What's holding Open Access publishing back?
David Jennings, DJ Alchemi, October 4, 2011.

Sometimes it seems that we are advancing at the speed of glue. As David Jennings writes, "you find a research paper that looks useful, but it costs $30 to read the 15 pages if you haven't got some kind of institutional subscription." What gives? Why is this still the case? Here's part of it: "Despite this acknowledgement of the wider context of research publication, almost all the research on how to spread Open Access — including Moore's and our own — seems to focus on researchers and not on the other players in the ecosystem." And as he, Seb Schmoller, and Nicky Ferguson say in their report, "there seems to be a skew in the research on Open Access diffusion towards studying the attitudes and motivations of the "talent" in the research world, rather than the "managers" and middle (wo)men."

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Books, Project Based Learning, Research, Subscription Services, Academic Publications]

Ten Paradoxes of Technology
Andrew Feenberg, Vimeo, October 4, 2011.

Teresa Penedo posted this item in the #change11 Facebook group. The one-hour video tells us "most of what we think we know about technology in general is false." According to Andrew Feenberg, "Our error stems from the everyday conception of things as separate from each other and from us. In reality they belong to an interconnected network the nodes of which cannot exist independently qua technologies." This leads to ten 'paradoxes of technology':
"1. The paradox of the parts and the whole: The apparent origin of complex wholes lies in their parts but in reality the parts find their origin in the whole to which they belong.
2. The paradox of the obvious: What is most obvious is most hidden.
3. The paradox of the origin: behind everything rational there lies a forgotten history.
4. The paradox of the frame: Efficiency does not explain success, success explains efficiency.
5. The paradox of action: In acting we become the object of action.
6. The paradox of the means: The means are the end.
7. The paradox of complexity: Simplification complicates.
8. The paradox of value and fact: Values are the facts of the future.
9. The democratic paradox: The public is constituted by the technologies that bind it together but in turn it transforms the technologies that constitute it.
10. The paradox of conquest: The victor belongs to the spoils."

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Books, Video, Networks]

No Quick Fix
Will Richardson, Weblogg-Ed, October 4, 2011.

This one made me actually want to call out, "Right!" Here's Will Richardson: "It’s always interesting to me how many people in education, once they start waking up to the big shifts that are afoot, immediately jump to the 'ok, so how do we change our schools?' question without addressing the 'How do we change ourselves?' question first. It’s as if they’re looking to buy the off-the-shelf 'EduChange' software program and install it on top of their current school operating system." I advise people: change you you learn first. Once you change, you won't be able to go back to teaching the same old way.

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Schools, Operating Systems]

Klout, Kred and the Ugly Truth About Social Influence Measurement
Jennifer Leggio, Logic+Emotion, October 4, 2011.

Short analysis of the influence measurement market. Worth a look. In particular, the author asserts "Size is Not Everything - It’s been debunked over and over, but I’ll say it again. A network size does not always indicate the right level of influence. Influence inspires a new type of action, and that action is harder to measure beyond the initial click. Relationships are much more critical to influence measurement than actual network size. Influence measurement needs become more dynamic and contextual to truly help us get past this 'more followers equals more amazing!' mindset."

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Networks]