Category: Legal
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Why you should pay attention to your Creative Commons licenses
I have never given a second thought to ensuring I've chosen the correct/most recent version of a creative commons license. That's changed, because I just finished reading Cory Doctorow's post, A Bug in Early Creative Commons Licenses Has Enabled a New Breed of Superpredator. In it, he outlines the emergence of the Copyleft troll, someone…
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Initial Thoughts on Alberta’s FOIP Process
On December 8, I noticed the Govt. of Alberta had posted a new video to YouTube titled, FOIP Request Service Guided Tour. You know what? I've honestly always wanted to submit a FOIP request! Here are some initial thoughts on how it went, and I'll report back if/when I hear something. So we start at…
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Continuing Algorithms of Oppression
For a meeting last week at MPOW we were asked to read Algorithms of Oppression, by Safiya Umoja Noble. As a cis, white male, I found it a good reminder of a lot of stuff I am vaguely aware of, but don't have to "deal with" in the same way as the majority of the…
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Report: Academic Freedom Breached at Thompson Rivers University
I first posted about this issue just over a year ago, A disturbing story on academic freedom and predatory publishing, and now it appears to have reached a conclusion, with the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) releasing a 30-page report on their findings. Report: Academic Freedom Breached at Thompson Rivers University TL;DR: (Ottawa –…
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A disturbing story on academic freedom and predatory publishing
While I had actually read the article in question shortly after it first came out, I was unaware of the fallout until earlier this morning. This is a story you should be aware of. How I learned of it: Investigation launched into alleged academic freedom violations at Thompson Rivers University What I had missed: B.C.…
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New Zealand comes to its senses
Last month I posted about how Into The River had been banned in New Zealand; it was "illegal to supply the book to anyone or to display the book in or within view of a public place." As of October 14, this ban has been lifted, and the book is once again classified as "unrestricted".…
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Are you in NZ? Want a free book? NZ bans award-winning YA novel after complaints from conservative Christian group
I first heard about this on BoingBoing, and followed up with several other articles: Book case study – Into the River New Zealand bans award-winning teenage novel after outcry from Christian group Censorship is alive in New Zealand. I should know: my book was banned We read the novel New Zealand just banned for sex…
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Identifying and avoiding predatory publishers: a primer for researchers
My colleague Rob sent a link out about this new 2-page brief from the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL): Identifying and avoiding predatory publishers: a primer for researchers (pdf). So-called predatory publishers are those that lack discernible scholarship, academic rigour or credibility. They use aggressive practices to recruit authors and editors. Predatory publishers’ opaque operations and editorial processes…
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Mellen’s lawsuit against Dale Askey has been dropped!
As reported by Dale on Twitter, and fleshed out a bit by The Chronicle of Higher Education, the SLAPP lawsuit by Edwin Mellen Press against Dale Askey has been dropped! Awesome news! number of lawsuits in my life: 0. yes, friends, it's over. details to follow, someday, but for now, just a big thanks to…