Currently, all research in the U.S. funded through public dollars is required to be made available to the public – open access with no paywall to read research publications. The Research Works Act would like to introduce a paywall for the public to read all research that was publicly and privately funded. Essentially, the public would end up paying for publicly funded research twice.

To learn more about  this bill, read ProPublica’s story and check out Harvard’s Open Access Project Notes on the Research Works Act (thanks, Peter Suber for the G+ share).

What online classes look interesting to you? What do you think about open classrooms?

At first I considered Microsoft Access, however one of my upcoming projects may require multiple users. Access has many strengths, however it was not intended for multiple users. An additional consideration is that I want my applications to be web-based rather than stored on a single desktop.

I have settled on Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch and so far I am very, very happy with it. The Wrox book Beginning Visual Studio LightSwitch Development has been a great resource, too. And the academic discount that I found through Provantage.com has made the project financially do-able. So far I have not had to actually use any code and the process has been very straightforward.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

I was introduced to The Revolution in college. As I listen to the words today, I am reminded that social change happens only through relationships. It is our trust, presence, mindfulness, and willingness to show up that will end oppression. Media is a vehicle for communication, however revolutionary action comes about through personal connection. May we continue to seek connection with one another, not to shy away from uncomfortable conversations, and to approach one another with compassion. May we all continue to work for lasting social change and liberation.

What is an author’s addendum? It is an agreement form that authors can use to retain rights to scholarship, including posting it online or in a Scholars’ Bank.

Futurity www.futurity.org

• If you build it, will they come? How researchers perceive and use web 2.0 — the executive report of their findings is available at the bottom of the page in PDF.
• Social media: A guide for researchers – includes guides for using social media in research and case studies of researchers from diverse disciplines

Ciber (Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research) recently published a report on the use of social media in research, Social media and research workflow.

In a recent conversation with colleagues in psychology, we discussed the role of the web — blogs, researcher websites, web-based portfolios — in research dissemination. Some colleagues expressed concerns that websites for individual researchers, research groups, and online research dissemination communicates an undesired entrepreneurial message. The Research Information Network’s Social Media guide summarized criticisms of scholars using the web and social media as a concern for the decline of academic discussion and debate, that social media and the web are peripheral to scholarly work, and privacy concerns. Others expressed interest in leveraging the web for research dissemination, national and international professional networking, and outreach.

The intersection of research scholarship and the web, the role of the web in dissemination, and its impact on academic careers has been addressed in many forums. One example: the Chronicle of Higher Education has many entries on the pros and cons of scholarly blogging, including pieces such as Social Media Lures Academics, Scholars Who Blog, The Trouble With Blogs: Can Blogging Derail Your Career, and Academic Blogs [note: not entirely open access, subscription required for many articles]. Other examples can be found in science blogs such as Scientopia or blog aggregates such as Research Blogging or Science Blogging, which aggregates blogs from multiple languages.

My questions to researchers and non-researchers: What do you think of the intersection of research scholarship and the web? What do you think of the dissemination of research via social media? I’m curious to hear your thoughts!