Archive for 'Information Ethics'
This Journal Brought to You By . . .
It was shocking at the end of April when The Scientist reported that Elsevier had published a scholarly-journal-like series that was actually advertising paid for by Merck. The peer-reviewed-like articles in the journal-like object were either reprints or summaries of articles that reported results favorable to Merck drugs. There were also “review” articles that had [...]
Posted by Barbara Fister on May 9th, 2009 under Commercialization, Idiocy, Information Ethics, Information Literacy, Scholarly Communications, information industries.
Comments: 5
We Can Handle the Truth
We recently lost a great champion of intellectual freedom - Judith Krug, who called attention to attempts to withdraw books from libraries, challenged the government on Internet censorship, and built coalitions to preserve our freedom to read and consider ideas without penalty. She embodied what we as librarians and academics value and she defended it [...]
Posted by Barbara Fister on April 18th, 2009 under Higher Education, Information Ethics, Information Literacy.
Comments: 2
Heather Has Two Mommies and Just Canceled her Amazon Account
A current kerfuffle on the Internets has to do with Amazon de-ranking GLBT-themed books as reported on the LA Times Jacket Copy blog.
Amazon’s policy of removing “adult” content from its rankings seems to be both new and unevenly implemented. On Saturday, self-published author Mark R. Probst noticed that his book had lost its ranking, [...]
Posted by Barbara Fister on April 13th, 2009 under Commercialization, Idiocy, Information Ethics.
Comments: 5
More Provocative (if less provoking) Statements
Not long ago Steven B asked us to take a look at the Taiga Provocative Statements for 2009. We went, we read, we were provoked.
I have to admit I’m much more intrigued - and, frankly, charmed - by the Darien Statements which aren’t meant to be provocative in the same way the Taiga Statements [...]
Posted by Barbara Fister on April 10th, 2009 under Information Ethics.
Comments: 2
Local Food (for Thought) Movement
LJ Academic Newswire reports that U Penn is the latest to offer scan-on-demand with quality print output. Emory uses the same Kirtas machine to offer a curated collection of books relevant to Emory and to the South, unique in their collections. UMich, which has a rich collection of books scanned through their own efforts and [...]
Posted by Barbara Fister on February 25th, 2009 under Books, Information Ethics, Technology Issues, information industries.
Comments: 7