Nostr notes by Björn Brembs

TIL that "carbon footprint" is a campaign started by ...

2026-03-12T11:03:18Z

TIL that "carbon footprint" is a campaign started by British Petroleum (BP) in order to distract attention away from coporate responsibility and culpability towards individual responsibility and culpability.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781541700116

If you are concerned about your carbon footprint or shame others about their's, it shows how well this campaign has worked and is still working.
But you know what is really on us? To stop this madness right now and demand more corporate regulations!
#climatecrisis

So totally agree! The fact that arxiv actually feels like they ...

2026-02-03T15:41:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…pn6m
_________________________

So totally agree!

The fact that arxiv actually feels like they need to review preprints, in a very ironic way means we need a pre-preprint server? 🤣

And as if to add insult to injury, our publication system was already FUBAR before LLMs were a thing, but people kept pretending the problem will go away by itself if they just manage to keep ignoring it for long enough. That ostrich attitude is so going to blow up in everybody's faces now.

Wow! Big Science organization leading the way on #openscience ! ...

2025-12-04T13:31:01Z

Wow! Big Science organization leading the way on #openscience !
Well done!

"The CNRS is breaking free from the Web of Science"
https://www.cnrs.fr/en/update/cnrs-breaking-free-web-science

h/t lvgn (npub1le4…0w0x)

From someone who actually replied to the scam mails: "The ...

2025-11-12T16:58:01Z

From someone who actually replied to the scam mails:

"The inner workings of a paper mill"

https://deevybee.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-inner-workings-of-paper-mill.html

#academicchatter #papermills

Killer quote: “I’m going back to the Fediverse. Back to ...

2025-10-30T11:21:05Z

Killer quote:

“I’m going back to the Fediverse. Back to Mastodon. To the nerds, the hobbyists, the idealists. The people who don’t talk about reach, but about relevance. To those who understand that decentralization isn’t nostalgic, it’s the future. That digital sovereignty isn’t a gimmick, it’s a survival strategy.“

https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/10/30/a-mastodon-migration-from-bluesky-would-be-different/

The zoologist in me is laughing so hard at this 🤣 "New ...

2025-10-21T09:57:32Z

The zoologist in me is laughing so hard at this 🤣

"New 'Wolf Skull' Tattoo Trend Exposed As Being Raccoon Tattoos"

https://brobible.com/culture/article/wolf-skull-tattoo-trend-exposed-raccoon/

#zoology #tattoos

Here are two easy things YOU can do: #1 Every academic supporting ...

2025-09-03T12:31:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…4c0d
_________________________

Here are two easy things YOU can do:

#1 Every academic supporting #openscience and #openaccess should consider ORE as their primary publishing venue and ask colleague/co-authors to do the same.

#2 Point your librarian, institutional leaders, funding agencies towards the documents linked above and ask them to support ORE, too.

#3 Make *everyone* and every institution aware that they now have a choice: support parasitic corporations or the public good. By their actions you shall know them!

3. As we outline in our article, such a decentralized public ...

2025-09-03T12:31:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…2efk
_________________________

3. As we outline in our article, such a decentralized public infrastructure can be highly resilient against not only natural or political disasters, but also "against corporate capture and surveillance technologies":
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230206
4. If/when funding agencies realize that maintaining funding for legacy journals directly counteracts the goals they signed onto with their support of ORE, the legacy journals stand to suffer massive drops in revenue.

What can YOU do?

3/4

#academicchatter

1. This development essentially entails that all authors in the ...

2025-09-03T12:31:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…6vqc
_________________________

1. This development essentially entails that all authors in the participating countries now have a venue where they can publish #openaccess without any fees.
2. The vision is to develop Open Research Europe (ORE) "as a collective non-profit open access publishing service for the public good".
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/3603e219-6a65-11ef-a8ba-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

2/4

This should have been big news! Ten funding agencies from eight ...

2025-09-03T12:31:02Z

This should have been big news!

