Monday 21 April 2008

How To Give Up Smoking # 2



BY MEANS OF INTRODUCTION, SUBJECT MATTER WISE, THIS IS SIMPLY SOMEONE WHO CHOOSES TO PLACE ONLINE, THEIR LIVE EXPERIENCE OF QUITING SMOKING FOR GOOD. ANY/ALL COMMENTARY IS WELCOMED.

Err, Part # 1 never happened, so I kicked in immediately with part # 2.

God this is a really tough one.


OK, I admit, I have been a smoker since I was 16.

That's not strictly true, I first tried 'making my own' in the back yard from fallen beech leaves that 'looked like' tobacco leaves.

At the age of 7 - 8 though, I had no idea.

--

Come 16, I "managed" to afford my first pack. 10 of course because 20 was too expensive.

"Could I have 10 Benches & Hedges please"
, asked the v. trembling sweaty schoolboy?

I remember it well.



Back then, if one could not afford a 10/20 pack, local shop-keepers would ask no questions and sell you a "single". - NICE (at least I thought).

--

20 or so years passed.

--

There comes a point.

I can only really speak in UK terms, but the cost of this filthy habit is beyond me in all terms. I got hooked at an early age, and somehow, I think I was not the only one !!!!

If I had seen the likes of this when I were a boy, I think I might just have come to a different conclusion.

To conclude, the first image to me is the most striking and the more of these the better.

Sunday 13 April 2008

'Open Access Week': Some Posts from the Blogosphere



SOURCE



As was recently mentioned in several blogs such as here here and here, the idea of (the world's first - and not last) 'Open Access Week' was thought of, simmered/stirred, and then put into action.

As OA week draws to a close today, I thought I would post a summary in chronological order of many (not all) of the OA related items (that I found today) in the blogosphere over the last week.

Much much better still, go check out the Open Access News blog maintained so diligently by Peter Suber and also now, his trusty assistant editor, Gavin Baker.

Very importantly, as Peter Suber points out:-


"BTW, if you take part, please mention at some point that the NIH is collecting public comments on the policy until May 1. It would be a shame to generate a new wave of support for the policy and not have it show up when the NIH is evaluating responses. Publishers who oppose the policy are sure to submit their comments."

Hat tip to bloggers Martin Fenner and Bob O'Hara for helping to get the ball rolling.

--


NIH public access law is now being implemented


A day worth celebrating

April 7, 2008 - NIH Public Access Policy implemented today

NIH Public Access to Begin

The old ways fade

A landmark law for open access to biomedical research

Today is an important day for Open Access

Removal of permission barriers is already part of the definition of OA


Reactions to the NIH policy

Scotland's First University-Wide Green Open Access Self-Archiving Mandate

NIH Mandate on Open Access - Good First Step, Thanks to PLoS et al, but still a long way to go

Harold Varmus on the NIH Green Open Access Self-Archiving Mandate

Publishing in an ASBMB journal? You can get a CC license for your paper - at a price

Government in the Web 2.0 Age

EUA urges universities to develop clear strategies to advance open access

Top researchers talk about Open Access

Open Access Part I - Early Canadian Involvement to 1999


Open Access to Scholarly Communications


International journal of mental health systems : Biomed Central

Europe Pushes for Open Access of Research

Open Access UpToDate

PubMed Central Journals — Full List Search by part or all of a journal name

'Wikinomics' Sheds More Light on Open Source

Assistant Editor - London

Free Database Access for National Library Week


Bentham Open Access Journals

Open Notebook Science and Cheminformatics

Repository66 map updated

"To celebrate the first ever ‘Open Access Week‘ running from the 7th to the 11th April 2008, the maps have been upgraded with lots of the latest open access repositories that have sprung up over the last few months."

There are now over 920 repositories shown on the map, containing a whopping 8 million items between them!

All Your Research Belongs to You

Blog Discussion Post #4 - Open Access

Open Access: what it means for research, teaching, and one's career

JSTOR rant

Professors Boycotting Academic Journals

Repository, Archive, Network, Database, Library, Platform: Different names, same shtick?

More on OA monographs: when authors consent and publishers don't

New Journal Ranking Source

Five more BioMed Central journals indexed by Thomson Scientific

Another competitive edge of Open Access

Publisher’s talking points put them in a head to head ignorance fight with the RIAA

Networking Scientific Literature

Open Access, Scholarly Publications: Rewrite on PubMed Central and Open Access

Indian science could gain from open access push

Cornell University Library and Duke University Press to Collaborate on Project Euclid

NIH now requires open-access to manuscripts

Sharing knowledge: how the internet is fueling change in anthropology

OER Commons

Public Access to NIH Research - Prof Harold E Varmus

University of Southampton announces institutional Open Access mandate

Open Science Directory: New Open Access Initiative for Developing Countries

NIH Funded Research - PubMed Central now mandatory depository, with Open Access after 12 months at most

Open Access to Knowledge and Information: Scholarly Literature and Digital Library Initiatives – the South Asian Scenario

Open Access Week - kudos to the Wellcome Trust

Learning 2.0-- Brown and Adler

Free databases at ebscohost

Dissertation Proposal -- Next draft

and a splendid time was had by all…

Culture of Sharing Forum

Issues in Scholarly Communications Class


Commons-Related Conferences

Promoting OA repositories in India

--

Being a(n unpaid) Musician by trade, I end with this fab new music related blog.

