McGruber writes “The Chronicle of Higher Education has the news that Herbert Richardson, founder of Edwin Mellen Press is suing McMaster University and University Librarian Dale Askey for $3 Million over Mr. Askey’s posts on a personal blog. In 2010 Mr. Askey wrote a blog post about Edwin Mellen Press on his personal Web site, Bibliobrary. Mr. Askey referred to the publisher as ‘dubious’ and said its books were often works of ‘second-class scholarship.’ For a few months afterward, several people chimed in in the blog’s comments section, some agreeing with Mr. Askey, others arguing in support of the publisher. In a February 11 statement, the McMaster University Faculty Association (MUFA) stated that The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) ‘and the MUFA Executive agree that this case represents a serious threat to the freedom of academic librarians (pdf) to voice their professional judgement and to academic freedom more generally.’”
Take me with you!
Maniac.
It has been a while since I did a propper digital illustration, so I wanted to see how rusty I am…
Wanted to do something colorful with a 80’s feeling since I’m kind of hung into “Maniac” from Flash dance
It’s taken seven years of work, but three brothers from Finland have finally completed what must surely be their life’s work: KastleVania 4, an epic feature-length film based on Konami’s Castlevania series. More »
Since Aaron Swartz’s suicide two weeks ago—an incident largely blamed on the charges being levied against him—the ‘net has been grieving. And Anonymous has been doing that in its own special way: tearing shit up. In the latest of several attacks, they took down the U.S. Justice Department’s Sentencing Commission site and left behind a video threatening more cyber-carnage. More »
theodp writes “On Saturday, questions for MIT’s Aaron Swartz investigation were posted on Slashdot with the hope that MIT’ers might repost some to the MIT Swartz Review site. So it’s good to see that MIT’s Hal Abelson, who is leading the analysis of MIT’s involvement in the matter, is apparently open to this workaround to the ban on questions from outsiders. In fact, on Sunday Abelson himself reposted an interesting question posed by Boston College Law School Prof. Sharon Beckman: ‘What, if anything, did MIT learn from its involvement in the federal prosecution of its student David LaMacchia back in 1994?’ Not much, it would appear. LaMacchia, an apparent student of Abelson’s whose defense team included Beckman, was indicted in 1994 and charged with the ‘piracy of an estimated million dollars’ in business and entertainment computer software after MIT gave LaMacchia up to the FBI. LaMacchia eventually walked from the charges, thanks to what became known as the LaMacchia Loophole, which lawmakers took pains to close. ‘MIT collaborated with the FBI to wreck LaMacchia’s life,’ defense attorney Harvey Silverglate charged in 1995 after a judge dismissed the case. ‘I hope that this case causes a lot of introspection on the part of MIT’s administration. Unfortunately, I doubt it will.’”
Press Paws is an upcoming art show in LA that wants to bring together pets and video games. If that wasn’t already a perfect pairing, the show is also about raising money for charity. More »
Durante todo el día de ayer, infinidad de académicos e investigadores subieron sus papers libres a la red en formato pdf y lo anunciaron en Twitter con el hashtag #PDFtribute como homenaje a Aaron Swartz, el joven hacker y activista de 26 años que se quitó la vida el pasado viernes en Nueva York. Puedes leer la noticia de su muerte en Wired, The New York Times y en todas partes, o los obituarios publicados por personas que le conocieron y trataron, como Cory Doctorow, Lawrence Lessig, Cyrus Farivar o Dave Winer.
No man should have to drink alone—that’s why we have pets. But assuming you don’t want an angry PETA protest outside your house yelling about how “alcohol is bad for dogs” and you need to “stop” and “get a job,” you’re going to need to find an alternative solution to your solitary drinking problem. More »
“Censoring violent comic books did not reduce juvenile delinquency or increase literacy,” reasons the International Game Developers Association. “It decimated the production of one of the few kinds of literature that at-risk youths read for pleasure.” More »
angry tapir writes “Australia’s Classification Board today announced the first video game to receive the new R18+ classification which came into effect at the start of 2013, indicating the title is to be sold only to adults. Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, developed by Team Ninja, is published by Nintendo for the company’s new Wii U console. The R18+ classification was created after a long campaign by gamers and game publishers. Previously games had a maximum rating of MA, and titles that didn’t meet the criteria had to be reworked or not released in Australia.”