Ten funding agencies from eight European countries have pledged to support a public infrastructure that is poised to replace academic journals:
FWF 🇦🇹
RCN 🇳🇴
Forte 🇸🇪
ARIS 🇸🇮
SRC 🇸🇪
FCT 🇵🇹
CSIC 🇪🇸
DFG 🇩🇪
Formas 🇸🇪
ANR 🇫🇷
Only two of them issued press releases in English:
https://www.fwf.ac.at/en/news/detail/joint-commitment-to-strengthening-open-research-europe
https://www.fccn.pt/en/atualidade/fct-assina-declaracao-fortalecimento-open-research-europe-ore/
and one more, FWO from 🇳🇱 considers joining:
https://www.nwo.nl/en/news/nwo-endorses-joining-open-access-platform-open-research-europe-ore
Why is this BIG? 1/4
#openscience #openaccess

The slings and arrows of academic publishing when you are a ...

2025-07-16T15:22:13Z

The slings and arrows of academic publishing when you are a "romantic weirdo":

What happens if you don’t want to pay to publish?
https://euromathsoc.org/magazine/articles/215

#academicchatter #publishing #academia #oa #openaccess

Conference hosted by the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna: ...

2025-05-02T15:22:08Z

Conference hosted by the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna:

"Free Will: New Perspectives from #Philosophy, #Biology and #Neuroscience"

https://philevents.org/event/show/135653

In some meetings, you wear a red band around your arm, in others, ...

2025-05-02T11:40:34Z

In some meetings, you wear a red band around your arm, in others, you bring your red basecap.

#uspol #USPolitics

Not particularly surprising and yet very important work: "Our ...

2025-04-30T13:22:18Z

Not particularly surprising and yet very important work:

"Our results question also the fairness of the publication system currently put forward by journals"

A new go-to article for evidence of how academic publishing really is:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0322012

If your buddy becomes an editor at a Nature journal, your chances ...

2025-04-30T12:31:18Z

If your buddy becomes an editor at a Nature journal, your chances of publishing a Nature paper more than double:

"For each additional original article published in the two years before the editor’s appointment, these authors had 161% more chances to publish another original article in this journal after the editor’s appointment"

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0322012

#academicchatter #publishing #openscience

Actually, the male is a former politician, Germany's former ...

2025-04-30T07:24:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…ue9w
_________________________

Actually, the male is a former politician, Germany's former defense minister who lost his PhD and political career when it was discovered that he had plagiarized his dissertation.

DOGE handing over government logins to Russia is not a scandal ...

2025-04-16T12:31:15Z

DOGE handing over government logins to Russia is not a scandal because everybody was expecting it anyway?
"Within minutes after DOGE accessed the NLRB's systems, someone with an IP address in Russia started trying to log in [...]. The attempts were "near real-time," [...]. Those attempts were blocked, but they were especially alarming. Whoever was attempting to log in was using one of the newly created DOGE accounts — and the person had the correct username and password"
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5355896/doge-nlrb-elon-musk-spacex-security

Retired UCSF professor wins the internet this week: "Watch: ...

2025-03-28T13:58:01Z

Retired UCSF professor wins the internet this week:

"Watch: Older Woman In Berkeley Gives a Whoopin’ to Pro-Trump Counterprotester Who Tried to Stun-Gun Her"

https://sfist.com/2025/03/25/watch-old-lady-in-berkeley-gives-a-whoopin-to-pro-trump-counterprotester-who-tried-to-stun-gun-her/

Susan Kegeles:
https://profiles.ucsf.edu/susan.kegeles
What a hero: Her research saved lives and now she works to save her homeland

"If all US citizens would be like that old lady, the US would be saved tomorrow,"
https://www.berkeleyscanner.com/2025/03/26/community/berkeley-woman-protest-takedown-trump-supporter/

#academicchatter #USpol

Stanley doubling down and making it unambiguously clear for ...

