In Science and Social Inequality by Sandra Harding, I found a discussion of claims to “absolute truth” in science (and the fear of relativism) particularly interesting.
Jan 192010
Why are historians so obsessed with writing books?
Now that I’m on my second quarter of a PhD program in the History of Science, I am continuing to think about why I am doing this and what history (and History) has to offer, both to me and to the world at large. One concern I already have is with the apparent obsession with the book as the primary mechanism of disseminating the work of historians.
Researchers in Spain recently published an examination of scientific citation practices, and discovered the obvious: scientists don’t use citations purely for altruistic reasons.
Techdirt discusses why you shouldn’t be concerned if someone “steals” your work and sells it, noting that “it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
What does it mean to our culture that we have imposed the most draconian restrictions on the reuse of intellectual creations than at any other time?
May 052009
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The Uneasy Case for Intellectual Property Rights in Traditional Knowledge by Stephen Munzer, Kal Raustiala:
Should traditional knowledge—the understanding or skill possessed by indigenous peoples pertaining to their culture and folklore and their use of native plants for medicinal purposes—receive protection as intellectual property? This Article examines nine major arguments from the moral, political [...]
Apr 232009
Simon Chester at Slaw.ca has an excellent article up about World Book and Copyright Day. Of particular importance, I think, is the point the fair use (an exception to the regular restrictions on use provided for under copyright law):
For libraries, and the people who use libraries, it is the exceptions and limitations to the [...]
Breaking the silence about Spring – RealClimate:
Did you know that in 1965 the U.S. Department of Agriculture planted a particular variety of lilac in more than seventy locations around the U.S. Northeast, to detect the onset of spring – in turn to be used to determine the appropriate timing of corn planting and the like? [...]
Mar 092009
The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog: Beyond Economic Analysis of Intellectual Property: The Need For Social and Cultural Theory (Madhavi Sunder):
Over the course of the last century intellectual property has grown exponentially, but its march into all corners of our lives and to the most destitute corners of the world has paradoxically exposed [...]
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SSRN-Legal Scholarship, Electronic Publishing, and Open Access: Transformation or Steadfast Stagnation? by Stephanie Plotin:
Abstract:
This article uses a social shaping of technology perspective, which studies the complex interactions between technology and the culture of a discipline, to investigate the evolution of legal scholarship in the digital age, and to determine how [...]
Sep 162007
I wondered previously why critical theory approaches (like the much-criticized Critical Legal Studies) haven’t had much of an impact on U.S. law or legal analysis.
Maybe “litcrit” has relied too much on the fabled “Death of the Author” (even without realizing it) when trying to analyze case law. If your “author” keeps popping back up to [...]
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