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Information Science

• April 30, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: DRM is a toothless boogeyman, Shaking up the lecture, Copyright in Canada and more Why DRM is a Toothless Boogeyman, Ebooks are like Video Games, and Amazon is the Winner Shaking Up the Lecture Geist: The most expensive copyright insurance policy in Canadian history Open Letter Regarding the Agreement Reached Between Access Copyright and...

• April 25, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: Even Harvard can't afford everything, The importance of physical campuses, DRM strategy and more Harvard Faculty Advisory Council Memorandum on Journal Pricing: Major Periodical Subscriptions Cannot Be Sustained "No, we can't" A proposal for the library of the future Harvard: we have a problem Harvard Library: subscriptions too costly, faculty should go open access...

• April 24, 2012

• We Beasties

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  Harvard Libraries join the fight for open access A few months ago, I wrote about the problems with academic publishing: These days, there's an entire industry of academic publishers that have become so fully integrated into the research system that many scientists don't realize that there's any distinction...

• April 23, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Open Data & The Panton Principles: Thoughts on a presentation to librarians As I mentioned last week, on Tuesday, April 17 I was part of a workshop on Creative Commons our Scholarly Communications Committee put on for York library staff. My section was on open data and the Panton Principles. While not...

• April 22, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: Persistent myths about open access scientific publishing, Prepping grad students for jobs and more Persistent myths about open access scientific publishing Prepping Grad Students for Jobs Rewarding Teaching Innovation Ask a Stupid Question: Why is there so much anonymity when it comes to the practices of academic discourse? Elite Universities' Online Play Electronic Textbooks:...

• April 21, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: Putting an end to geek pride, The real ebook bad guy and more Let us put an end to Geek Pride The Real Bad Guy in the E-Book Price Fixing Case Book Publishing's Real Nemesis E-book overkill Daring to Cut Off Amazon The Portal Problem, Part 1: The Plight of the Britannica &...

• April 19, 2012

• Greg Laden's Blog

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  Remember SOPA? It's baaaaack .... ... only worse, apparently. The Lousy Canuck has it covered. I think you should go read his post and get the conversation going. I don't know enough about it to say much more than Jason has already said. I'm not a big Mike Rogers fan....

• April 16, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: Some resources on the Panton Principles & open data As part of a workshop on Creative Commons, I'm doing a short presentation on Open Data and The Panton Principles this week to various members of our staff. I thought I'd share some of the resources I've consulted during my...

• April 14, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: Citation cartels, Rooms full of elephants, Doing better and more The Emergence of a Citation Cartel Ask the Chefs: "What's the Biggest Elephant in the Room?" Review: "How Economics Shapes Science," by Paula Stephan Interview with Paula Stephan -- Economics, Science, and Doing Better Maxing out the curve on ebook...

• April 13, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: Undecided on paper books vs. e-books, Is blogging and tweeting about research papers worth it? and more Paper books vs. e-books: I still can't decide Is blogging and tweeting about research papers worth it? The Verdict Open Access To Scientific information: Policy Guidelines Released by UNESCO Receptivity to Library Involvement in Scientific Data Curation: A Case...

• April 12, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: Decline of the library empire, Libraries' impact on student learning and more The Decline and Fall of the Library Empire Do Librarians Work Hard Enough? Academia, Libraries, Work, and the Public Good Library-only 2.0 is dead. Long live Library 2.0! What Will Library/Information/Knowledge Graduates Be Doing 25 Years Hence? The Last Enclosures...

• Aardvarchaeology

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  Scam Publisher Fools Swedish Cranks Can anybody publish anything in SCIRP's International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics as long as they pay the fee?

• April 11, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Reading Diary: Marketing for Scientists by Marc J. Kuchner It's probably best to start with what Marc J. Kuchner's new book -- Marketing for Scientists: How to Shine in Tough Times -- isn't. It isn't a social media jackass recipe book for "Success through Twitter." It isn't a detailed...