2025-03-28T13:31:00Z

Stanley doubling down and making it unambiguously clear for everybody, where he thinks things are headed:

"What does it say that a scholar of fascism is leaving the US right now? Said Stanley: “Part of it is you’re leaving because ultimately, it is like leaving Germany in 1932, 33, 34."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/26/yale-professor-fascism-canada

#USpol #academicchatter

I completely understand that sentiment! I hope they will fight ...

2025-03-28T12:16:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…fmmd
_________________________

I completely understand that sentiment! I hope they will fight from there, to the best of their abilities.

Yes, this has been (and, to some extent still is) a question ...

2025-03-28T05:10:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…wfmx
_________________________

Yes, this has been (and, to some extent still is) a question around people over here fleeing the Nazis in Germany, back in the days. Not everyone is cut out to fight back...

It is more than just a warning sign when two experts on fascism ...

2025-03-26T16:02:50Z

It is more than just a warning sign when two experts on fascism (Snyder and Stanley) leave the US citing political developments - it's the canary fleeing the coalmine:

https://dailynous.com/2025/03/25/stanley-from-yale-to-toronto/

When people like these leave, you know it's bad.

#uspol #academicchatter

It's exactly what I did on my 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 but in ...

2025-03-24T09:52:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…gwuj
_________________________

It's exactly what I did on my 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 but in Turbo Pascal!

Who says #science is not a growth business? "Springer Nature ...

2025-03-18T13:31:02Z

Who says #science is not a growth business?

"Springer Nature has announced its results for the financial year 2024. Revenue was €1,847 million, representing, on an underlying basis, a 5% increase over the same period in 2023. Adjusted operating profit increased to €512 million, equating to underlying growth of 7%."

and a profit margin of nearly 28%

https://www.researchinformation.info/news/springer-profits-up-to-e512-million/

#academia #publishing #academicchatter #openacces

"Autocrats — both left-wing and right-wing — always ...

2025-03-17T14:22:00Z

"Autocrats — both left-wing and right-wing — always attack universities."

"Universities are independent centers of ideas and often prominent centers of dissent. Autocrats are allergic to sources of dissent, so they almost invariably seek to silence, weaken, or control them."

"Remaining silent will not protect us — but it does come with at least two major costs:"

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/3/14/enos-levitsky-harvard-columbia-trump/

Perhaps by "free will in the traditional sense" you mean ...

2025-03-10T21:12:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…7zlu
_________________________

Perhaps by "free will in the traditional sense" you mean that FW requires magic? Is that it? Sorry it took me so long 🤣

As a neuroscientist, I take what we currently understand to indicate that our nervous system is fully capable, on its own, no magic required, to provide us with the kind of free will that entails the kind of graded responsibility that, e.g., courts apply.

So you claim that I cannot possibly decide whether I want to, ...

2025-03-10T20:18:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…89ap
_________________________

So you claim that I cannot possibly decide whether I want to, say, a propos of nothing in particular, live in a dictatorship or a democracy and then you need not justify that outrageous claim in any way?

Well, it's easy for me: I decide that I want to live in a democracy, and my reason is that it has turned out that being able to tell politicians to leave power is good for science and long term prosperity. So there you have it, I'm right and you are wrong. 😁😇

How do you know that?

2025-03-10T19:27:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…47c5
_________________________

How do you know that?

Ok, this may be worth discussing outside of writing, as I think ...

2025-03-10T19:21:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…uhts
_________________________

Ok, this may be worth discussing outside of writing, as I think there is no problem to decide what I want.

I'm not sure what "I am however completely unable to ...

2025-03-10T17:26:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…8muh
_________________________

I'm not sure what "I am however completely unable to determine what I shall want" actually means?

Of course what I want has changed over time - for instance by obtaining what I wanted. And then I choose to want something else. I actually think about what else I want. So why do you say that what I feel is a matter of course, is 'completely impossible'? I don't get that?

That makes little sense to me. A necessary criterion, as ...

