Thursday, June 27, 2013

Scientific Research and the General Population

My father, mother, and I were discussing the Aaron Swartz case, and we reached some interesting conclusions. I know he comes up a lot, but what he was doing was very important to me. I have been in the academic science field for around 8 years now. I had to take two research methods classes as an undergrad, and I'm set to take one at the graduate level in the coming year. An important part of science is the ability to analyze original research. You are presented with a document that ideally tells you how to recreate the experiment on your own. The authors draw their own conclusions about what the data indicates, but they must present the data uninterpreted in their journal articles.

My parents both hold masters degrees, one in chemistry, and the other in education. My dad attended college in the late 60s and early 70s, my mother attended in the 70s. Obviously, the ability to access scholarly sources has changed quite a bit in the past decades. My parents went to college during a time when any schmuck could walk in to a university library and pull a journal off of the stacks. My dad and his peers used xerox machines to copy the articles that they needed. I believe this violates copyright laws, or at least the signs posted on all university copiers lead me to believe this. My dad stated, "I don't know how the students in the 50s survived without the ability to xerox these papers." Indeed, I must frequently reread and annotate technical writing in order to fully understand the content. Not sure if everyone is like this, though I score high on reading comprehension tests.

My mother said that she continued to access the latest research, via academic journals, throughout her career. She used her own interpretation of original data to offer parents advice on how to deal with atypical learners. But, this was the 80s and 90s, just prior to widespread electronic databases. We tell doctors and dietitians to review original research when consulting patients. Entire units are focused on giving med and dietetics students the skills to effectively analyze research.

We use original research to generate laws that affect the public, yet the public does not have reasonable access to original research. If you are not affiliated with academia, it's very expensive to access these journals. Something like $30 per article. It could be argued that it is expensive to access these journals if you are affiliated with academia, because the cost is reflected in tuition, and the ability to pay university employees.

In the US, and other places I'm sure, tax dollars are used to fund scientific studies. So, we are all paying to fund these studies. Why doesn't every single citizen have reasonable access to this research?

Aaron understood this. He took action, and in the end he raised awareness for the open science movement. I whole heartedly wish things had gone differently. I would trade the gains that he afforded the movement for him to still be alive. But, since that isn't going to happen, let's use his work to further the movement.

My father loves to play devil's advocate, and in doing so we reached a nice compromise. Publishers don't have to offer everything at a loss. But, they could accept a decrease in profit margins, by lowering the cost of access. What if access to an article cost $1.50? Would that be reasonable? With the advent of electronic databases and PDF, publishers don't have to foot the costs of ink, paper, and press production. The user has the right to print the article, but they pay for ink, paper, and printer access. In my experience, this tacks on around $0.75 to the cost. It wouldn't hurt to limit the amount of unneeded paper use to print physical journals. Trees probaby aren't an unlimited resource.

If you are a researcher, consider making your articles open access. Use a platform that allows for this. Figshare is great! http://figshare.com/. You worked hard on your research, you spent hours in LaTeX writing, so share it with the world.

As scientists, we are asked to reference original data. Yet, in the current system, we ask the public to rely on journalist's intereptation of the origninal research. I'm sure, during your undergrad career, you were asked to do an assignment comparing a scientific popular culture article to the original research. I'm sure you know that this system can be misleading. Let's fix this.

I would be quite pleased to see intelligent, civilized discourse on the matter. Please comment with your views. You may alter the views of your peers. If you have a good argument in defense of the current system, this blog would love to hear it.

Disclaimer: The views presented in this blog do not necessarily represent the views of the individuals or organizations mentioned in this blog. If any individual, deceased individual's family or friends, or organization would like their reference removed from this post, please contact me.  

Saturday, June 8, 2013

In Light of the NSA Scandal... here are some thoughts, focusing mainly on piracy and internet censorship. Maybe it's the roots of a call to action?


