Kevin A. Zelnio Science | Brewing | Music | sweden
Doing Science
The lack of posting…
… is not because my life is boring! Quite the contrary, some big news is afoot about a new opportunity for me. Can’t talk about it yet but it involves SCIENCE! and WRITING! Also, lots of behind the scenes action and introspection on my part. Some rearranging of priorities and goals. Not all the dominoes [...]
Busy as a Beaver in the Fall
Been quiet around these here parts for a while. I think anyone that checks out my homepage probably knows I am the Assistant Editor at Deep Sea News and can always find my work there. Here is a sample of my favorite posts from November: 1) Quantifying Outreach to the Cult of Science Science needs [...]
How to Retard Scientific Progress
I found a great quote and analogy from an essay published in Current Biology by Peter Lawrence titled The mismeasurement of science. This essay takes a look at how science is measured and examines the use of impact factors and other metrics that measure scientific progress for individual scientists, academic departments and institutions. The quote [...]
Open Access Taxonomy and PLoS
Elements of this post are taken from my article “PLoS ONE Publishes First Taxonomic Paper” on The Other 95% on May 28, 2008. I’ve reposted it here as I am collecting my thoughts about open access publishing. ———————————————————- Why should one support open access publishing of taxonomic papers? Visibility is important to the field of [...]
Repost: Is the World of Taxonomy Ready for PLoS Systematics?
This article was originally published February 20, 2008 at The Other 95%, where a good comment thread is also archived. I am reposting because I plan on discussing open access and electronic publishing in taxonomy more and feel this article sets the mood for my future thoughts. I recently posted an update on state of [...]
What Happened to PLoS Systematics?
In May of 2008 I enthusiastically lauded PLoS ONE for publishing their first open access paper that described some new species of ants. It has been a year and half since then, have there been other taxonomists taking to this new concept of a completely online, open access forum for publishing new species? Currently, only [...]
The Joy of Uncertainty
It is difficult to accept not knowing something. To have a definitive answer is to embrace certainty, to be in control of a situation. It is hard to blame a person for being wary of another for admitting not to know an answer, even an answer that a person should know. Can one be convinced [...]