2025-03-10T17:24:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…jkju
_________________________

That makes little sense to me. A necessary criterion, as mentioned above, is that an action is not determined by the environment, it has tom come from the organism itself.

Another criterion is that it the action cennot be predicted by the history of the organism.

In experiments, we can see that both criteria are met. Moreover, a third criterion is that the organism must be in control, i.e., pure chance is not a decision. Also that criterion is met.

So it seems like evolution over the last 550 million years or so ...

2025-03-10T16:52:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…g8pk
_________________________

So it seems like evolution over the last 550 million years or so has favored animals that can make autonomous decisions - only for humans to drop that capacity? Sure, possible, but it does somewhat implausible.

There is plenty of evidence that being able to behave variably, ...

2025-03-10T16:52:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…n5su
_________________________

There is plenty of evidence that being able to behave variably, that is, independent of the environment, confers an organism with highly adaptive autonomy for a large number of highly evolutionarily relevant tasks.

I have summmarized some of the most well-documented examples in animals here:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.12.011

So to summarize in lay terms what freedom flies have: flies can ...

2025-03-10T16:47:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…aslv
_________________________

So to summarize in lay terms what freedom flies have: flies can make different decisions under the same circumstances. This is highly dependent on the circumstances: in some situations, their behavior will lok quite similar and one has to look closely to find differences. In other situations,. the behavior of the animals varies a lot.
IOW, the amount of freedom variers and this variation appears evolutionary advantageous.

Seriously? That's it? That's the best they can come up ...

2025-03-10T13:58:00Z

Seriously? That's it? That's the best they can come up with? A list of search words? Any 3-year old would know how to easily beat that system. Easiest of many solutions: just make sure *every single* grant proposal has several of the words spread over title and abstract. Easy peasy.
Let the techbros explain why they killed all research.

https://gizmodo.com/the-list-of-trumps-forbidden-words-that-will-get-your-paper-flagged-at-nsf-2000559661

Just in case anybody needed a reminder of where this is going. ...

2025-03-10T13:31:04Z

Just in case anybody needed a reminder of where this is going.

Indeed, it is a necessary, but not a sufficient criterion, ...

2025-03-10T13:01:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…73mh
_________________________

Indeed, it is a necessary, but not a sufficient criterion, I'd say.

I'd also say that 'responsibility' is something only humans can have, certainly not my flies 😆

I don't work in humans, so it may well be that humans are ...

2025-03-10T11:34:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…s3h9
_________________________

I don't work in humans, so it may well be that humans are more predictable than flies.
Since I work in flies, I can tell you that no Laplacian demon would be able to predict their choices.
Do humans have less freedom than flies? Maybe.

The death sentence for science in the US: killing running grants ...

2025-03-06T14:58:17Z

The death sentence for science in the US: killing running grants for political reasons.

"Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants"

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00703-1

If this stands, #science in the US is dead.

This is true for too man universities these days, you are ...

2025-03-05T17:49:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…z5qp
_________________________

This is true for too man universities these days, you are correct.
And yet, I think even the most detached admins would have a hard time resisting a global push, wouldn't they?

Academia could indeed become the bedrock of a more democratic, ...

2025-03-05T13:58:01Z

Academia could indeed become the bedrock of a more democratic, pluralistic and progressive social media, but "it would require universities, as well as sector-wide organisations such as funding councils and learned societies, to recognise and take a stance in relation to these issues in a way they have thus far failed to do."

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2025/03/03/bluesky-will-trap-academics-in-the-same-way-twitter-x-did/

Pretty much exactly what we have also pointed out:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230207

Yes, it seems quite obvious that universities are still hiding in ...

2025-03-05T13:31:01Z

Yes, it seems quite obvious that universities are still hiding in their digital cave, as they have been for nearly 30 years now:

"Could [academia] respond in a more organised and effective way to future waves of platform enshittification? I hope so, but it would require universities, as well as sector-wide organisations such as funding councils and learned societies, to recognise and take a stance in relation to these issues in a way they have thus far failed to do."

