Björn Brembs

Professorial student of Neurogenetics
Spontaneous behavior and operant learning
Open Science Insurrectionist

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npub1jertuh8naxyp7u2wvc0zd30ardwxt0w8eq30zzzs2leng8lsyams3fht9q

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nprofile1qqsfv347tne7nzqlw98xv83xch73khr9hhrusgh3ppg90ue5rlczwacpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dshad93v

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relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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npub1jertuh8naxyp7u2wvc0zd30ardwxt0w8eq30zzzs2leng8lsyams3fht9q

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Last Notes

2024-05-22 15:58:00

Every editorial board of everyone of the currently 50,000 academic journalsshould take this to heart:
“Science should be public good. It can be sustained collectively and provide a universal benefit,” rather than a product or service that needs to be purchased,”
https://sparcopen.org/news/2024/lessons-from-redalycs-organic-rise-as-a-model-of-diamond-open-access/
The parasitic corporations using journals for rent-seeking would be bankrupt before anybody knew what happened.
#openaccess #openscience

2024-04-22 10:29:24

ICYMI: we are hiring!
If you are a student interested in #neuroscience and would like to do a PhD in a very cooperative and inclusive #openscience lab, please do apply:
https://bjoern.brembs.net/2024/03/we-are-looking-for-a-phd-student/

2024-03-22 14:18:29

Interested to work on the neurobiology of motor learning? Come and work with us!
https://bjoern.brembs.net/2024/03/we-are-looking-for-a-phd-student/

2024-03-18 08:45:00

eLife as a pure overlay journal. Sounds reasonable to me. Let's see if/when that actually happens.
"A year into eLife’s new publishing model – Bits, Brains, and Behavior"
https://markusmeister.com/2024/03/17/a-year-into-elifes-new-publishing-model/

2024-03-05 09:54:59

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@npub10pw…v4q0 @npub14k2…ed68
Actually, some think high APCs are a feature, not a bug:
https://bjoern.brembs.net/2020/12/high-apcs-are-a-feature-not-a-bug/
and access to the literature hasn't really been a major problem for the last decade or so:
https://bjoern.brembs.net/2016/12/so-your-institute-went-cold-turkey-on-publisher-x-what-now/
The last post is from 2016 and lists ~12 different ways around paywals. Today, there likely are a bunch more, haven't checked as for me they are suficent to get everything I need.

2024-02-20 08:25:56

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@npub1skv…aky3
Ancient DNA!

2024-02-05 09:40:10

The academic journal publishing system sure feels all too often a bit like a sinking boat. We have many leaks, e.g.:
- a reproducibility leak
- an affordability leak
- a functionality leak
- a data leak
- a code leak
- an interoperability leak
- a discoverability leak
- a peer-review leak
- a long-term preservation leak
- a link rot leak
- an evaluation/assessment leak
- a data visualization leak
etc.
#openscience #academicchatter
1/x
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/877/962/850/779/220/original/36e7e465344686a2.jpeg

2024-01-23 11:31:09

Trying out the #openscience group @npub1qp2…hxee and seeing if we can get a significant share of the open science community to participate.

2024-01-12 16:58:00

"It also seems somewhat surprising that Germany seems unwavering in its pursuit of transformative #OpenAccess agreements, while elsewhere there is a tendency to move away from these and towards Diamond Open Access."
https://scidebug.com/2023/12/28/the-german-deal-contracts/

2024-01-09 16:11:25

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@npub153s…cvd9
We still have plenty of room over here, don't we?
What is anybody still doing over there anyway?

2024-01-09 11:42:11

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@npub1psa…xhme
I have a question: I have a WP blog with the plug-in:
https://bjoern.brembs.net/
Somehow, I managed to create two Mastodon users that post different posts:
@npub1wx3…ax39
@npub14je…ad9x
How can I adjust it such that these posts all shw up under this account instead? The way I understand it, it is not possible? If so then what would be the use case for the plug-in?

2024-01-08 17:38:41

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@npub1npy…3sf4 @npub1243…qmek
Excellent! Thanks!

2024-01-08 17:17:21

I have co-signed a petition directed at the German Rectors Conference to convince them to migrate all #university social media presence to #Mastodon:
https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/open-letter-to-the-german-rectors-conference-hrk-on-the-use-of-social-media
Please consider signing it!

2023-12-19 18:14:00

The International Science Council is not mincing words in their executive summary:
"Instead, we have a system where the dominant commercial players allow the interests
of investors to take precedence over the needs of science."
https://council.science/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/The-Case-for-Reform-for-Scientific-Publishing_2023.pdf
#openscience #openaccess

2023-12-19 17:29:14

The International Science Council is calling for tough regulation of the academic publishing industry:
"Any market in which a very few companies are dominant should be the subject of review to determine how greater competition could be stimulated, potentially through the activities of a ‘digital markets unit’ that could also be charged to ensure data mobility, open standards and the entry of new, innovative providers."
https://council.science/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/The-Case-for-Reform-for-Scientific-Publishing_2023.pdf

2023-12-07 14:22:35

Let's be honest, universities use their social media profiles only for broadcasting, i.e., advertisements.
What does it say about our universities if corporations like IBM, Apple or Sony find X so revolting they stop advertising there, but our universities do not find X revolting enough to leave?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/539/331/960/047/856/original/b22044ae659c76a3.png

2023-12-04 14:58:00

Good for them! Spain plans to end "dictatorship of papers":
"Spain wants to change how it evaluates scientists"
https://www.science.org/content/article/spain-wants-change-how-it-evaluates-scientists-and-end-dictatorship-papers
#openscience