 Let's change the entire US government. Let's stop allowing corporations and special interests groups to have more power over the government than citizens have over their government. Let's fight internet censorship
Aaron Swartz, one of my idols (I know, it's weird to
have an idol who is only a year older than you.), a
man who clearly operated using level 6 ethics,
a believer in freedom, a warrior against corruption,
an amazing coder, and a handsome Jewish boy : )
Photo Credit: FreeCulture.Org 
and government spying. Let's create 
a government where prosecutors are not allowed to bully defendants (RIP Aaron Swartz). Let's create a government where shit actually gets done! 
I dislike the party system (particularly the two party system). I dislike people who label theirselves as a republican, democrat, tea partier, green partier, libertarian, etc, and blindly follow a party.I don't hate this country, but it could be better. Let's overhaul the system! Who is with me?
Elton John's magnificent Old Windsor Estate
Photo Credit:BornRich.Com

Want to help out? Do a little research on the pressing issues, I'd start with anything pertaining to the war against internet use. Formulate an opinion. Perhaps, you agree with the proposed anti-piracy bills (CISPA, PIPA, SOPA, and what ever SOPA was originally called). The Recording Artists of America makes the valid argument that piracy hurts everyone in the recording industry, from the producers all the way to the janitors. Of course, Elton John has 8 upscale domiciles, and a net worth of 280 Million US dollars[1]. I wonder if Sir Elton could take a pay cut in order to provide raises, pension funds, health insurance to the lower paid supporting employees? It should be noted that SEJ recently auctioned off 5 (the 6th one didn't sell, I guess) of his 6 incredibly luxurious automobiles to benefit his HIV/AIDS foundation. He is in no way evil, and that's not the point I am trying to make here. I am only using Sir Elton as an example, because he has come out in support of these anti-piracy bills[2].






Photo Credit: ORBooks.Co
Perhaps it is theft when you torrent a film, an album, or software. I don't torrent, I can see how it hurts people. But those who helped organize the fights against these bills found that the issue was far greater than copyright infringement, or theft[3]. The issue was government censorship of the internet. The government was seeking to block access to entire websites. The book Hacking Politics (available here http://goo.gl/lhfjv) details the fight for freedom on the internet. I think you should read it, and I haven't finished it, so I'm going to go in to detail here. It's only $10 for the electronic version ($25 for the print version, I went with the print version because I wanted to further support Demand Progress), and you will not be let down. 

Anywho, I am currently battling strep throat (with the aid of hydrocodone), so I am sorry if this isn't a great post. I will expand on it when I am feeling better. As always, please don't just take my word for it. Get out there. Do your own research. Enjoy my views and interpretations, but formulate your own! Oh getting back to the "if you want to help out" claim, here is a list of non-partisan organizations that are working to protect internet rights, alter the way our government works, or just change the way we do things.

  • Demand Progress is currently run by a former US representative(David Segal), and a Washington policy attorney (David Moon). I believe they started in 2012, but I could be wrong. This organization generates online campaigns, petitions, and letters to your congressman or woman with a special interest in internet and electronic protection. You can become a member, or you can just participate in campaigns  (for free!). Find them here:http://www.demandprogress.org/


  • The Electronic Frontier Foundation started in 1990, before people really cared about the internet. The EFF operates in a similar fashion to Demand Progress, but has a broader scope. This organization also offers more information on topics and issues than Demand Progress, thanks to a larger team. You can find them here:https://www.eff.org/


Photo Credit: Demand Progress








Photo Credit: Electronic Frontier Foundation












I'll add more as they come to me. Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for a post regarding the NSA scandal, as I have a chance to research it more. Stay skeptical!





References:
1.http://www.bornrich.com/sir-elton-john.html
2.http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=112766&page=1#.UbMTkvZ8LPQ
3. Moon, D; Ruffini, P; Segal, D [2013]. Hacking Politics: How Geeks, Progressives, the Tea Party, Gamers, Anarchists, and Suits Teamed up to Defeat SOPA and Save the Internet. Print copy from OR Books.

Disclaimer: the views expressed in this blog do not necessarily represent the views of the individuals or organizations mentioned in this blog. These individuals/organizations are in no way affiliated with the Skeptical Cati blog. Think of this as my interpretation of the information these individuals/organizations have made available in print or online. Please direct any complaints to my Gmail account: Caitlin.Swartz88@Gmail. I will gladly remove any information or photos the individuals (or individual's friends and family, in the heartbreaking case of Aaron Swartz) or organizations mentioned are not comfortable with being presented in this blog.