Forum Activity for @chief-admin

Project: creating a virtual publishing house

Services archive

Dear Martin,

I wonder if most of the elements you need already exist, though scattered across multiple platforms, with services like Adobe, Wordpress, Google Docs, Dropbox, Backburner (for backup), MSWord tracking, and so on? (not to mention the Open Source variants of such services).

What might be most needed, and maybe this is your approach, is a platform that provides templates (your frameworks and guidelines?) for combining such services with the specific steps and agreements needed to produce a book.

Cheers, Peter

Project: creating a virtual publishing house

Services archive

Dear Martin,

I have been thinking about this question of 'brand' recently, because our Ning hosting company is currently redesigning the network system used by the Research Cooperative. The result may be better or worse for our purposes - we won't know until we have to make the transition in several months time.

This led me to think of what alternatives might exist for developing our network.

There are other social networking systems, but none that I like so much as the Ning system, which has been sweet for a non-coder like me.

The change we face also led me to fish around for alternative domain names. To my surprise, I found that the name "publishscience" was available for most domain name suffixes of interest.

On behalf of the Research Cooperative, I am now the proud owner of publishscience.org, publishscience.net, publishscience.info, and publishscience.co

I have started using "Publish science!" as an exhortation and slogan in the description area of our network (see top page). The slogan "Publish science!" is meant as an encourgement to publish meaningful intellectual work, of a scientific kind, in the broadest possible sense.

It might be useful to change the domain name for The Research Cooperative to publishscience.org, so that the domain name spells out the purpose of the network, and is complementary to the network name, rather than being redundant.

This might also be advantageous for the purposes of search engine optimisation.

What I would also like to do, gradually, is set up a Wordpress blogging site, using one of these domain names (most likely publishscience.info, or publishscience.net), in order to present biographies of publishers and publishing companies and start-ups.

Your efforts could be something to write about and promote in this way.

Good publishers often depend on the efforts of quite interesting people - which is why many publishing companies are named after their founders, I suppose.

Unfortunately, when companies outlive their namesakes, the names can easily become fronts for impersonal corporations.

It is curious that so many of the new online (virtual) publishers of journals have chosen to be anonymous. They seem to think that publishing is purely a mechanical process that does not require actual humans to communicate with each other, in order to establish trust and interest.

My impression is that you are trying to use mechanical processes to facilitate the essential human work of thinking and communicating.

A "Publish science!" blog could be used to establish a brand that is not specific to one publisher, and that supports publishers who value being:

knowable, personal, local, national, specialised

not:

anonymous, impersonal, international, global, universal

The former can of course be universal in terms of content value, while the later can be parochial even when claiming to be universal.

Please feel free to agree or disagree with any of the above. Whatever you think, I would like know what your thoughts are (reply privately, or in public, as you wish).

Best regards, Peter

Project: creating a virtual publishing house

Services archive

Dear Martin,

This is precisely the kind of project that can be envisaged, using the Research Cooperative to seek out editors, illustrators and reviewers for a particular task.

I presume you do not have funds to actual employ a virtual in-house team of editors and copyeditors, or a secretary to manage correspondence with reviewers, and so on. Those are real costs for producing books with a certain level of readability, visual attractiveness, and quality of content.

A new approach could be to make all contributors to a book investors in the book: any income earned from a book could be allocated according to a transparent contract (i.e. all parties involved know what the other parties stand to earn, as a percentage, of the book). The contract could be made between the authors, editors, illustrators, and publisher.

Reviewers should be volunteers who have interest and/or experience in the subject, but who should not have a financial or reputational interest in making positive or negative comments that are not deserved.

I like your idea to make use of the existing Lulu infrastructure.

Best regards, Peter

Project idea: designing an ant-resistant computer for use in tropical countries

Services archive

I have travelled widely with my laptop, in temperate countries, but this week I am in the southern Philippines, and today my computer was invaded by a colony of tiny red biting ants.

I am staying at a nice hotel, but it seems these ants prefer my computer to the hotel.

Each time they appear, from the crevices under the keyboard, I blow or brush them away, but more keep coming.

I don't want to take these ants back to my home, and I don't want them to die inside my computer, where they might cause something to corrode or short circuit (ants contain formic acid).

Has anyone designed a micro-device that can sit inside a computer and repel ants and dust mites etc.? The ideal would be something that emits microfrequency noise that is intolerable for small creatures.

Meanwhile, since my computer has already been invaded, is there any special or effective way of getting ants out?

updated by @chief-admin: 21/06/17 01:16:09PM

Most of my botanical field work projects have started in this manner.

An initial small set of observations of distribution and a possible habitat association, or dispersal behaviour, is not proof of the association or behaviour -- but the small set is a good starting point for generating hypotheses that can be tested with further work. A little information on something unexpected is worth a lot more than no information and no new idea.

This approach is not for the lazy - it requires continuous attention to what is already known in a field, in order to recognise that something may be a new observation or new idea.