2023-12-04 14:31:00

Putting their money where their mouth is, the EU decides to make academic publishing open source:
"utilizing existing open-source software has its own advantages and disadvantages. Although some risks are associated with this approach, our research has identified a few mature existing solutions that could be further developed to support the future ORE platform."
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/cc087fd8-82b3-11ee-99ba-01aa75ed71a1/language-en
#openaccess #openscience #opensource

2023-11-30 17:22:00

There is a reason these organisations were called “societies” before they became publishers. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2023/11/30/the-fediverse-is-an-opportunity-learned-societies-cant-ignore/

2023-11-30 08:40:49

ICYMI yesterday, there have been some puzzling actions and decisions at the main German funder DFG @npub1ela…wwmp recently, which seem to clash with their otherwise stellar #openscience policies:
https://bjoern.brembs.net/2023/11/german-funder-dfg-why-the-sudden-inconsistency/
Grant applicants, in particular, will expect clarifications.
#impactfactor #dora #coara

2023-11-29 08:42:31

"Kein guter DEAL für die Wissenschaft":
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wissen/forschung-politik/wissenschaftliche-grossverlage-wissenschaftliche-grossverlage-19344181.html
heute in der FAZ.
"Während man auf internationaler Ebene erkannt hat, mit den Transformationsverträgen in einer Sackgasse gelandet zu sein, handelt die Deal-Gruppe den nächsten Vertrag aus."
Deutschland steckt in der Vergangenheit fest, während die Welt sich weiterdreht.
#openaccess #openscience

2023-10-30 12:58:15

It has been a few years that I have been this excited about work coming from our lab! Our latest preprint:
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.16.520755v3
rests on a collaboration with Carsten Duch in Mainz:
https://enb-idn.biologie.uni-mainz.de/prof-dr-carsten-duch/
and describes #neuroscience experiments on a type of #motorlearning in #Drosophila that was first described in 1991:
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/BF00194898.pdf
Now, we present which genes are required in which neurons for this type of learning to take place.
1/6
#neurobiology #science #learning #memory

2023-10-25 15:58:00

Following the dystopian plan by consulting firms like McKinsey on "How to transform higher-education institutions for the long term"
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/how-to-transform-higher-education-institutions-for-the-long-term
Yes, THAT McKinsey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiOUojVd6xQ
universities like Rice:
https://news.rice.edu/news/2023/rice-announces-launch-budget-transformation-initiative
but also public universities in the US:
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/wvu-cuts-higher-education/
are hiring these firms to cut faculty number and pay while simultaneously further bloating admin number and pay, leading to a complete perversion of the entire concept of HE.

2023-10-11 14:31:00

Nice, even-handed post by @npub1rzz…4rlh on the assembly theory paper:
"Wouldn't it be nice if [...] authors would see their role as guides on our journey through such unknown conceptual landscapes? Instead, academic publishing has become a shameless swamp of self-promotion. The system is to blame, at least in part, but we cannot shirk our own responsibility as authors. This paper is a prime example of what is happening all over the place."
http://www.johannesjaeger.eu/blog/assembly-theory-is-cool
#evolution #biology #science

2023-09-28 17:58:00

There is still a chance to stop the Elsevier #DEAL:
"With the opt-in procedure of this DEAL contract, every institution is now faced with the choice of whether to position itself for or against this consensus in science. "
https://bjoern.brembs.net/2023/09/no-evilsevier-deal/
14 reasons to stop the DEAL with Elsevier!
#openaccess

2023-09-19 17:58:16

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@npub1skv…aky3 @npub1rzz…4rlh @npub1xkw…7jwu @npub17cu…y38u @npub1ary…md4c @npub1l6z…n47m
Philosopher Anne-Sophie Meincke very much thinks of such things as processes:
https://www.annesophiemeincke.com/
In fact, it is her research focus:
https://www.annesophiemeincke.com/philosophy

2023-09-05 14:13:15

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@npub1skv…aky3 @npub1ary…md4c @npub1vvs…k2yk
I'm not a native speaker so I may have the wrong understanding of 'jargon,' but isn't 'jargon' the use of the word 'gene" instead of a paragraph explaining the different regions of a stretch of DNA and how it gets transmitted, regulated and expressed? The use of 'hippocampus' instead of anatomical cordinates? Planet, Dwarfplanet, Quark?

2023-08-21 08:41:45

Wonderful! @npub16ac…qwh2 writes:
"It’s exciting to join in the growth and success of truly social media – media that doesn’t trap us in commercially-owned spaces that are extractive and manipulative. It feels worth investing in a community for the longterm when you know they can follow you if you move to a different neighborhood."
https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2023/08/20/how-is-science-twitters-mastodon-migration-panning-out/
#science

2023-07-17 14:58:00

That is the critical difference:
"The goal of Mastodon is to build a friendly collection of communities, not an attention leeching hate mill."
https://escapingtech.com/tech/opinions/i-was-wrong-about-mastodon-moderation.html

2023-07-17 10:15:58

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@npub14d7…dm4s
For the same reasons not everybody has their own server in the basement?
(just like not everyone owns their own garage or shop or toolset: division of labor)

2023-07-17 09:56:47

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@npub14d7…dm4s
OK. Why?
Even on Mastodon, someone kills your instance for some reason and you'll have to scramble to protect your content.
Sounds like sound advice to me. What am I missing?

2023-07-17 09:50:36

If you are an academic and reading this here on Mastodon, it's already too late 😆
"The enshittification of academic social media"
https://thesiswhisperer.com/2023/07/10/academicenshittification/

2023-07-07 16:06:00

#Elsevier to scholarly society: "increase your publication volume 7-fold, or we'll close your journal down":
https://www.designresearchsociety.org/articles/the-future-of-design-studies-journal
#Evilsevier

2023-06-27 15:52:39

The new Mastodon instance of the Company of Biologists:
https://biologists.social/about