Tadween Roundup: News and Analysis from the Publishing/Academic World

Tadween Publishing brings you the latest news and analysis from the publishing and academic worlds that relate to pedagogy and knowledge production.

Publishing

University of California Adopts Open Access Publishing Policy
By Erika Check (Nature)

The University of California, the largest public research university in the world, adopts an open access policy that will make research freely available to the public.

E-books Strain Relations Between Libraries, Publishing Houses
By Lynn Neary (NPR)

The hesitation of publishing houses to sell e-books to libraries, over fear of losing profit, has caused a rift in the relationship between the two book-loving mediums.

Publishers Object to US Restrictions on Apple in E-books Case
By Nate Raymond (Reuters)

Five of the top publishing companies object to new restrictions from the US government on Apple for illegally conspiring to raise the prices of e-books, claiming that the restrictions would punish the publishers more than Apple.

Open Access to Research: An Ideal Complicated by Reality
By David Skorton and Glenn Altschuler (Forbes)

A new policy by the Obama Administration will require federal agencies which spend over $100 million annually on scientific research and development to make the results of that research available to the public within a year of publication. The policy will enhance data-sharing in scientific research. However, some universities, and those conducting government-funded research, are not so keen to jump on board.

How Open-Access Scholarship Improves the Internet
By Robinson Meyer (The Atlantic)

With policies of open access becoming more abundant, such as that recently adopted by the University of California, Robinson Meyer reminds us that scholars and academics are not the only ones to benefit. Open access to academic research will provide more information for online encyclopedias like Wikipedia and will generally benefit the Internet.

Making Open the Default Position
By Barbara Fister (Library Journal)

With the University of California’s adoption of a new open access policy for its academic research, it would appear that making research broadly available to the public is becoming the norm. Yet, the recent release by the American Historical Association of a proposed policy that dissertations be allowed a six-year grace period before being accessible to the public indicates that the world of academia is still hesitant to become completely open.

Education & Academia

Columbia University’s Earth Institute: An Academic Institution for the 21^st Century
By Steven Cohen (Huffington Post)

“How do we create the high throughput economy that provides a decent life for the planet’s seven billion people, without destroying the ecological systems that we depend on?” asks executive director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute Steven Cohen. Cohen describes the Earth Institute as a new type of academic institution that combines the efforts and knowledge of different academic fields in order to address the problems of global sustainability.

An Embargo on Dissertations Will Not Solve the Bigger Problem
By David A. Bell (Chronicle of Higher Education)

According to David A. Bell, the American Historical Association’s argument for an embargo of new dissertations avoids the larger problem of the drawn out system of dissertation writing and the painful publication process.

Is the University Lecture Doomed?
By Sean Coughan (MindShift)

Do online classrooms spell out the end of university lectures? Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales claims that the rise of MOOCs (massive open online courses) will slowly make the classic university lecture extinct and irrelevant to the needs of modern education.

How Best to Measure the Value of Research
By Michael Spence (Chronicle of Higher Education)

Michael Spence, vice chancellor of the University of Sydney, writes on the challenges of finding the balance in academic research between high quality, long-term impact, and short-term impact that meets immediate needs.

In Four Books, Four Different Visions for Fixing Higher Education
By Michael Lindgren (Washington Post)

The Washington Post reviews four books that promote different views and ideas for changing higher education.

Hachette Strikes Deal With Follett to Sell E-books Into School Libraries
(Digital Book World)

Breaking into the K-12 library market, Hachette makes a deal with Follett to sell its e-book content into school libraries.

A ‘Miscarriage of Justice’?
By Elizabeth Redden (Inside Higher Ed)

The conviction of six Turkish scientists on terrorism-related charges sparks fear for the state of academic freedom in Turkey.