February 2014

The only consumer relationship that an undergraduate in England has is with the Student Loans Company as a proxy for government.

Triumph of the day was negotiating to provide real ale at the What Happens Now conference. This was not a hard sell to @RupertHildyard.

Some extremely Panglossian rhetoric from labour underway here: "Eye-watering cuts could make services more user friendly, says Labour"

(I experienced peripheral vasculitis & neuropathy related to my rheumatoid arthritis: it was the most painful thing I've encountered)

However, belittling legitimate concerns re. data privacy ("paranoid" "conspiracy") will not win the argument. Balance: yes; slanging: no.

I usually quite like BG, but sometimes he can come across as overly sanctimonious in positioning himself as the Moderate Voice of Reason.

Those lucky lucky folks on the mailing list for my project now get my "feature of the day" email for the typesetter. Today: table captions.

Small mouse in our kitchen retrieved bait from humane trap & closed lid w/out being caught. Discovered at 6am trip to park to release... Grr

When a journal sends a piece for review, asks for revisions, then sends next round to another reviewer who suggests different changes. That.

The design of academia . edu leaves much to be desired. That & the constant breakage: I now can't see/edit any papers w/out files.

Times Higher: "you've enjoyed reading 5 articles this month for free". Given that most HE news is apocalyptic that's a bit presumptuous.

Sceptical of rumours of Pynchon death: 1.) from fake DeLillo acc?; 2.) no evidence that DD & TP are "friends"; 3.) is that DD's grammar?

Just saw Young Vic prod. of Happy Days. Suitably intense w/ sonic apocalypse for Winnie's "bell". Pyrotechnics not quite up to National's...

Commercial publishers on the prowl looking to snap-up my scholar-run OA journals to impose APC model. Repeat of learned society outsourcing.

BBC: "Young residents of Porthmadog in Gwynedd have said they were frightened by the loss of electricity caused by severe storms." #thenews

Remember reading phrase re the university "subcontracting out its hiring/promotion procedures to publishers". Can't now find it. Any ideas?

it would be very nice if SAGE were to publish my article on Russell Hoban today (as it's his birthday), but think it unlikely. #SAGEOpen

Met one of my academic heroes today - John Willinsky, founder of the Public Knowledge Project, Prof of Education, intellectual historian.

Few things fill me with tech dread more than automated unpingable defect warnings on my dedicated server. Hard reboot, I salute you.