Check out this piece in GRAIN‘s magazine, Seedling, reviewing two books on excessive copyrighting. In case you don’t know:
GRAIN is an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) which promotes the sustainable management and use of agricultural biodiversity based on people’s control over genetic resources and local knowledge.
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Open Access for Teachers (aka non-researchers and non-librarians):
The movement for open access to the scholarly and research literature emerged as a response to the enormous, unsustainable increases in the price of journals and journal bundles for academic libraries. When the internet made possible the dissemination of information for near-zero marginal cost (over the cost to package the information in the first place), both researchers and librarians began questioning the necessity of cost barriers to access. Educators who are not themselves researchers or librarians have not been active in the open-access movement or the debates surrounding it as yet. Third-world access to research, higher impact factors, faster research dissemination, relieving overstrained library budgets while restoring selection decisions to librarians—all these concern researchers and the research libraries they use. Institutions whose primary focus is teaching can expect little change one way or the other. Or can they?
(via Open Access News)
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So, what’s the difference between “open content” and “open source?”
(via Open Access News)
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Incubated by Creative Commons, iCommons is an organisation with a broad vision to develop a united global commons front by collaborating with open content, access to knowledge, open access publishing and free culture communities around the world.
(via NEWSgrist)
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Citizens Against Government have released their 2006 Pig Book>:
The 2006 Pig Book identified 9,963 projects in the 11 appropriations bills that constitute the discretionary portion of the federal budget for fiscal 2006, costing taxpayers $29 billion.
Inside Higher Ed has a few thoughts on the matter.
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Professorese or plainspeak? Which do you vote for?
(via Arts & Letters Daily)
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Grumpy Old Bookman has a few thoughts on editing for beginners:
The one thing a writer should pray for is a good copy editor, aka line editor — someone who will spot spelling mistakes, notice when you’ve typed ‘reign’ and mean rein, or rain — and who will suggest (heavily underline the suggest) points where a sentence could be shortened or a paragraph rewritten with advantage.
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Bibliochaise. The name is great, though I always thought a chaise was one of those long, reclining-type chairs.
(via The Millions)
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Dennis Yuen of CaiLun Handmade Books has set up an Etsy Shop, so now you can buy his charming creations online.
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Wear This Book (but Bring It Back Friday). My goodness. An article in the New York Times on book arts.
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Obits:
Alexis Bespaloff, 71, Witty and Wise Guide to Wine’s Golden Age, Dies