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2025/03/03/bluesky-will-trap-academics-in-the-same-way-twitter-x-did/

Yes, Nature is completely right that #Trump is assaulting science ...

2025-03-03T19:58:00Z

Yes, Nature is completely right that #Trump is assaulting science and that he is swinging a wrecking ball at all publicly funded science:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00562-w
After all, this is what he and his ilk have been pushing for all along, since 2016: to abolish publicly funded science. Just one example from back then:
“Do we really need government-funded research at all?”
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/12/21/14012552/trump-budget-director-research-science-mulvaney
There are plenty more. #Science is the antithesis to #fascism, so one of them must go.
1/8
#USpol

Yes, Nature is completely right that #Trump is assaulting science ...

2025-02-27T13:31:00Z

Yes, Nature is completely right that #Trump is assaulting science and that he is swinging a wrecking ball to all publicly funded science:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00562-w

After all, this is what he and his ilk have been pushing for all along, since 2016: to abolish publicly funded science. Just one example from back then:

“Do we really need government-funded research at all?”

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/12/21/14012552/trump-budget-director-research-science-mulvaney

There are plenty more. Science is the antithesis to fascism, so one of them must go.

#USpol

I've never understood how scientists, in particular, could ...

2025-02-21T14:58:00Z

I've never understood how scientists, in particular, could flee from that Musk place only to take refuge in, wait for it, a Bannon place like #BlueSky. 🤦‍♂️

"On social media, Mastodon is managed and run by the community (e.g., https://neuromatch.social is a server run by neuroscientists) and is robust by design."

https://www.thetransmitter.org/policy/science-must-step-away-from-nationally-managed-infrastructure/

When rogue players multiply, single points of failure are worse than just a gamble.

#openscience is best on the #fediverse

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230207

"How disruptive would it be if GitHub started deleting ...

2025-02-21T14:22:00Z

"How disruptive would it be if GitHub started deleting repositories, or Google Scholar started hiding certain papers in response to U.S. government demands?"

https://www.thetransmitter.org/policy/science-must-step-away-from-nationally-managed-infrastructure/

Most people with some interest have seen precisely this coming for more than a decade. Dan Goodman (npub14c5…rfvf) is among them. It's great that outlets like The Transmitter (npub17rv…w9lk) are now also recognizing this problem and are helping to amplify these voices.

#openscience #infrastructure

YES! @npub14c5…rfvf gets it perfectly right! ...

2025-02-21T08:35:36Z

YES! Dan Goodman (npub14c5…rfvf) gets it perfectly right!

https://www.thetransmitter.org/policy/science-must-step-away-from-nationally-managed-infrastructure/

Now everybody get up and talk to your library director and/or library committee that this is what you want to happen!

I've even started to put together some lines for you to use:

https://cryptpad.fr/doc/#/2/doc/edit/C65EM+kOfMsSklipy5iSYWWE/

Maybe you want to chime in and help make this a convincing odcument?

#neuroscience #science #opendata #openscience #infrastructure

Everybody knows that efficient, cost-effective and high-quality ...

2025-02-18T11:44:40Z

Everybody knows that efficient, cost-effective and high-quality scholarly publishing is possible. The Global South has been demonstrating this for years, no decades, as have various journals and fields. A nice summary of how the European Geosciences Union shows the world how it's done has just been published as a preprint:

https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-419/

There really is no reason to remain caught in the trap of the corporate publishers one minute longer.

#openaccess #openscience #academicchatter

This boggles my mind: In the 1980s and 90s, universities just ...

2025-01-30T16:22:45Z

This boggles my mind:

In the 1980s and 90s, universities just pulled thousands of kilometers of cables, installed routers and software - just so they could have web servers and give everyone at their institution an email account.

Today, the best most of them can do is find some arbitrary Mastodon instance somewhere else and get one single account.

Imagine every university having just a single email address, e.g.

my-university@apple.com

🤦‍♂️

#academicchatter

We are hiring! We are looking for two PhD students interested in ...

