2014 VIDA Count is now available

The 2014 VIDA Count has been revealed.

Vida represents Women in Literary Arts and undertakes an annual survey to profile the gender (and now race) of contributors writing for leading literary publications.

The results of last year’s VIDA Count from 2013 caused something of a furore, so poor was the representation of women in a number of prominent journals, most notably the London Review of Books and the New York Review of Books. The reactions from these publications also made headlines. This year, the organisation did three counts: the 2014 VIDA Count, the second annual Larger Literary Landscape VIDA Count (looking at smaller publications from across America) and the first annual 2014 Women of Colour VIDA Count. 

So what about the past year, have things improved? Is there anything to hope for?

Well, sort of.

Few surprises from the 2014 VIDA Count » MobyLives.

Inside The Most Amazing Map Library That You’ve Never Heard Of

Within the campus of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is a geographer’s treasure trove: over a million artifacts from the American Geographical Society, one of the most incredible collections of maps, atlases and globes to be found in America.

But, ironically, the library is practically unexplored territory. When I asked for directions on campus many students themselves didn’t know it was there.

Inside The Most Amazing Map Library That You’ve Never Heard Of | Atlas Obscura.

Fake peer review

… [The research articles] are so obviously fake that nobody who has any business being within 10 feet of a computer science journal would fail to spot them with even the most careless examination. A technological solution is completely unnecessary. The answer to that question exposes the dirty secret of modern scientific publishing.

It is that secret, not the occasional publication of fake papers, that the scientific publishing world should be mortified about, for it is damaging the underpinnings of the whole scientific endeavor.

Fake peer review: Scientific journals publish fraudulent, plagiarized, or nonsense papers..

Happy [End of] Sunshine Week

Welcome once again to Sunshine Week! It’s that time of year when journalists, citizen watchdogs, community activists, data wizards, political gadflies, public-records litigators, and open-gov fanatics come together to champion the cause of transparency and commiserate over the obstacles we face everyday while chasing sunlight.

Round 1: Foiled by process
Round 2: Absurd responses from law enforcement agencies
Round 3: Ridiculous redactions and records errata
Round 4: Retaliations and consequences

Happy Sunshine Week: Introducing The Foilies, Round 1 | Electronic Frontier Foundation.

A look at the news and events happening in the Libraries at Waubonsee Community College