Washington Post: The pandemic is rewriting the rules of science. But at what cost?. “The pandemic has upended norms of the scientific process, from the way studies are funded through the publication of findings. Researchers have been presenting their results online or sending them directly to media outlets rather than awaiting publication in prestigious academic journals. And the stodgy process of peer review has evolved into forthright — and sometimes acrimonious — assessments in the unbridled atmosphere of the Internet.”
research
Strategies for integrating Open Access Resources (OAR) into libraries collections: A study (LIS Scholarship Archive Works)
LIS Scholarship Archive Works: Strategies for integrating Open Access Resources (OAR) into libraries collections: A study. “The study’s general purpose is to assist both management and collection development practitioners in adopting appropriate strategies for integrating OA materials into libraries’ collections. The study was designed to specifically examine the challenges to the integration of OAR into libraries’ collections and to explore relevant strategies for the integration.”
Dazed: Elise by Olsen has launched a fashion research library
Dazed: Elise by Olsen has launched a fashion research library. “Launching today (October 15), the digital library includes more than 5,000 pieces of contemporary printed documents and artefacts, including books, magazines, lookbooks, show invitations, and illustrations from the likes of Acne, Comme des Garçons, Issey Miyake, Larry Clark, Martin Margiela, Nan Goldin, and more. The collection will keep growing through ongoing donations from fashion houses and publishers.” The archive is free to access.
EurekAlert: Internet connectivity is oxygen for research and development work
EurekAlert: Internet connectivity is oxygen for research and development work. “Fast and reliable internet access is fundamental for research and development activity around the world. Seamless connectivity is a privilege we often take for granted. But in developing nations, technological limitations can become stumbling blocks to efficient communication and cause significant disadvantages.”
University of Birmingham: New online research database set to boost battle against COVID-19
University of Birmingham: New online research database set to boost battle against COVID-19. “Launched today, the international open-access database for ongoing research activity COVID CORPUS aims to encourage collaboration and reduce duplication between researchers across all academic disciplines working on Covid-19 research. Through its easy-to-use interface, the database will allow researchers and funders around the globe to coordinate, collaborate and network to help shape the most effective and efficient response to COVID-19 and its many impacts.”
Winnipeg Free Press: U of M building database for Arctic researchers
Winnipeg Free Press: U of M building database for Arctic researchers. “Dr. Carson Leung, a [University of Manitoba] computer science professor who runs the database and data mining lab, said this is the beginning of a long-term project that will see the university and college build a searchable database and also help researchers and those living in the arctic to deal with the changing climate in the north.”
Hamburg News: Hamburg Open Science launches new platform
Hamburg News: Hamburg Open Science launches new platform. “The inter-university programme ‘Hamburg Open Science’ (HOS) has launched a new website in October that bundles the publications of 17 research institutions in Hamburg including those of the University Hospital Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). The results of publicly-funded research in Hamburg are easily found with free text searches. The Carl von Ossietzky State and University Library (SUB) is co-ordinating the platform in a bid to shape cultural change in academia and to promote transparency and interaction.”
Gustavus Adolphus College: SSRC Grant Explores COVID-19’s Impact on Marginalized Communities
Gustavus Adolphus College: SSRC Grant Explores COVID-19’s Impact on Marginalized Communities. “A Minnesota-based research team led by Gustavus Adolphus College history professor Maddalena Marinari has been awarded a Rapid-Response Grant on COVID-19 and the Social Sciences by The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) to explore the impact of COVID-19 on African, Asian, and Latinx immigrant and refugee communities.”
EurekAlert: Initiative for Open Abstracts launches to promote discovery of research
EurekAlert: Initiative for Open Abstracts launches to promote discovery of research. “The Initiative for Open Abstracts (I4OA) calls on all scholarly publishers to open the abstracts of their publications, and specifically to distribute them through Crossref, in order to facilitate large-scale access and promote discovery of critical research.”
Phys .org: Digital technologies will help build resilient communities after the coronavirus pandemic
Phys .org: Digital technologies will help build resilient communities after the coronavirus pandemic. “Amid the horrific public health and economic fallout from a fast-moving pandemic, a more positive phenomenon is playing out: COVID-19 has provided opportunities to businesses, universities and communities to become hothouses of innovation. Around the world, digital technologies are driving high-impact interventions. Community and public health leaders are handling time-sensitive tasks and meeting pressing needs with technologies that are affordable and inclusive, and don’t require much technical knowledge.”
Fast Company: This website lets you look for patterns in COVID-19 data
Fast Company: This website lets you look for patterns in COVID-19 data. “Months into the pandemic, there are still so many unknowns about COVID-19. Does age or ethnicity affect how likely a COVID patient is to be admitted to the ICU? Are patients who don’t enter the ICU more likely to end up back in the hospital later? And do comorbidities—other health conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease, that may worsen someone’s COVID-19 case—have any affect on how long a coronavirus patient is hospitalized for?”
University of Washington: Who’s tweeting about scientific research? And why?
University of Washington: Who’s tweeting about scientific research? And why?. “Scientists candidly tweet about their unpublished research not only to one another but also to a broader audience of engaged laypeople. When consumers of cutting-edge science tweet or retweet about studies they find interesting, they leave behind a real-time record of the impact that taxpayer-funded research is having within academia and beyond.”
Phys .org: The impact of human mobility on disease spread
Phys .org: The impact of human mobility on disease spread. “In a paper publishing on Tuesday in the SIAM Journal of Applied Mathematics, Daozhou Gao of Shanghai Normal University investigated the way in which human dispersal affects disease control and total extent of an infection’s spread. Few previous studies have explored the impact of human movement on infection size or disease prevalence—defined as the proportion of individuals in a population that are infected with a specific pathogen—in different regions. This area of research is especially pertinent during severe disease outbreaks, when governing leaders may dramatically reduce human mobility by closing borders and restricting travel. During these times, it is essential to understand how limiting people’s movements affects the spread of disease.”
MIT Technology Review: AI ethics groups are repeating one of society’s classic mistakes
MIT Technology Review: AI ethics groups are repeating one of society’s classic mistakes. “International organizations and corporations are racing to develop global guidelines for the ethical use of artificial intelligence. Declarations, manifestos, and recommendations are flooding the internet. But these efforts will be futile if they fail to account for the cultural and regional contexts in which AI operates.”
‘So far, so good’: The view from inside a coronavirus vaccine trial (Horizon)
Horizon: ‘So far, so good’: The view from inside a coronavirus vaccine trial. “Dr Lidia Oostvogels is feeling the pressure. After nearly two decades of working in vaccine development, seeing the subject of her work – coronavirus – in the news every single day is a first for her ‘It’s very exciting and very motivational, but there is a lot of pressure,’ she said. Dr Oostvogels is steering the human trials of a coronavirus vaccine for German biopharmaceutical firm CureVac, where she is head of their infectious diseases programme and leads its development of vaccines and therapies.”