2025-01-07T12:43:19Z

We are hiring!

We are looking for two PhD students interested in the regulation of habit formation. Habits are useful to decrease cognitive load, but carry the risk of becoming stereotyped and hard to control - it’s hard to shake a bad habit. The fruit fly Drosophila also forms habits and we have discovered two important circuits in the fly nervous system: the habits are formed in the motor system of the ventral nerve cord (DOI: …

https://bjoern.brembs.net/2025/01/we-are-hiring/

Only 12 signatures needed to reach 2k signatures urging ...

2025-01-06T11:31:28Z

Only 12 signatures needed to reach 2k signatures urging univeristies to leave X:

https://openpetition.de/Unis4Mastodon

Only four days left to sign!

Help us reach this milestone by spreading the word!

#academicchatter #academis

By now, most decent people have left Musk's Nazi Chatroom and ...

2025-01-06T10:17:50Z

By now, most decent people have left Musk's Nazi Chatroom and some have even written about it, e.g.:

https://www.publix.de/en/news/exit-is-our-only-hope

However, #academia appears to be a little slow on the uptake, despite the grandiose words in their mission statements:

https://bjoern.brembs.net/2024/12/by-their-actions-you-shall-know-them/

The petition we have started to spur universities into action is nearly at the end:

https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/open-letter-to-the-german-rectors-conference-hrk-on-the-use-of-social-media

Can you sign it and push it beyond 2k signatures?

#academicchatter

By their actions you shall know them Universities worldwide ...

2024-12-22T15:35:07Z

By their actions you shall know them

Universities worldwide currently face a pivotal choice: should they contribute to building a global infrastructure for exchange, science, and discourse, free from the control of oligarchs, to promote democracy, human rights, and digital participation? Or should they continue advertising on private networks, hoping for clicks and marginally increased student enrollment? The Fediverse serves as a litmus test for universities globally:…

https://bjoern.brembs.net/2024/12/by-their-actions-you-shall-know-them/

If you haven't checked out mastodon.academy yet, now is a ...

2024-12-22T14:20:25Z

If you haven't checked out mastodon.academy yet, now is a good time.

Just a heads-up: we will be recruiting two graduate students in ...

2024-12-18T15:14:43Z

Just a heads-up: we will be recruiting two graduate students in #neuroscience next year! We just received word that a grant by our wonderful postdoc Tina and me was fiunded. 🥳
The topic will be the regulation of habit formation in #Drosophila

Two relevant papers:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19576773/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38779314/

If this piques your interest, let me know. We are an #openscience lab.

It would be so funny if it wasn't so sad... ...

2024-11-27T12:23:58Z

It would be so funny if it wasn't so sad...

Now that the US is shifting towards a full-fledged fascist state, ...

2024-11-21T12:52:27Z

Now that the US is shifting towards a full-fledged fascist state, maybe we can start introducing some good old German nomenclature to describe what is happening. For instance, the behavior described in this news article:

https://disconnect.blog/advertisers-are-returning-to-twitterx-to-keep-elon-musk-happy/

is what we call "Mitläufer" in German:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitl%C3%A4ufer

And no, it is not an andearing term.

"Seit der Übernahme des Kurznachrichtendiestes X durch Elon ...

2024-11-21T09:39:37Z

"Seit der Übernahme des Kurznachrichtendiestes X durch Elon Musk, können Menschen dort weitgehend ungestört Hetze, Diskriminierungen und Falschinformationen verbreiten. Gerade Hochschulen – Orte der Demokratie und des Wissens – sollten X daher verlassen. Für die Wissenschaftskommunikation sollten sie Mastodon nutzen."

https://blog.wikimedia.de/2024/11/20/darum-sollten-hochschulen-von-x-zu-mastodon-wechseln/

"Es kann eben nicht ausgeschlossen werden, dass Elon Musk ...

