+Please remove if inappropriate+

Hi,

I've tried searching online, but is there a particular way (MLA if it exists) for conference proceedings published in a CDROM only?

Thanks!

Hello!

This is my first year as Coordinator for The Gathering, which takes place on the Friday of WisCon, from 1-4pm. At The Gathering, you can greet old friends and make some new ones as you peruse the many tables and activities available for your delight and amusement.

Of course, in order to have activities available, we need people to host said activities.

Please write to gathering34@wiscon.info with any offers you might have to host activities (with a description of said activities). Write there also with any questions you might have.

Thanks!

The National Union of Jewish LGBTQQI Students's 14th annual conference will take place January 15th to the 17th at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. As usual the conference will be held over a weekend, and co-hosted by a campus Hillel, the NUJLS leadership conference features workshops, services, community building, and social time. This year's keynotes are Rabbi Bradley Artsen, Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and comedian Dana Goldberg!

We welcome students from all sorts of backgrounds (religious, not, newly out, not, liberal to conservative, and more). Workshops, speakers, and text studies address such topics as Judaism and homosexuality, activism, relationships, ethics, coming out, and politics. Last year more than one hundred students came from across the United States and Canada to participate, and we anticipate a similar turnout this year! Registration ($80) includes meals (all kosher), housing, and all conference events. Travel and registrations subsidies are available upon request (in the registration form). View past schedules and register at http://www.nujlsonline.org/conferenceinfo.html

Current Music: Blackmore's Night - Ghost of a Rose | Powered by Last.fm

...aka the-coming-of-age-story? I've had 3 different professors pronounce it very different and I'd like to know what is the most common way of pronouncing it.

Tags: when google fails-a_a to the rescue

This is a question that has come out of a somewhat heated debate I had with my boyfriend this morning.* I'm not sure how relevant it is in the US but it's something of a hot topic here in the UK.

Yesterday the government announced that it will be slashing higher education budgets in the next few years. The minister suggested that to make up for it Universities should offer more two year intensive degrees instead of three or four year courses. This announcement sits in the wider context of the fact that the government and businesses are pushing Further and Higher Education establishments to produce students with 'business skills' instead of (or at least in addition to) the traditional curriculum.**

Two questions then: can intensive courses be a replacement for the traditional three year degree? And can we (should we?) produce students with 'business skills'?



*I shouldn't be allowed to listen to Radio 4 before I've had a cup of tea.
** For those in the US Further Education is 16-18ish and Higher Education is 19 onwards. HE provides bachelors degrees, masters degrees and the like. I've never quite figured out how that matches up to the US system.

In departments, do professors sleep with each other/is there constant animosity over who gets tenure and who doesn't/or any other types of drama? Just curious if what I "heard" is actually true in terms of what kind of environment it is.
~Karrie

Tags: academic conspiracy theories, advice-for-those-new-to-academia, freud, group hug, job market, penis issues, sexual-harassment

I had a thought for how to make a particular kind of panel run more smoothly.

I have attended a lot of panels, most of which I really enjoyed, on the general topic of "how come we never see $noun_phrase in SFF?" ("fat protagonists", "protagonists who are mothers", "old protagonists", hard SF written by women" etc.) A common way for these panels to fail is that for any noun phrase, there are a handful of obscure books/shows/movies that really do address that issue and a couple dozen more that sort of skirt it, and the panel gets bogged down with people listing off these books and media.

Since we are all at the panel because we're interested in the topic, this is pretty useful, because presumably we would like to experience these rare outliers that are addressing the topic. But it takes a long time for people to list these off (and to pause the action while everyone who wants to writes them down), and then we run out of time to discuss the phenomenon of why this issue isn't addressed more often, which is the ostensible panel topic.

So I wanted to suggest that the rooms have poster paper on an easel with a marker, and at any time during a panel that an audience member (or a panel member!) thinks of something they would recommend that's germane to the topic, they can just stand up an write it on the paper and sit down again. The conversation doesn't have to get interrupted, other people in the room can take notes or not as they fit, people who blog the panel can take down the list for later republishing, etc. If you're worried it won't be obvious why you're making the recommendation, you could put a few keywords in parens after it. (For example, "all Le Guin (gender issues)" or "Xenogenesis saga, Octavia Butler (book cover whitewashing)".)

This could really be generalized to lots of other panels too- this was just the panel style that I noticed was most derailed by recommendations.

Thoughts?

Poll #1501556 Todays Poll .
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 122

Did you/Are you attend(ing) your top choice

Tags: research survey

Every year, Regret the Error publishes a list of the top corrections, errors and retractions from the English-speaking press.

I thought you might enjoy the award for Best Science Reporting, which went to the UK-based Daily Telegraph for the following correction:

Owing to an editing error, our report “Women who dress provocatively more likely to be raped, claim scientists” (June 23) wrongly stated that research presented at the recent BPS conference by Sophia Shaw found that women who drink alcohol are more likely to be raped. In fact, the research found the opposite. We apologise for our error.

For those who missed it: The US Government is currently hosting a "public consultation on Public Access Policy...seeking public input on access to publicly-funded research results, such as those that appear in academic and scholarly journal articles."  It's similar in scope to what's already required for NIH-funded research, but extending it to other agencies and asking for implementation ideas. They have a surprisingly short comment period, especially given the traditional holiday vacation season.

From the link:

OSTP will conduct an interactive, online discussion beginning Thursday, December 10. We will focus on three major areas of interest:
* Implementation (Dec. 10 to 20): Which Federal agencies are good candidates to adopt Public Access policies? What variables (field of science, proportion of research funded by public or private entities, etc.) should affect how public access is implemented at various agencies, including the maximum length of time between publication and public release?
* Features and Technology (Dec. 21 to Dec 31): In what format should the data be submitted in order to make it easy to search and retrieve information, and to make it easy for others to link to it? Are there existing digital standards for archiving and interoperability to maximize public benefit? How are these anticipated to change.
* Management (Jan. 1 to Jan. 7): What are the best mechanisms to ensure compliance? What would be the best metrics of success? What are the best examples of usability in the private sector (both domestic and international)? Should those who access papers be given the opportunity to comment or provide feedback?

The blog postings are here: http://blog.ostp.gov/category/public-access-policy/

Tags: journals, legal issues, publishing
Current Mood: academic