Category Archives: Science & Politics

Open Access: journey without end?

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Stephen

The Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords, the second chamber in the UK parliament, met this week to hear evidence from various stakeholders on the implementation of government’s policy on open access. In three separate sessions, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Science & Politics | Tagged , | 21 Comments

Year

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Stephen

The Christmas holiday has unmoored me. End of year exhaustion segued into a bout of ‘flu that knocked me onto my back, where I lay and ached, semi-detached by illness and medication as around me my family made preparations for … Continue reading →

Posted in Libel Reform, Open Access, Science & Politics, Scientific Life | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

“You can’t read this book” but you should

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Stephen

Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games spread a warm glow through liberal hearts. His imaginative sweep over British history and culture, which managed to be both reverent and irreverent, was filled with a human chaos that constituted a nicely … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Libel Reform, Science & Politics | Tagged , , | 22 Comments

UK Government Goes For Broke on Open Access

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Stephen

Well that was quick. Less than a month after the Finch working group published its recommendations on the future of open access, UK science minister David Willetts has responded, saying in effect “Let’s go for it.” The government has taken … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Science & Politics | Tagged , , | 23 Comments

The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Stephen

This is not new since Mariana Mazzucato’s breezy pamphlet, The Entrepreneurial State, was published a year ago, but it was new to me. I’ve just finishing reading it, having snagged one of the copies that she brought to June’s fascinating Science Question … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Politics | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Finch Report: the question of costs

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Stephen

Last week, having quickly digested the executive summary of the Finch Report on open access (OA), I told you it was complicated. I’ve now read the report in its entirety, along with a large swathes of blogospheric commentary. I’m still decidedly of the view … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Science & Politics | Tagged , , , | 31 Comments

A Bill to Amend the Law of Defamation

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Stephen

The libel reform campaign has yielded a spring crop: a bill to amend the law of defamation was introduced to parliament in the Queen’s Speech on May 10th. This means that legislation to amend the lax libel laws of England and … Continue reading →

Posted in Libel Reform, Science & Politics | Tagged | 4 Comments

Manifest Sense

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Stephen

Mark Henderson’s The Geek Manifesto is a remarkable book. Though many of its themes are not new, it is difficult to imagine such a book being published as recently as five years ago. The Geek Manifesto provides a timely analysis … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Politics | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Access to the Finch Committee on Open Access

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Stephen

The Finch Committee, set up last year by David Willetts to examine how UK-funded research findings can be made more accessible — and mentioned by the minister in his speech on the subject earlier this week — has been meeting … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Science, Science & Politics | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Willetts’ Speech on Open Access: Analysis

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Stephen

David Willetts, Britain’s minister for science and universities, trailed the announcements made in his speech on open access to the UK Publishers’ Association yesterday as a ‘seismic shift’. One learns to be wary of the more hyperbolic statements of government ministers … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Science, Science & Politics | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

UK Government to lead the world to open access?

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Stephen

The open access buzz around the internet last week was all due to the announcement by senior faculty at Harvard that journal subscription prices were rising at an unsustainable rate and the call to colleagues to devote their publishing energies … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Science, Science & Politics | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Science: the bargain for funding

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Stephen

On the Guardian web-site today you will find a piece by myself and Imran Khan of CaSE which is a response to an attack on scientists for striking a faustian bargain with business.   The attack was written by Ananyo … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Science & Politics | Tagged , , , | 43 Comments