Category Archives: Information Management

Debate on Dissertation Embargos

Debate continues on dissertation ’embargos’ following the recent statement by the American Historical Association (AHA). A previous post on this website discussed the AHA statement and criticisms of its policy recommendations. The Chronicle of Higher Education explores the issue through … Continue reading

Posted in Academic Freedom, Academic Publishing, Digital Humanities, Education Policy, Graduate Work in History, Humanities Education, Information Management | Leave a comment

Online Locomotive

The drive to implement MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) in higher education has become powerful. An article by Rob Jenkins in the Chronicle of Higher Education is calling the pro-MOOC movement an “online locomotive.” Jenkins, a professor of English at … Continue reading

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Of Dissertation ‘Embargos’ and Academic Publishing

The American Historical Association’s Council has issued a statement advocating “embargos” on Ph.D. dissertations. The idea is to avoid having Ph.D. dissertations diffused freely on the internet as soon as they are deposited. Instead, dissertations would be available through limited … Continue reading

Posted in Academic Publishing, Digital Humanities, Education Policy, Graduate Work in History, History of the Book, Humanities Education, Information Management | Leave a comment

MOOCs and Remedial Education

Some community colleges have found a new way of incorporating MOOCs—not by replacing their courses, but by creating online study guides for students taking remedial classes or placement examinations. Community colleges such as Cuyahoga Community College (Cleveland, Ohio) “have created their … Continue reading

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Religion and Politics on Wikipedia (Edited)

Despite its encyclopedic pretensions, Wikipedia is an unstable and undependable as a repository of knowledge. Since each entry can be endlessly edited and re-edited by Wikipedia workers and users, none of the information provided on the platform is reliable. Topics … Continue reading

Posted in French History, History in the Media, Humanities Education, Information Management, Religious Politics, Undergraduate Work in History | 1 Comment

PhD Dissertation Lengths

Marcus Beck, a PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota, has created a chart demonstrating the varying average lengths of PhD dissertations by discipline. According to io9, “Beck took the pressure of readying for his defense and channeled it toward … Continue reading

Posted in Academic Publishing, Archival Research, Education Policy, Graduate Work in History, Humanities Education, Information Management | Leave a comment

The Mental Health Benefits of Reading

Reading is often seen as an educational pursuit and an enjoyable habit. Now, neurological research suggests that reading has demonstrable benefits for mental health. A recent neurological study of 294 people found that “reading books, writing and engaging in other … Continue reading

Posted in Education Policy, History of Medicine, History of Science, Humanities Education, Information Management | Leave a comment

Paid Newspaper Coverage

Don’t like the news stories about your organization?  Or, think that newspapers are ignoring your organization’s work? Apparently, now you can simply pay newspapers to cover your organization and control its public image. Several California universities recently signed contracts with … Continue reading

Posted in Digital Humanities, Education Policy, Globalization, History in the Media, Information Management, Political Culture | 1 Comment

Elizabethan Privateering and Cyberwar

An op-ed in the New York Times compares cyberwar to the privateering conflicts of the Elizabethan period. Jordan Chandler Hirsch and Sam Adelsberg, authors of the op-ed, argue that “In confronting today’s cyberbattles, the United States should think less about … Continue reading

Posted in Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, History of Violence, Information Management, Laws of War, Maritime History, Piracy, Reformation History, Religious Violence, Renaissance Art and History, Strategy and International Politics, War, Culture, and Society, Warfare in the Early Modern World | 1 Comment

Corporate Deals in Online Education

Udacity has concluded a deal with Georgia Institute of Technology for an online master’s program. “Georgia Tech this month announced its plans to offer a $6,630 online master’s degree to 10,000 new students over the next three years without hiring much … Continue reading

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