This was originally posted at: https://thewinnower.com/papers/2301-my-open-science-story It never really occurred to me not to be open. From the moment I started my PhD, I made a promise to myself that everything I did would be open and transparent. By this, I don’t just mean access to published papers – I wanted the data, and the information that I was generating to be freely available, and under ...[Read More]
open science
New open science competition through ARCS
The ARCS (Advancing Research Communication and Scholarship) have launched a new ‘open scholarship’ competition. The aim is simple: describe your ‘open science story’, and you could win $1000! In particular, the competition is aimed at finding success stories – how has practicing any form of open science helped you advance or enhance your career in some way? All submis ...[Read More]
The rise of open research data
This was originally posted at: http://exchanges.wiley.com/blog/2015/08/26/the-rise-of-open-research-data/ As a junior researcher in the UK, it has given me great pleasure over the last few years to see the dramatic development of open access publishing. Most major research funders in the UK now require public access to published research articles in one form or another, and many other research int ...[Read More]
The Open Research Glossary round 2
A few months ago, we published the crowd-sourced Open Research Glossary, details of which can be found here. We’ve taken this to the next level now, and published the updated and much prettier version of this resource on Figshare. This means it is now openly licensed for re-use, and can also be cited like any normal research article. We also popped it on Zenodo, because why not! The original ...[Read More]
OpenCon 2015 Applications are Open!
See this post about Open Con 2014 for more information Applications to attend OpenCon 2015 on November 14-16 in Brussels, Belgium are now open! The application is available on the OpenCon website at opencon2015.org/attend and includes the opportunity to apply for a travel scholarship to cover the cost of travel and accommodations. Applications will close on June 22nd at 11:59pm PDT. OpenCon seeks ...[Read More]
Palaeontology in the 21st Century
Palaeontology is the study of the history of life on Earth. Whenever I get asked what I do, my answer always gets a predictable response: either “Oh, like Ross from Friends?” “So Jurassic Park?” or “So you dig dinosaurs?” Neither of these are close to what myself, my colleagues, or the broader field are doing. Well, apart from the digging dinos. We have to have some perks (not that I’ve actually e ...[Read More]
A letter to the Editor of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
This post is one inspired by the actions of Ethan White and a couple of other ecologists. Spurred on by their actions, I decided to write a letter to the Editor of a major journal in my field, the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Ethan has performed similar actions too, and this letter draws quite a bit on what he has previously written. The theme revolves around requesting that the Linn ...[Read More]
Welcome to the Open Glossary
At the London satellite event for Open Con earlier this year, myself and Ross Mounce were given some useful feedback after our joint talk on ‘Open Data’ by one of the attendees. Apparently, some of the terminology was too complex, or specialist, for the subject, and some of the talk was unable to be followed unless you were already an expert in the issue. Now obviously this is somethin ...[Read More]
The 12 days of PhD Christmas
Twelve Dinners Delivered (to the lab) Eleven Papers Prepping Ten Bugs-a-Bugging Nine Ladies Dancing (but not with you) Eight Bunsens-a-Burnin’ Seven Dance Solos Six Words a Minute Fiiive Grants Rejected Four Calling Mates (“I’m busy“) Three Absent Supervisors Two Days off a Year (maybe) And a h-index of nooought. Merry Christmas everyone!
Green tea and Velociraptors turns into beer and dwarf crocodiles
I’m in Berlin. I’ve just managed to find a chicken donner kebab, and am pausing research briefly to write this. I’m currently on leave from London, with a ridiculously hectic couple of months ahead: I’ve just been to Munich to see a dwarf crocodile specimen, Alligatorellus beaumonti (from Bavaria), which conveniently happened to coincide with Oktoberfest, and am now here to ...[Read More]