Little Reviews

On “‘Is the Library Open?’: Correlating Unaffiliated Access to Academic Libraries with Open Access Support,” by Katie Wilson et al.

On “‘Is the Library Open?’: Correlating Unaffiliated Access to Academic Libraries with Open Access Support,” by Katie Wilson et al.

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In this article Katie Wilson, Cameron Neylon, Chloe Brookes-Kenworthy, Richard Hosking, Chun-Kai (Karl) Huang, Lucy Montgomery, and Alkim Ozaygen assess the “openness” of a selection of 20 universities from 15 countries by focusing on the flexibility and availability of their libraries for unaffiliated users. The authors acknowledge that open access is growing worldwide, and is evident through an increase in publishing as well as institutional policies suggesting or even mandating open access to research. However, many of these same institutions…

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On Generous Thinking, by Kathleen Fitzpatrick

On Generous Thinking, by Kathleen Fitzpatrick

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In the recently published Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving the University, Kathleen Fitzpatrick ruminates on the current state academia, with a focus on dominant trends toward competition and individualism and weakening public support. “The university has been undermined,” she writes, “by the withdrawal of public support for its functions, but that public support has been undermined by the university’s own betrayals of the public trust” (xi). She argues that a substantial shift in academia is required in order…

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On “The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship,” by Mark D. Wilkinson et al.

On “The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship,” by Mark D. Wilkinson et al.

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In “The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship,” Mark D. Wilkinson et al. provide context and history for the development of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Reusable, Interoperable) principles for data management. According to Wilkinson et al., the now well-known FAIR principles were originally developed at a 2014 workshop in the Netherlands called “Jointly Designing a Data Fairport.” Building on this workshop, a dedicated FAIR working group was established by members of the FORCE 11 community who “fine-tuned…

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On “The Future of the Humanities in the Present & in Public,” by Kathleen Woodward

On “The Future of the Humanities in the Present & in Public,” by Kathleen Woodward

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Woodward considers the current state of public scholarship in the humanities, specifically in the American context. She argues that by and large universities have not lived up to their civic mission of community engagement, although there are many good reasons to embrace public scholarship, and many examples of important and successful public scholarship initiatives (some of which are listed by Woodward). She calls for “more emphasis in the conversations about the public humanities on the importance of intellectuals writing for…

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On “Who Do You Think You Are?”: When Marginality Meets Academic Microcelebrity,” by Tressie McMillan Cottom

On “Who Do You Think You Are?”: When Marginality Meets Academic Microcelebrity,” by Tressie McMillan Cottom

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Using her own extensive experience as an intellectual blogging and writing in public spaces, McMillan Cottom examines the politics at play in being an engaged academic online. She argues that despite the current call for social engagement and visibility, not all public intellectuals are treated equally online; that is, women and people of colour are often targeted and harassed for speaking publicly on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, or their own blogs. McMillan Cottom writes: Put simply, all press is good…

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On “The Engaged Humanities: Principles and Practices for Public Scholarship and Teaching,” by Gregory Jay

On “The Engaged Humanities: Principles and Practices for Public Scholarship and Teaching,” by Gregory Jay

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Gregory Jay reviews the concept of engaged or community scholarship in relation to the humanities. He argues that if the humanities took up such practices, as well as integrated new media tools and techniques more fully, the discipline might gain relevance and public value in an era of funding cuts. Jay explains why engaged scholarship has not been as prominent in the humanities as it has in other disciplines: namely, for Jay, the humanities is based on extrapolative, written critique,…

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On “Higher Education as a Force for Societal Change in the Twenty-First Century,” by Brenda M. Gourley

On “Higher Education as a Force for Societal Change in the Twenty-First Century,” by Brenda M. Gourley

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Gourley, Brenda M. 2012. “Higher Education as a Force for Societal Change in the Twenty-First Century.” In Higher Education and Civic Engagement, edited by Lorraine McIlrath, Ann Lyons, and Ronaldo Munck, 31–39. Gourley focuses on the massive changes of the 21st century, and suggests that higher education needs to reorient toward community engagement in order to effectively respond to these changes and prepare generations to make ethical and sustainable decisions, moving forward. Along with the Association for Commonwealth Universities, she…

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On “A ‘Civic Mission’ for the University: Engaged Scholarship and Community-Based Participatory Research,” by Michael Cuthill

On “A ‘Civic Mission’ for the University: Engaged Scholarship and Community-Based Participatory Research,” by Michael Cuthill

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Cuthill, Michael. 2012. “A ‘Civic Mission’ for the University: Engaged Scholarship and Community-Based Participatory Research.” In Higher Education and Civic Engagement, edited by Lorraine McIlrath, Ann Lyons, and Ronaldo Munck, 81–99. Cuthill explores the construct of “engaged scholarship” as emblematic of the civic mission of the university. For Cuthill, universities have an ethical obligation to contribute to the common good, and he sees this as being particularly feasible through community-based participatory research. Significantly, part of Cuthill’s argument for engaged scholarship…

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On “Of, By, and For the Internet: New Media Studies and Public Scholarship,” by Aimée Morrison

On “Of, By, and For the Internet: New Media Studies and Public Scholarship,” by Aimée Morrison

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From her own experiences with social media, Morrison explores the possibilities for viral academic speech to become what she terms “public / scholarship” (56). For Morrison, a mode of engagement with new media that weighed the public and scholarly elements more evenly would lead to more transformative, and less disruptive, work. Morrison takes time to examine and acknowledge her own privilege as a public scholar, as well as the repercussions to her and others for doing academic work in the…

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On “Copyright: The Immoveable Barrier that Open Access Advocates Underestimated,” by Richard Poynder

On “Copyright: The Immoveable Barrier that Open Access Advocates Underestimated,” by Richard Poynder

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In this blogpost, Richard Poynder suggests that the current state of the Open Access movement is in disarray. Primarily, he blames a fundamental misunderstanding of copyright by authors in particular, but also by librarians and publishers as well. Poynder contests the wisdom of OA advocates who argue that the only legitimate way to license OA work is by using a CC-BY or attribution-only Creative Commons licence. This license is the second-most liberal option of all Creative Commons licenses, requiring only…

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