Without such attention, it is possible to be very busy making observations that lead to scientific dead-ends: projects that add no new information or that provide no test of a previous theory.

With 'no budget research', we can explore questions with greater academic freedom, without feeling any obligation to publish or justify the work to a funding agency. Such research can generate leads and ideas that help us find funds, and that have a good chance of producing useful results.

I am a fan of the concept, and it is one of the reasons I created the Research Cooperative.

Our network is a place where anyone can attempt to find or offer support for no budget publishing.

For no budget research, our network is the 'other end of the stick'.

Having both hands on one (free) stick gives us better control and more power, academically speaking.

Cheers, P.

help!! test users wanted for researchcooperative.org/m. mobile interface

Services archive

test message sent from ipad in co-op mobile mode

please try it too
look for the + sign at top or bottom of your mobile device screen
choose the forum you want to post to

be safe - don't try this while driving a car, motorbike, or bicycle, or crossing a busy road on foot

:-)

updated by @chief-admin: 21/06/17 01:16:09PM

Dear Jane,

This works... Spreading Word of the Research Cooperative (SWRC) is also a project, and can be pursued in many ways!

At a conference last week I handed out copies of the attached flier, which anyone is welcome to print out and put on suitable noticeboards or desks in a university campus or library.

P. (Admin.)

Introducing ‘‘Global Journal of History and Culture”

Services archive

(Posted by Research Co-op on behalf of the journal)

Dear Colleagues,

The Global Journal of History and Culture (GJHC ) is a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal that will be published monthly by Global Research Journals ( http://www.globalresearchjournals.org/?a=journal&id=gjhc ). GJHC is dedicated to increasing the depth of the subject across disciplines with the ultimate aim of expanding knowledge of the subject.

Editors and reviewers

GJHC is seeking energetic, qualified and high profile researchers to join its editorial team as editors, subeditors or reviewers. Kindly send your resume to: gjhc.submit@globalresearchjournals.org

Call for Research Articles

GJHC will cover all areas of the subject. The journal welcomes the submission of manuscripts that meet the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence, and will publish:

Original articles in basic and applied research

Case studies

Critical reviews, surveys, opinions, commentaries and essays

We invite you to submit your manuscript(s) to gjhc.submit@globalresearchjournals.org for publication. Our objective is to inform authors of the decision on their manuscript(s) within four weeks of submission. Following acceptance, a paper will normally be published in the next issue. Guide to authors and other details are available on our website; http://www.globalresearchjournals.org/?a=journal&id=gjhc&menu=guidelines

GJHC is an Open Access Journal

One key request of researchers across the world is unrestricted access to research publications. Open access gives a worldwide audience larger than that of any subscription-based journal and thus increases the visibility and impact of published works. It also enhances indexing, retrieval power and eliminates the need for permissions to reproduce and distribute content. GJHC is fully committed to the Open Access Initiative and will provide free access to all articles as soon as they are published.

Best regards,

Otu Richard

Editorial Assistant

Global Journal of History and Culture (GJHC)

E-mail: gjhc.submit@globalresearchjournals.org .

http://www.globalresearchjournals.org/?a=journal&id=gjhc

updated by @chief-admin: 13/06/17 08:40:21PM

Renewable energy Project

Services archive

Dear Emosi,

Thanks for your offer. I have moved this message to our forum for Projects. You might like post a similar message in our group for discussions related to energy research and communication and sustainable economic development . Kiva.org may also be active in Fiji, and might have a local advisor already based in Fiji who you can talk to.

A few years ago, I looked at the possibility of using solar panels on a house in New Zealand. That was too expensive for me, but in the process I learned that Japan's Sharp company has quite a strong presence in NZ and the Pacific Islands, or is aiming to.

On a trip in Papua New Guinea, I learned that theft of solar panels is a chronic problem for people setting up home or hotel systems, and this is also a big problem in the USA apparently. Technically, it should be possible to use integrated chips to ensure that electronic equipment is disabled when moved from the intended installation site.

It would be good if you can do some research on this aspect with companies here in Japan, to see what they think about it.

Solving the security problem using existing and affordable technology could make it a lot easier for individuals and communities to move ahead with solar systems in isolated, unmonitored, and insecure locations. The other big technical problem is salt-water resistance, and maintenance in general.

I imagine that in the many isolated small-island communities in Fiji, solar panels are going to be most useful if installed in local schools and medical clinics, to ensure there is long-term institutional support for the installed systems.

Best regards,

Peter (Admin., Kyoto)

about wild fruits nutrients

Services archive

Dear Anthony,

This sounds like a project for our ethnobotany group, as a starting point.

In the literature on human evolution, and also on the origins of agriculture, there is a lot of discussion about the role of fruits and nuts in human diet.

Your interest may be more practical, and useful information may already exist in many different areas of research. I will make a cross-posting about this in our ethnobotany group.

Best regards, Peter