2024-11-19T14:22:00Z

"Es kann eben nicht ausgeschlossen werden, dass Elon Musk morgen #BlueSky kauft. Aber das Mastodon-Netzwerk kann niemand kaufen."

https://www.riffreporter.de/de/gesellschaft/aktionsbuendnis-mastodon-wissenschaft-hochschulen-x-twitter-abkehr

Link zur Petition:
https://www.openpetition.de/petition/blog/appell-an-die-hochschulrektorenkonferenz-zur-nutzung-sozialer-medien#petition-main

#unisinsfediverse

[The academic publishers now] "not only provide tools, they ...

2024-11-18T19:58:00Z

[The academic publishers now] "not only provide tools, they also collect user data. They log everything a researcher does, every keystroke."

https://ukrant.nl/magazine/elseviers-stranglehold-on-academia-how-publishers-get-rich-from-our-data/?lang=en

Yes, the ex-publishers have essentially reversed the net flow of ...

2024-11-18T17:58:01Z

Yes, the ex-publishers have essentially reversed the net flow of information: it used to flow from them to us, through the journals. Now we provide them with our data and that's where the real gold is found:

"Academic publishers’ most valuable asset used to be their journals. Now, it’s the data they collect from researchers and then sell."

https://ukrant.nl/magazine/elseviers-stranglehold-on-academia-how-publishers-get-rich-from-our-data/?lang=en

#publishing #openaccess #openscience #academicchatter

Best news this week: The Onion said it aims to replace ...

2024-11-14T16:58:01Z

Best news this week:

The Onion said it aims to replace "Infowars’ relentless barrage of disinformation" with the Onion’s "relentless barrage of humor."

"Parody news website the Onion buys Alex Jones' Infowars out of bankruptcy"

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/parody-website-onion-buys-alex-jones-infowars-out-bankruptcy-court-documents-2024-11-14/

Stellar move, as always, by The Onion

For really no reason at all 😇 here's why I find the user ...

2024-11-14T07:51:59Z

For really no reason at all 😇 here's why I find the user experience on #Mastodon better than in that Nazi Chatroom when it was still called "Twitter":

- 500+ characters
- post editing
- follow hashtags
- better s/n ratio
- no ads

Plus, https://quintsns.pianeta.uno/ does a pretty good job at replacing paper.li

So I wouldn't go back, even if someone resurrected Twitter. Now, FriendFeed on the other hand... 😆

Cory Doctorow (npub1fdr…lvhs) says it best, why #BlueSky is no alternative:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/02/ulysses-pact/#tie-yourself-to-a-federated-mast

After analyzing more than 1k contracts, the verdict is in and it ...

2024-10-01T12:31:00Z

After analyzing more than 1k contracts, the verdict is in and it is clear:
"Our analysis demonstrates that research institutions seem to be 'trapped' in transformative agreements. Instead of being a bridge towards a fully #OpenAccess world, academia is stuck in the hybrid system. This endows the legacy (non-Open Access) publishing houses with substantial market power. It raises entry barriers, lowers competition, and increases costs for libraries and universities."

https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.20224

#oa

The EUs #openscience policy developments really are ...

2024-09-05T07:15:48Z

The EUs #openscience policy developments really are evidence-based, forward-looking and technologically sound:

https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/3603e219-6a65-11ef-a8ba-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

When was the last time you could say that about politics? 🤣

I listen to a lot of science podcasts. Pretty much daily. ...

2024-09-02T20:08:47Z

I listen to a lot of science podcasts. Pretty much daily. Depending on how much I travel, it can be up to 5-10 hours a week.
Synaptic is a fantastic podcast from The Transmitter (npub17rv…w9lk) that blows most other science podcasts out of the water, not just in terms of production value but in particular in intellectual depth and breadth.
So this is a must-listen for anybody who is into #neuroscience

https://www.thetransmitter.org/podcasts/

I just went and subscribed to the other podcasts, too.

Hat-tip: Nicole Rust (npub1583…dgxr)