Friday 11 April 2008

Public Access to NIH Research - Prof Harold E Varmus



A couple of prompts prompted me to tune in yesterday to "Science Friday".

It's been quite a while since I physically used a radio and managed to catch the show in question no problem on-line.

PODCAST

This week, rules went into effect that say that reports of research funded by the National Institutes of Health, the major medical research funding agency in the United States, must be made freely available after a maximum of one year. A publication based on NIH-funded work is now required to be deposited in a public database. The law says that "The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: Provided, That the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law."

In this segment, Host Ira Flatow talks with former NIH director Harold Varmus, a leading proponent of open access to research and one of the founders of the Public Library of Science, an open-access scientific journal.


Guests

Harold Varmus
1989 Nobel Laureate, Physiology or Medicine
Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board, Public Library of Science (PLoS)
President, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
New York

Related Links

* PubMed Central
* Open Access Publishing
* NIH Public Access Policy

Segment produced by:Karin Vergoth

Friday 4 April 2008

Steck's Album Covers Montage

Can I upload to blogger.com a Compilation of all the e-sleeves I've produced since Sept. 07 plus an MP3 into a random (editing in due course) montage ?





Test 6.9

NHS Scotland e-library:- Open Access to Toll Access for members of the public




As some of my readers know, in some of my spare time, I am involved in Patient Advocacy work.

Since I am not part of any Institution, I don't have an Athens login so have limited access to Toll Access scientific/medical literature but have broad access to Open Access literature.

BRIDGING THE GAP

One condition that I'm actively involved in in research/patient support terms is Motor Neurone Disease (MND) also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease. In Open Access (OA) terms, please refer to this entry 11th April 2007.

I recently came across this really useful/comprehensive (76 pages) round-up of recent MND research compiled by a Medical Librarian at the Scottish Motor Neurone Disease Association.

"These clinical journal articles are retrieved from a Medline literature search of published research within the last month. If you wish to receive this current awareness bulletin regularly by email contact the Information Officer. It is also available to download from the charity’s website on the library and publications page and also from the web portal, the NHS Scotland e-library http://www.elib.scot.nhs.uk
( If you work for the NHS in Scotland you can register for an Athens password and the full-text of many of the research articles will be available to you online. Contact your nearest NHS clinical library or the MND Library & Information Service to obtain full-text of any articles unavailable on the e-library)."


Out of curiosity, I contacted the Librarian in question by telephone. Yet again, what an incredibly helpful individual. Medical Librarians rock !!!

I now have access to a wealth of literature with an Athens login. (It takes 72 hours to kick in so I'll update this post once "I'm in".)

How did this happen ?

I was directed towards this page.

From the blurb:-

Registering with the e-Library gives you the following benefits:

For ALL registered users – facilities to:

* Customise the e-Library homepage e.g. have your own list of favourite resources
* Save searches you want to repeat
* Share resources and communicate with colleagues through the e-Library Knowledge Exchanges and Shared Spaces.

For registered "NHS Scotland staff, students and partners":


These groups have access to the password-protected content licensed from book and journal publishers (over 5000 online journals, over 80 major databases, over 5000 electronic books, Good Practice collections of management tools and techniques.
Full details of subject coverage are available.

Who are "NHS Scotland staff, students and partners"?


* Staff – anyone who works directly for or is a contractor with NHS Scotland, including those providing training to NHS staff.
* Students – undergraduate or postgraduate students working or training with the NHS. (Many students may have registered for ATHENS accounts from their university or college; these will give access to a different selection of resources.)
* Partners - all individuals and organisations that provide services and support to the work of NHS Scotland, including local authority staff, Scottish Executive, voluntary health sector, health care staff working in the armed forces, prison service, nursing homes, hospices, schools, etc, emergency services staff, members of the Scottish Royal Colleges, patient / public representatives on NHS groups.

--

I appear to have qualified since I genuinely am involved in Patient Advocacy here in Scotland. I am advised that this service in UK terms, is currently only available in Scotland.

IMHO this means that anyone in Scotland who for example is providing care/help/ support to a relative/friend/patient etc. should, like any other member of the public, also qualify for an Athens login, cut through "Toll Access" red tape and gain access to publicly funded research etc. that they have already paid for.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO A COMMON SENSE SOLUTION

But of course, better and much simpler still, in this day and age, is of course to make such material OA in the first place and rid ourselves of an unnecessary and unwanted "password only" Draconian System !

KUDOS TO THE OPEN ACCESS MOVEMENT

Tuesday 1 April 2008

BioMed Central Going Digital eMarketing Seminar May 08

A couple of days ago, I spotted this:-

Daring to go digital: Interactive discussion reveals how to maximize your online reach on the homepage of Open Access Publisher, BioMed Central.

I watched the webcast a couple of times and found it most enlightening. I can highly recommend watching this. Apparently, there's more to follow so watch this space....

Towards the end, mention was made of the May Seminar in London and you can read all about it here.

From the programme, proceedings start of with Jan Velterop. What a start !!

Go check out wikiprofessional.

For those unable to attend in person:- "Workshop available post event as a webinar on BioMed Central" thanks to In Situ Productions.