of "academic professional" and "research only" or "research and teaching".

Higher Education Funding Council for England REF2021 consultation - http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2016/201636/

A few tickets still available: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/contemporary-writers-launch-adam-roberts-rupert-thomson-tom-mccarthy-tickets-29573987593

Today, @birkbeck_arts Centre for Contemporary Lit will host Tom McCarthy, @arrroberts, Rupert Thompson & @gylphi for a triple book launch!

Call for submissions for 2nd annual LPC Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Library Publishing http://zpr.io/PfKUg

Online, OA venue suggestions for long-form, lay-accessible literary criticism?

Video of @the_blochian talking on Utopian Dreams at the Hillingdon Literary Festival - https://youtu.be/WuOBDv-DPyk

I know spam emails do a clever gullibility victim filter by being implausible/badly written but writing re my "concrete expo" is quite niche

My thought: REF is a RAF despite attempt to separate allocation and evaluation since it has behavioural influences #roadtoref21

My q to panel: what are the diffs in designing a research excellence framework as opposed to a resource allocation framework? #roadtoref21

. @stevenhill says it's probably too soon for network analysis in the next REF. Maybe the one after. #roadtoref21

. @stevenhill personally thinks that more feedback could be given from REF but notes that panel members want confidentiality #roadtoref21

. @stevenhill says non-portability is not impossible to implement but HEFCE has to consider unintended consequences #roadtoref21

Question from Norwegian delegate on whether REF panels could "give more back" in terms of feedback #roadtoref21

My thoughts: probably neglects the political side of the REF in its technical approach - HEFCE protecting us using peer review #roadtoref21

Very tech question from the floor on using text mining techniques to evaluate network spread & influence of ideas. #roadtoref21

Rewarding top % of "excellent" research leads to performance of excellence not excellent performance says @CameronNeylon #roadtoref21

Putting my bet down now that @stevenhill will reply to @CameronNeylon that criteria of originality, significance, & rigour help #roadtoref21

Here's our preprint, to which @CameronNeylon is referring https://figshare.com/articles/Excellence_R_Us_University_Research_and_the_Fetishisation_of_Excellence/3413821 #roadtoref21

Now @CameronNeylon. Says that asking whether REF is leading or lagging is problematic because it presumes a single road. #roadtoref21

Sivertsen looking at motivation behind Stern. He sees Stern as move away from researcher assessment to institutional assessment #roadtoref21

Bibliometrics and indicators much more widespread around Europe according to Sivertsen. Claims can do this for Hums. #roadtoref21

Sivertsen noting that Sweden rejected a REF-like model last week. #roadtoref21

Now we have Gunnar Sivertsen giving a broader international perspective on #roadtoref21

. @GemmaDerrick says that we know what a 4* output looks like (as a contrast to impact) but I sense @CameronNeylon disagrees. #roadtoref21

How do we avoid problems of group review asks @GemmaDerrick? Unclear whether acceptance of REF results is a kind of groupthink #roadtoref21

Inclusion of societal impact criteria challenges conventional peers of peer review says @GemmaDerrick #roadtoref21

.@GemmaDerrick up next at #roadtoref21 talking about peer review as a group process. Result of process inseparable from context of judgement

Broader inclusivity on impact and change in relationship to outputs also modifies assessment says @stevenhill #roadtoref21

Non-portability brings major practical challenges in implementation says @stevenhill #roadtoref21

Stern recommendations "quite radical" and will dominate convos for months says @stevenhill. Consultation out "any day now" #roadtoref21

. @stevenhill detailing "constant pressure" on HEFCE to adopt metrics-only approach. Their analysis does not support this. #roadtoref21

Introduction by @jameswilsdon on 30 years of research assessment. Still awaiting HEFCE tech consultation on Stern. #roadtoref21

At the "Road to REF 2021" event. It's being held in a converted stable but organisers refrained from mentioning bolting horses and doors.

Adieu, big deal - https://alambic.hypotheses.org/6245

Privilege and Polemic http://zpr.io/PfMHg

The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/

Re: LT. Unbelievably incompetent.

Postgrad students lose financial support after loan company mistake https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/dec/06/postgraduate-students-lose-financial-support-after-loan-company-mistake

CFP: The Canadian Society for Digital Humanities Conference 2017 http://zpr.io/PfE6B

History and Obstinacy (2016) http://zpr.io/PfXHd

NYC friends: I'm in your neck of the woods next week and free Monday evening. Anyone care to meet up?

