September 2017
Closing date near for research assistants + an administrator on Reading Peer Review project! http://jobs.bbk.ac.uk/fe/tpl_birkbeckcollege01.asp?s=4A515F4E5A565B1A&jobid=64911,2256407136&key=116651644&c=34546598028823&pagestamp=secwcgxmlbnegjnjfy http://jobs.bbk.ac.uk/fe/tpl_birkbeckcollege01.asp?s=4A515F4E5A565B1A&jobid=64910,4872572152&key=116651644&c=34546598028823&pagestamp=secwcgxmlbnegjnjfy
It's as though I'm being set up in a Truman Show ideal scholarly communications world. Ace! (Also: dead scary but the right thing to do.)
A humanist just asked me: 1. If she could read a paper in press & then 2. Whether she could have the data to evaluate strengths/weaknesses.
Ouch. Looks like the whole /Nature/ platform is down.
With bonus Godot analogies. https://x.com/TobyABGreen/status/913108471012347905
In other good news, my colleague Marina Warner was awarded a British Academy medal http://bbk.ac.uk/news/professor-marina-warner-awarded-british-academy-medal
This is quite an epic admin task, so if you haven't signed up, but are thinking about it, doing it soon would be great! ;)
If we get really good take-up on this, we can lower prices for everyone at the next renewal point.
This is mostly because they don't know. I am emailing them one by one with the articles in question requesting support.
Today marks the start of Operation Free Rider. There are ~330 universities whose academics have published at OLH but who don't support.
New at @openlibhums: An Enemy Abroad: The Transnational Politics of Francis Jeffrey and the War of 1812 https://olh.openlibhums.org/articles/10.16995/olh.57/
Also, if I'm reading that Elsevier release right, they want to geographically limit gold OA for readers? Which is just a: no thanks.
Of course, I'm not sure that's E's vision, which will want revenue growth. #sigh
But, if scholarly communications cost exactly the same tomorrow and it was totally OA, that would be a significant win.
Publishing could be run far more cheaply - cut E's 36% profit to a sustainable surplus - which is what we do at OLH at smaller scale.
I wonder why they would believe that... Hmm. But, in some ways, there is a point: OA doesn't necessarily mean cheaper. It means access. https://x.com/scinoptica/status/912928267258286080
I am home! Normal tweets re English Literature, open access, and HE policy to resume shortly.
Judge Rinder is on now. Seriously, I'd rather have pneumonia.
The good news is the discharge. The bad news is the daytime TV in the discharge lounge.
Hurrah! It looks as though I am to be discharged today!
I'm not even kidding, there's a Higher Education Classification of Subjects code for Pynchon! https://x.com/Dan_HE_man/status/912217103884738560
Oh damn. Got into an Uber discussion on Facebook.
Still on the IV antibiotics here, still have hemoptysis, no escaping just yet.
TBF, it's mostly @ajrbyers doing it while I languish in hospital...
In case it's of interest, we're speccing up the preprint server for Janeway 1.2 here: https://github.com/BirkbeckCTP/janeway/issues/11 (w/ @ajrbyers)
Academics ‘could have to pay to quote’ under EU committee’s plan | THE News - https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/academics-could-have-pay-quote-under-eu-committees-plan
Thanks to you all for the kind messages. It really does help to keep spirits up when ill in hospital.
Feel like this about most of life TBH
Today's medical update: the pneumonia was also sepsis, where it had spread into my blood stream. Very glad I called for help.
Current status
Urgh. Went downhill overnight. Not feeling so good today. Two new IV antibiotics added.
Someone curated @ernestopriego and my article into an overlay journal https://theidealis.org/who-is-actually-harmed-by-predatory-publishers/
Thank you everyone for the kind messages. Feeling so much better than yesterday when I was coughing up blood and my resting pulse was 140.
So, @the_blochian is texting me bad puns and lame jokes and I have discovered how much it hurts to laugh with pneumonia.
Ok. I have pneumonia. Not good with the immunosuppression.
Went to the urgent care centre. Sent to hospital by emergency ambulance for suspected sepsis.
It's a funny thing the human body. Despair of ever getting off these drugs though. Sigh. Sorry for rant.
On the plus side, I'll likely be totally wired for the next few weeks. But then: no sleep, mood swings, sweats, start again on reduction.
Just can't shift the bug though and am worried I have signs of early adrenal crisis. There goes eight months down the drain most likely.
Really annoyed. I've spent the last year tapering my steroids down. Now have an infection so have to boost them and lose all that progress.
Soviet officer who averted cold war nuclear disaster dies aged 77 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/18/soviet-officer-who-averted-cold-war-nuclear-disaster-dies-aged-77
Scott Rodgers reflects on and remembers our recently late colleague at Birkbeck, Dr Lorraine Lim - http://www.publiclysited.com/dr-lorraine-lim-some-memories/
"Yes, sorry Prof Eve, if you wanted the compensation you should have taken our flight that crash landed the next day." -- @British_Airways
But, @British_Airways are trying to refuse me compensation for a 33-hour delayed flight to Athens, claiming I didn't cancel.