• April 5, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: The paleo media diet, What she really said, Imploding business models and more My Paleo Media Diet: Turning off, opting out, and disconnecting to save my brain for the things I really want to use it for. What she Really said: Fighting Sexist Jokes the Geeky Way Mobile and the news media's imploding...

• April 2, 2012

• Greg Laden's Blog

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  We have tiny libraries ... in the Twin Cities. Free Libraries Hit Minneapolis Lawns: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com Hat Tip: Alyson Foster...

• April 1, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  My exciting new job at Elsevier: Inaugural editor-in-chief of The Journal of Applied Publishing Experiments Disclaimer: Please note the date of publication before taking this post too seriously. Hi everybody, It is with great pride and excitement that I'm finally able to announce something that's been in the works for a few months now. I...

• March 30, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Best Science Books 2011: The top books of the year!!!!! Every year for the last several years I've collated and extracted the science books from all the various "best books of the year" lists in different media media outlets. I've done the same this year for books published in 2011!...

• March 29, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: Libraries are not just about books, The tech savvy president and more Philip Pullman: Libraries are not just about books The Tech Savvy Presidency Spain's Libranda Grows Up: E-reader, Library Lending Planned Doing It for Themselves: Libraries and E-books Visibility is currency in academia but it is scarcity in publishing. The push...

• March 27, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: Research Works Act, Elsevier boycott & FRPAA (Updated!) This post has superseded my two previous link collection posts here and here. The first focused solely on the Research Works Act, the second added posts on the Elsevier boycott and this one also incorporates posts on the reintroduction of...

• March 24, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: Promise & perils of Pinterest, Abundance vs disruption, Beyond the textbook and more Promise & Perils of Pinterest Abundance vs disruption: dramatically different views of the future Beyond the Textbook My Experience With eBooks: Yea or Nay? Of dead trees, living networks, and encyclopedic ambition Ask the Administrator: If I Become a Dean,...

• March 23, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Friday Fun: 6 superheroes who got their powers from being lousy scientists I've always been a big comics and graphic novel fan. In particular in my youth I was a huge superhero fan. So this one was just a natural for me. Especially since one of the heroes that is profiled was...

• March 20, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  The Canadian War on... Knowledge, science, information, common sense, openness? A whole bunch of things are under attack by various conservatively-minded levels of government here in Canada. Those of you thinking of moving north to avoid the insanity might want to have a second...

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Around the Web: Why we need blue-sky research, Internet con men ravage publishing, Why I pirate and more Why we need blue-sky research Internet con men ravage publishing Why I Pirate - An Open Letter To Content Creators Open Access Tenure: Put it in the File Bletchley Park tweet saves Alan Turing computing papers The little guys stand...

• March 15, 2012

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Best Science Books 2011: L.A. Weekly, San Antonio Express-News, Canada AM Dear FSM, by all that is unholy, I think this is the last one. A final bunch of lists for your reading, gift-giving and collection development pleasure. Every year for the last bunch of years I've been linking to and...

• Confessions of a Science Librarian

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  Best Science Books 2011: San Francisco Chronicle 100 Recommended Books, LA Public Library, The A.V. Club A couple more lists for your reading, gift-giving and collection development pleasure. Every year for the last bunch of years I've been linking to and posting about all the "year's best sciencey books" lists that appear in various media outlets...

Synthetic Biology

Some engineers use cranes and steel to make their designs reality, but synthetic biologists engineer using tools on a different scale: DNA and the other molecular components of living cells. Synthetic biology uses cellular systems and structures to produce artificial models based on natural order. Read these posts from the ScienceBlogs archives for more:

Pharyngula May 30, 2007

“Playing God”

The Loom January 31, 2008

"Frankenstein Was Here": Synthetic Biology as Graffiti

Discovering Biology in a Digital World July 2, 2006

Build your own virus