Tl,dr: OpenCon have partially responded to my GDPR request. They still refuse to answer questions regarding the timing and motivations for their public statement, which continues to cause damage today. On January 17, OpenCon made a preliminary response to my GDPR request. The full text of this response is provided below, as I continue to […]
Researchers today are caught like fish in a net of slow, overpriced, unethical and dysfunctional publishing practices. Trapped by academic employment rules, funding arrangements and copyright laws, we have long tried unsuccessfully to wrest control of scholarship from corporate publishers. The fight dates back to at least the 1980s, when physicists started circulating their findings […]
Indeed, when we as researchers first look at a paper, we look at where it was published, who are the authors and where are they from, and some metrics like downloads, reads, and of course, citations. Most of this information is superficial, contributing no real useful information to understanding the research. Even citations, as used […]
The logic that animates both cancel culture and broken windows is fundamentally shallow and also fundamentally fear-based. It acts on the assumption that something that’s not necessarily harmful in and of itself but that somehow has the flavor of harmfulness — be it an edgy tweet or some tipsy neighbors hanging out on the stoop […]
It’s not news that minorities are severely underrepresented in both science and science education. Efforts to increase diversity typically fall into two broad classes: some motivated by a concern for equity and social justice, and others motivated by a concern for increasing the pool of scientists that are prepared to address contemporary needs in science […]
On January 11, 2020, OpenCon responded to parts of my blog post that I posted on January 4. Here, I provide the full, unedited correspondence, including my responses to all comments. Dear all, Please see my inline responses in bold to each of your comments (plain format) below. [OpenCon]: It is regrettable that you have […]
This article represents the outcome of a series of correspondence between myself and OpenCon. I am posting the full and original letter here sent to them on November 28th for the sake of transparency and honesty. I’ve provided a summary timeline here first for clarity about the series of events: Nov 03, 2018: OpenCon notifies […]
So, that was an interesting year. I feel that these transitional times are always a good opportunity for longer-term reflection. This year has, without a doubt, been the most challenging of my life in a number of ways. However, if I look back with a focus just on this year, it seems too short-sighted. If […]
In November 2018, I was formally notified that I was banned from the OpenCon community and events, on the basis of the OpenCon anti-harassment policy as written in the OpenCon Code of Conduct. Since then, I have accepted and respected this decision. The last OpenCon I formally attended as a participant was in November 2016, […]
Last week, I had the pleasure and honour of giving one of the opening talks at the special Hatun Tinkuy event, organised by the Peruvian research council, Concytec, in Lima. My full talk is available online here, and below, with Spanish translations. Definitely worth watching the other talks too. You can pop on English subtitles […]