. @British_Airways, you have a nerve. 2. The flight the next day CAUGHT FIRE and performed an emergency landing anyway.
Well, @British_Airways, 1. I joined the queue for people who didn't want the alternative flight and gave the agent my name.
FFS. This makes me feel about 20 times less safe. https://x.com/ernestopriego/status/909689663870443520
Modelling a redistributive funding setup: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0183967
OK, the singing is contaminated by the fact I have a cold, but I recorded this demo track this evening https://soundcloud.com/martin-eve/ignite-demo
Hard not to see government plans to cut student debt while only funding STEM subjects for the difference as an assault on the humanities.
The Nazis’ First Victims Were the Disabled - https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/opinion/nazis-holocaust-disabled.html?referer=android-app://m.facebook.com
More OA research work from a @BirkbeckNews colleague in OUP's Journal of International Dispute Settlement - https://academic.oup.com/jids/article/doi/10.1093/jnlids/idx010/4158221/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-a-Dead-Father?guestAccessKey=be6255f7-6aca-4224-a4d2-8c99ac605cbe
On the TEF, labour market measures, and institutional complicity, by @HallyMk1 - http://www.richard-hall.org/2017/09/14/quit-moaning-about-the-tef/
I'm on leave from teaching with a grant, so how is it fair that I have freshers flu? Urgh.
"I voted for Brexit – why do academic colleagues treat me like a pariah?" < b/c your vote harms our EU friends & colleagues, perhaps?
Woah. The flight I got off after a 6 hour delay last week caught fire when it finally took off. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/pensioner-tells-of-nightmare-33-hour-flight-from-london-to-athens/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_fb_tmg
Credit to the Edit mix by Peza. Good stuff! https://soundcloud.com/peza70/credit-to-the-edit-festival-no6-09092017-peza-live-mix @jon_fugler @qui_oui @ernestopriego @CarinaWestling
European Conference for the Humanities 2018: https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/echic-2018
Through struggle and indifference: the UK academy's engagement with the open intellectual commons http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/31531/
Tristero at work here @PynchonInPublic
How is the demand for part-time higher education affected by changing economic conditions? - http://wonkhe.com/blogs/how-is-the-demand-for-part-time-higher-education-affected-by-changing-economic-conditions/
Regensburg
I doubt many academics will be thinking: perhaps I shouldn't publish with T&F or be an editor for them, though.
Everyone screams about predatory publishers - note: publishers - but this is downright racist material being published in a T&F venue.
Why is it that scandals like the Third World Quarterly don't reflect upwards to publishers like T&F?
A keynote now from @Openreflections at #OATage2017 #oat17 - asking what we mean by economic sustainability.
In case you were wondering what David Cameron has been up to since retirement, I think I've found him.
Dresden by night.
Perhaps Willetts should now be known as "two minds", as in "I'm in two minds about price competition".
More positively, neo-Nazi rallies are only on Mondays in Dresden (oh good) and the restaurant I am in is playing Huey Lewis and the News.
Dude, DW, the whole mess is literally due to your belief in price competition, and NOW you change your mind? https://x.com/JMorganTHE/status/907599153823404032
House Address “Twins” Proximity – The Unusually Named Blog - http://www.paulplowman.com/stuff/house-address-twins-proximity/
Urgh. Nazis marching in Dresden. The world has gone totally dystopian.
REF 2021 Consultation: Summary of Responses http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rereports/year/2017/ref201702/
And I have made the Dresden connection! Hurrah!
Looking at an hour and a half delay on my flight to Munich. Please don't let me miss another talk :(
After last week's flight cancelled fiasco I have just learned that today's is delayed, 2 hours before take off. Doesn't bode well.
True. On the other hand, people without a programming language can struggle to define a computational problem. https://x.com/jakevdp/status/907147532043788288
On my way to the #OATage2017 conference in Dresden. I bring a keynote and some germs.
I mean, yeah, check it out first... But. https://x.com/scholarlykitchn/status/907140870067163136
... Which would reinforce the economic and social power of a small group of known journals? https://x.com/scholarlykitchn/status/907140870067163136
Neural Networks Can Auto-Generate Reviews That Fool Humans - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/-In72AnYq2Q/neural-networks-can-auto-generate-reviews-that-fool-humans
A great piece on the difficult economics of unit costs https://x.com/CameronNeylon/status/906862833807364097
Urgh. Stinking cold and off to Germany tomorrow for a week of talks. Feel a bit grotty...
