From: Humanist Discussion Group <willard.mccarty-AT-mccarty.org.uk>
To: humanist-AT-lists.digitalhumanities.org
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:39:37 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [Humanist] 22.489 much about www.academia.edu
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 22, No. 489.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
www.digitalhumanities.org/humanist
Submit to: humanist-AT-lists.digitalhumanities.org
[1] From: "Dunn, Stuart" <stuart.dunn-AT-kcl.ac.uk> (53)
Subject: RE: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
[2] From: "Ken Friedman" <KenFriedman-AT-groupwise.swin.edu.au> (15)
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
[3] From: Alun Edwards <alun.edwards-AT-oucs.ox.ac.uk> (38)
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
[4] From: peter jones <h2cmng-AT-yahoo.co.uk> (11)
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
[5] From: Claire Warwick <c.warwick-AT-ucl.ac.uk> (18)
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
[6] From: Jockers Matthew <mjockers-AT-stanford.edu> (40)
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
[7] From: Joseph Vaughan <vaughan-AT-hmc.edu> (11)
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
[8] From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty-AT-mccarty.org.uk> (16)
Subject: [Fwd: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?]
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:42:44 +0000
From: "Dunn, Stuart" <stuart.dunn-AT-kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
In-Reply-To: <20090128083346.02C992C271-AT-woodward.joyent.us>
Dear all,
I have no experience myself of using academia.edu, but last November the Times Higher Ed. ran an article on it:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=404394
All best,
-Stuart
-----------------------
Dr Stuart Dunn
Research Fellow
Centre for e-Research
King's College London
www.ahessc.ac.uk/stuart-dunn
Tel +44 (0)207 848 2709
Fax +44 (0)207 848 1989
stuart.dunn-AT-kcl.ac.uk
Centre for e-Research
26-29 Drury Lane
London WC2B 5RL
UK
-----Original Message-----
From: humanist-bounces-AT-lists.digitalhumanities.org [mailto:humanist-bounces-AT-lists.digitalhumanities.org] On Behalf Of Humanist Discussion Group
Sent: 28 January 2009 08:34
To: humanist-AT-lists.digitalhumanities.org
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 22, No. 487.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
www.digitalhumanities.org/humanist
Submit to: humanist-AT-lists.digitalhumanities.org
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:29:34 +0000
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty-AT-mccarty.org.uk>
Subject: www.academia.edu?
The service recently announced on Humanist, http://www.academia.edu/,
has struck one member of this group as rather odd. He does not want to
have his remarks attributed, so I report them here and add some of my
own. He has found people assigned to universities that have no record of
them. Indeed, the service seems cheerily to allow anyone to give
themselves or anyone else whatever job in whatever department (never was
an academic appointment easier to obtain), to delete others who have
signed up (or easier to lose), even to create new universities (for the
ambitious). See, for example, Bogus State or the Western Academy of
Anomalous Results. Has anyone here had experience of www.academia.edu?
Opinions?
Yours,
WM
--
Willard McCarty, Professor of Humanities Computing,
King's College London, staff.cch.kcl.ac.uk/~wmccarty/;
Editor, Humanist, www.digitalhumanities.org/humanist;
Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, www.isr-journal.org.
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:01:16 +1100
From: "Ken Friedman" <KenFriedman-AT-groupwise.swin.edu.au>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
In-Reply-To: <20090128083346.02C992C271-AT-woodward.joyent.us>
Dear Willard,
After receiving several invitations and the note explaining that Paul Krugman has an entry, I decided to join. Prof. Krugman is my must-read columnist in the New York Times, and the fact that he holds a Nobel Prize in economic science doesn't hurt.
When I signed up, the process worked fairly well. I especially like the fact that I could use a jolly photo instead of the usual head shot that most sites limit you to by requiring fewer bytes than a nice picture requires. But I realized it would take time to make a serious entry so I stopped with a picture. Even Prof, Krugman's entry only contains a link to his official page at Princeton, with a further link to the unofficial page about him.
One can probably game the site easily. It's rather like a deliberately bad edit in a Wiki or a hoax. I note, however, that there are no staff at Bogus State or the Western Aacademy. And the site is working slowly right now, doubtless the result of many Digital Humanities subscribers checking Bogus State.
It's not the worst idea on the net. I'm not sure what it will ultimately be good for, but I'm happy with my picture.
That's it. As Joe Friday used to say on Dragnet, "Just the facts."
