No two snowflakes are alike. No two people are the same. — Horshack Snowflakes by Juliancolton2 on flickr Earlier posts in this series attempted to lay out the ways in which Snowball Metrics present as a totalizing grand narrative of research evaluation. Along with attempting to establish a “recipe” that anyone can follow […]
In the last post in this series, I promised to present an alternative to Snowball Metrics — something I playfully referred to as ‘Snowflake Indicators’ in an effort to distinguish what I am proposing from the grand narrative presented by Snowball Metrics. But two recent developments have sparked a related thought that I want to […]
Snowball Metrics present as a totalizing grand narrative. For now, let me simply list some of the ways in which this is so, with little or only brief explanations. Snowball metrics are a tool for commensuration, “designed to facilitate crossinstitutional benchmarking globally by ensuring that research management information can be compared with confidence” (p. 5 […]
First, let me say where I am coming from and what I mean by ‘postmodern’. I’m working from Lyotard’s simple “definition” of the term: “incredulity toward metanarratives” (from the introduction to The Postmodern Condition). One interesting question that arises from this definition is the scope of this incredulity — what counts, in other words, as […]
This will be the first is a series of posts tagged ‘postmodern research evaluation’ — a series meant to be critical and normative, expressing my own, subjective, opinions on the question. Before I launch into any definitions, take a look at this on ‘Snowball Metrics‘. Reading only the first few pages should help orient you […]
A lot hand wringing on the tenure track (and the job hunt) is about publication number and venue. I don’t think I have much more to say on venue (other than I do get the sense that perceptions might be starting to shift), but number is interesting. My operating assumption here is, with apologies to…
Research resources for understanding and acting on complex real-world problems
Science | Policy | Advice | Engagement
Only the unmeasured is free.
Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process
Media, Politics, Reform
Explorations in contemplative writing
When @richvn feels like it
Ireland, Italy, politics, engineering, science, translation
SV-POW! ... All sauropod vertebrae, except when we're talking about Open Access
Home for research news from my lab and posts about related science.
research education, academic writing, public engagement, funding, other eccentricities.
Paul Wouters and Sarah de Rijcke @ CWTS
technology thinking for teaching and research
Something always escapes!
Exploring Science, Explaining Evolution, Exposing Creationism
out of the archives and into the streets