Editors’ Choice: Maps and Mining - http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalHumanitiesNow/~3/cdusu-Ng8Yk/

Rules to Tighten on Tier 4? http://zpr.io/PfTE9

Another stellar event at Birkbeck: Eimear McBride in Conversation with Professor Jacqueline Rose https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/eimear-mcbride-in-conversation-with-jacqueline-rose-tickets-29216621702

Typescript and publishing systems http://zpr.io/Pfsdp

Enjoyed much of DJ's talk, although I'm still unpersuaded by texts as affective agents without targets. Nor with an anti-mimetic style.

Book Review: Reset Modernity! edited by Bruno Latour http://zpr.io/PfZaA

But now I'm off to see a talk by David James at Birkbeck on "Critical Solace" in the Centre for Contemporary Literature.

Neurology today: vascular systems are pretty much back to normal! Hurrah! But still suffering fatigue from the brain injury. This will pass.

The GRID dataset is pretty cool and now totally openly licensed. Would be great to get repository data attached... https://grid.ac/institutes/grid.88379.3d

A study from the 1960s: "agreement between reviewers ... was little greater than would be expected by chance alone" http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/123/9/1964.long

What [in the World] was Postmodernism? An Introduction
by David Ciccoricco http://electronicbookreview.com/thread/endconstruction/what

Newspapers, lies, magic and responsibility: Terry Pratchett and The Truth http://zpr.io/Pf7xv

Open Access policies: Protecting authors’ rights - http://intheopen.net/2016/12/open-access-policies-protecting-authors-rights/

Oh yeah, that seven day NHS that doesn't exist? Just off to hospital in a minute. (And then neurology tomorrow.)

A lovely crisp morning (read: freezing) -- I'm off out for a walk. Have a great Sunday, all!

Theory & Craft of Digital Preservation: My Next Book http://zpr.io/PfH87

Encryption Backdoor Sneaks Into UK Law http://zpr.io/PfH8q

“Internet Archive Successfully Fends Off Secret FBI Order” - https://bibwild.wordpress.com/2016/12/03/internet-archive-successfully-fends-off-secret-fbi-order/

(I cannot even remotely draw.)

One of my friends drew me an amazing birthday card feat all of our guinea pigs. Today, I am returning the favour. It's going to be classic.

Along with @lawsonstu & @Protohedgehog, I have complained about Elsevier to the UK Competition and Markets Authority https://www.martineve.com/2016/12/03/referring-elsevierrelx-to-the-competition-and-markets-authority/

@egiglia thanks for the RTs, Elena! Also, has Turin considered supporting OLH?

So, excitingly, @humcommons is now in open beta! You should definitely sign up and deposit work! https://hcommons.org/

"The alliance of the German scientific organizations rejects the offer of Elsevier." http://www.leopoldina.org/en/press/news/1418/

“Harvesting Government History, One Web Page at a Time” http://zpr.io/Pfgd5

Sci-Hub and the curious case of author attitudes http://zpr.io/PfUmf

Ten Myths and a Truth from the TEF: Reading the White Paper http://zpr.io/PfUmR

Formalism and Its Discontents http://zpr.io/PfUmH

Busting five common myths about the TEF - http://wonkhe.com/blogs/busting-six-common-myths-about-the-tef/ < these are not the things that need explaining about TEF

Job: Scholarly Communication Project Coordinator http://zpr.io/PRVCi

Job: Director of the Center for Digital Scholarship, Brown University http://zpr.io/PRVC5

The rise and rise of the senior tutor http://zpr.io/PRvSY

Digesting the Longitudinal Educational Outcome data http://zpr.io/PRvSs

Serial Vice-Chancellors http://zpr.io/PRv3t

I so hope this comes off. Being deliberately vague for now but potentially fantastic project.

Was in one of those moods where I found it hard to sit down and get writing on the grant proposal. Now I'm back into it, mega-excited again!

6pm in the Keynes Library at 43 Gordon Square. I'm hoping to get out of my meeting early to catch at least some of it.

Third Bloomsbury research lecture tonight at @birkbeck_arts will be given by Dr @agneswoolley1 on Literature, Law and the 'Asylum Story'.