Econundrum: Kindles vs. Books | Mother Jones
Interesting article that attempts to evaluate the relative CO2 footprint of consumers buying printed books, buying Kindle books or borrowing books from the local library. It omits quantitative studies of public library operation including heating/cooling, etc., (if they exist) as well as the unforeseen effects on publishing economics if book buyers all became book borrowers. Interesting, still the same.
The most interesting and sure point it makes is that at 474 pounds per year of carbon emission plus the emissions involved in creating it, the typical TV set is worse on the environment than borrowing or buying one's books.
Glad I gave away that 13 inch TV in 1984. Haven't missed it since.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Voter Survey on Libraries
Texas Voter Survey on Libraries
This is very encouraging. Whether Democrat, Independent or Republican, Texas voters support increased public library funding and full support of school libraries. It would be interesting to see if other states have comparable data and how the data matches with aggregate voting behavior and budgeting practices.
This is very encouraging. Whether Democrat, Independent or Republican, Texas voters support increased public library funding and full support of school libraries. It would be interesting to see if other states have comparable data and how the data matches with aggregate voting behavior and budgeting practices.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Open Access to Scientific Papers via ResearchGATE
This information came via email. ResearchGATE is an online scientific community, which is offering a practical way for scientists to make their published papers available to other scientists that do not have access to highly expensive traditional scientific journals.
---------------------------------------
ResearchGATE.net is pleased to share the following updates from your Scientific Network.
Open Access on ResearchGATE
The last few weeks have been big here at ResearchGATE. We have surpassed the 140,000 member mark and have introduced our international Job Board for Science and Higher Education. But today is set to be even bigger as we launch our Self-Archiving Repository. This will make full-text articles available to the public, for free – the first application of its kind worldwide!
Currently, there is no way for researchers to access millions of publications in their full version online. ResearchGATE is now changing this by enabling users to upload their published research directly to their profile pages (a system called the "green route" to Open Access). Our publication index, containing metadata for 35 million publications, will be automatically matched with the SHERPA RoMEO data set of journal and publisher's self-archiving agreements. As a result, authors will know which versions of their articles they can legally upload. Since nine out of ten journals allow self-archiving, this project could give thousands of researchers immediate access to articles that are not yet freely available.
Our Self-Archiving Repository does not infringe on copyrights because each profile page within ResearchGATE is legally considered the personal website of the user (and the majority of journal publishers allow articles to be openly accessible on personal homepages). Therefore, each user can upload his or her published articles in compliance with self-archiving regulations. Our publication index makes every publication identifiable and is searchable. Since each profile is networked to the larger platform, the uploaded resources will form an enormous pool of research for our members. Of course, it's free of charge, like the all the other resources at ResearchGATE.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