Charting The Future Of Academic Publishing In The Digital Age - https://www.forbes.com/sites/thelabbench/2017/09/09/charting-the-future-of-academic-publishing-in-the-digital-age/#56caebf41f7c
Re last retweet: I dream we have internal consistency within articles that present all needed info & authors can just choose their own style
A great funky Friday mix by Mr @jon_fugler https://www.mixcloud.com/jonif/xlntrpg-06092017/. Worth your time! @ernestopriego @CarinaWestling @qui_oui
From _Password_. https://x.com/jboy/status/906125878995902464
Grace Morris Learning Ladder PhD Studentship — School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London - http://www.bbk.ac.uk/arts/research/research-bursaries-studentships-funding/Grace_Morris
Report on offset agreements: evaluating current Jisc Collections deals. Year 2 – evaluating 2016 deals by @lawsonstu
Ignore the headline written by subs, this is a good rebuttal to Deegan on the importance of OA monographs https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/if-you-are-paid-write-you-dont-own-content
Submitted first two chapters of my next book, Close Reading with Computers, for review last night. Always feels like a big moment...
I agree with him on one thing! (But benefits are more than economic.) https://x.com/JMorganTHE/status/905712509268701184
On widening access to HE: "Ebdon reserves particular praise for @BirkbeckNews" https://amp.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2017/sep/06/les-ebdon-university-widening-access-office-fair-access-students
The ONIX XML spec for books is kindof hilarious. Casing of the root tag determines parser behaviour. Just... why?! @ajrbyers
The rise of academic ill health by @HallyMk1 http://wonkhe.com/blogs/the-rise-of-academic-ill-health/
Kitchens and joinery against capital
So I think I'd still prefer OA at source.
Let me get this straight. SciHub is liberatory, giving access to all. Except when its owner is offended & shuts it down to some nations?
We also have a Project Administrator role going on the same project. Again, please pass it on! https://www15.i-grasp.com/fe/tpl_birkbeckcollege01.asp?newms=jj&id=64910&newlang=1
Current PhD students welcome to apply! Researcher jobs on our Reading Peer Review project. Please RT and pass on! https://www15.i-grasp.com/fe/tpl_birkbeckcollege01.asp?newms=jj&id=64911&newlang=1
Can library folks recommend good, OA, APC-free LIS venues, please? Know of Insights, JLSC...
In some positive news, a new book out in our series this week.
We had a good geeky synth conversation.
On the plus side, on my cancelled flight I made friends with two songwriters who've worked for Carly Rae Jepsen.
Flight cancelled.
We're now being transferred to a different airplane. Oh. Joy.
Sci-Hub Faces $4.8 Million Piracy Damages and ISP Blocking - http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/LHWsPSJXCNk/
Currently stuck on the tarmac at Heathrow for an hour and a half with a fault on the plane. Athens is a way away...
Birkbeck art historian uncovers earliest known case of ‘facsimile portraiture’ - http://www.bbk.ac.uk/news/birkbeck-art-historian-uncovers-earliest-known-case-of-2018facsimile-portraiture2019-1
The only fair way to end university fees is to raise taxation. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/sep/05/end-university-tuition-fees-raise-taxation-peter-scott?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Fenix
Off to Athens tomorrow for the Open Science Fair. Hope to see some of you there on Wednesday for our panel! http://www.opensciencefair.eu/workshops/parallel-day-1-1/new-open-access-models-and-platforms
Took half a day "off" today and went to the British Library. Found a treasure of an unknown document and can't wait to write it up!
REF just got real: mist now clearing on the road to 2021 - http://wonkhe.com/blogs/ref-just-got-real-ref2021/
Today we start work on Janeway 1.2, which will include a preprint server with easy submission to any journal on that instance.
Children's books with humans have greater moral impact than animals, study finds < wish it linked to the study https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/01/only-childrens-books-with-humans-have-moral-impact-study-finds?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Fenix
One by one the promises and predictions of the Brexiteers are collapsing - http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2017/09/one-one-promises-and-predictions-brexiteers-are-collapsing
We adopted a new guinea pig from the rescue centre yesterday. Neutered male, dubbed Mr Pig.
See the excellent special collection on which they are working, on algorithmic governmentality https://foucaldien.net/collections/special/algorithmic-governmentality/
Multi-lingual OLH journal, Le Foucauldien, is now up, migrated and running https://foucaldien.net/
Nothing on portability yet.
HEFCE publishes initial decisions on REF2021 http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/HEFCE,2014/Content/Pubs/Independentresearch/2017/REF,201701/REF2017_01.pdf
Janeway 1.1 is now out! New features include overlay journal support for remote articles - https://github.com/BirkbeckCTP/janeway/releases/tag/v1.1
As a British EU negotiator, I can tell you that Brexit is going to be far worse than anyone could have guessed http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-eu-negotiator-europe-euratom-airline-safety-negotiations-theresa-may-worse-anyone-guessed-a7858586.html?cmpid=facebook-post
Delighted to say that today we welcome Professor @CageyRant to @birkbeck_arts @BirkbeckNews!