The latest version of the Weekly Roundup starts with news about an assault against open science
Are battle lines being drawn?
The science blogosphere is all abuzz about a report at News@Nature (sub required) that some traditional scientific publishers have hired a well known PR firm in what appears to be a media blitz against open access. Scientific American also reports on this story. My views on open access are quite clear, so I won’t add anything to the debate. Not yet anyway.
Pre-empting a problem
Via Bio-IT World (and other resources as well) comes this story about the government considering a genetic non-discrimination bill. The legislation would “bar employers from using individuals’ genetic information when making hiring, firing, job placement, or promotion decisions.” Hopefully, this will never become a problem, but some form of legislation is required to make sure this never becomes an issue.
The Google Gapminder tool is cool
I found something rather cool via one of the Seed Daily Zeitgeist’s just shortly after the post on data visualization went up. Gapminder is an organization that develops free software to visualize human development. Just recently we talked about visualizations, and in a similar vein comes this really cool visualization of international statistical data. The organization has worked with Google to set up a custom subscribed search which allows you to add information from gapminder to specific searches. You can subscribe as well.
The Creative Commons on video
I’ve become a regular reader of the Element List. From there comes a video explaining the Creative Commons license. Given the increasing importance the CC license is going to have in science, it is a must see.
Via Performancing comes CrossEngine, which is not a half bad way to search across different sources. I can’t figure out if I prefer that or the Diigo toolbar
Things I Noticed #21
The latest version of the Weekly Roundup starts with news about an assault against open science
Are battle lines being drawn?
The science blogosphere is all abuzz about a report at News@Nature (sub required) that some traditional scientific publishers have hired a well known PR firm in what appears to be a media blitz against open access. Scientific American also reports on this story. My views on open access are quite clear, so I won’t add anything to the debate. Not yet anyway.
Pre-empting a problem
Via Bio-IT World (and other resources as well) comes this story about the government considering a genetic non-discrimination bill. The legislation would “bar employers from using individuals’ genetic information when making hiring, firing, job placement, or promotion decisions.” Hopefully, this will never become a problem, but some form of legislation is required to make sure this never becomes an issue.
The Google Gapminder tool is cool
I found something rather cool via one of the Seed Daily Zeitgeist’s just shortly after the post on data visualization went up. Gapminder is an organization that develops free software to visualize human development. Just recently we talked about visualizations, and in a similar vein comes this really cool visualization of international statistical data. The organization has worked with Google to set up a custom subscribed search which allows you to add information from gapminder to specific searches. You can subscribe as well.
The Creative Commons on video
I’ve become a regular reader of the Element List. From there comes a video explaining the Creative Commons license. Given the increasing importance the CC license is going to have in science, it is a must see.
A new protein interactions database
As found on Genomeweb (free sub reqd)
CrossEngine
Via Performancing comes CrossEngine, which is not a half bad way to search across different sources. I can’t figure out if I prefer that or the Diigo toolbar
Google Co-op for science
Don’t forget to check out Jean-Claude Bradley’s workshop on using Google Co-op for science
Too much information?
I’m there in the comments
Technorati Tags: Gapminder, Google, Creative Commons, Genetics, Open Access