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS
Professor
Dean
Swinburne Design
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Australia
Telephone +61 3 9214 6755
www.swinburne.edu.au/design
--[3]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:13:35 +0000
From: Alun Edwards <alun.edwards-AT-oucs.ox.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
In-Reply-To: <20090128083346.02C992C271-AT-woodward.joyent.us>
Dear Willard,
Your subscribers might want to read this article from the Times Higher
(Nov 2008)
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=404394
Best wishes, Ally
--
Alun Edwards alun.edwards-AT-oucs.ox.ac.uk
Intute: Arts and Humanities http://www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/
First World War Poetry Digital Archive
English Faculty, University of Oxford
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit
Oxford University Computing Services, University of Oxford, 13 Banbury
Road, Oxford OX2 6NN
--[4]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:12:24 +0000 (GMT)
From: peter jones <h2cmng-AT-yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
In-Reply-To: <20090128083346.02C992C271-AT-woodward.joyent.us>
This service has been publicised a lot since the summer. I follow quite a few lists across a range of disciplines and on several occasions I felt that either I was being 'stalked' or was a 'stalker' myself...
I was encouraged to join by another member who I know from another list. I had asked when first learning of the site what about 'independent scholars'? I was advised that I could add myself creating the organisation / department of my choice. This I have done: 'pantology'....
I've just reviewed Gary Hall's "DIGITIZE THIS BOOK!: The Politics of New Media, or Why We Need Open Access Now"
http://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2009/01/book-review-gary-halls-digitize-this.html
The review includes mention of 'Independent Scholars' since the web can and is facilitating their influence and numbers? Perhaps, I should add a point about academia.edu as Hall is also concerned with authority and legitimacy?
I was somewhat troubled adding myself - and so am engaged in watchful waiting....
Regards
Peter Jones
RMN, RGN, CPN(Cert.), BA(Hons) Comp/Phil, PGCE, PG(Dip) COPE
http://hodges-model.blogspot.com/
--[5]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:35:33 +0000
From: Claire Warwick <c.warwick-AT-ucl.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
In-Reply-To: <20090128083346.02C992C271-AT-woodward.joyent.us>
It strikes me that this a good example of a much under-appreciated
problem with web 2.0 applications. In many ways they are a great idea,
but they do not work for everything, especially in areas in which what
people may say about themselves requires verification. Yet there is a
tendency on the part of some content providers to assume that any kind
of electronic publication is better with user generated content, and to
underestimate the need for moderation or verification of information.
It's interesting in this context that Wikipedia is now having to impose
moderation on contributions from unknown editors.
There are areas where the authority and imprimatur of web 1.0 works
better, notably when people need to trust the information that is being
produced as truthful. So in this context, it occurs to me to wonder why
anyone would need to join this site, when they will be listed on their
own university's web 1.0 page, which comes with the authority of its
reputation and branding. It's almost an invitation to falsification. And
for the readers of the THE, there is indeed an entry for the University
of Poppleton. It this weren't so crazy it would be funny!
Claire
--[6]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:41:47 -0800
From: Jockers Matthew <mjockers-AT-stanford.edu>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
In-Reply-To: <20090128083346.02C992C271-AT-woodward.joyent.us>
I found the same thing; a record for the "School of Hard Knocks"
deterred me and several colleagues here from adding our names to the
site.
--
Matthew Jockers
Stanford University
http://www.stanford.edu/~mjockers
--[7]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:54:42 -0800
From: Joseph Vaughan <vaughan-AT-hmc.edu>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?
In-Reply-To: <20090128083346.02C992C271-AT-woodward.joyent.us>
I at first thought that it was using the Wikipedia model of "crowd
sourcing". In theory, accuracy emerges because people will correct
mistakes. But I just tried to delete the Western Academy of Anomalous
Results and couldn't find a way to do it.
Joseph Vaughan
CIO/Vice-President for Computing
and Information Services
Harvey Mudd College
vaughan-AT-hmc.edu
909 621 8613
free/busy info at http://tinyurl.com/vaughanfreebusy
--[8]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:02:08 +0000
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty-AT-mccarty.org.uk>
Subject: [Fwd: Re: [Humanist] 22.487 www.academia.edu?]
In-Reply-To: <20090128083346.02C992C271-AT-woodward.joyent.us>
The following sent to me by someone who wishes to remain in the shadows....
WM
-------- Original Message --------
I initially thought academia.edu http://academia.edu was legitimate
and signed up late last year, but since then, I´ve seen at least two
similar such notices for "academic social network software". When I saw
the notice posted on Humanist, I did have a feeling that this starts to
look like academic spam..."What an easy way to harvest
information/identities" is what I thought.
I share your concerns. I´ve left scant details on academia.edu
http://academia.edu , mostly to see where this leads.
--
Willard McCarty, Professor of Humanities Computing,
King's College London, staff.cch.kcl.ac.uk/~wmccarty/;
Editor, Humanist, www.digitalhumanities.org/humanist;
Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, www.isr-journal.org.
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