Nicola Romanò @nicolaromano@qoto.org

What are publishers doing in the name of #OpenScience?

Our Head of Publishing Development, Alessio, is co-hosting an online event on March 13 for #OxFOS25. Register free to learn about how we emphasise transparent and accountable research assessments.
https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/9f66acc1-8dc4-46a1-83cc-924c9da2b2a5@cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91

As of today, the public swiss technical university @epfl in Lausanne has its own Mastodon server – accessible to all members of the institution, including students (!), and directly linked to their institutional login system.

https://actu.epfl.ch/news/the-epfl-community-gets-a-mastodon-server/

A very warm welcome, EPFL, in the Fediverse, thank you for your efforts, and congratulations!

#openscicomm #scicomm #fediverse #edufedi

I complain a lot about Inkscape vs. Adobe Illustrator when it comes to print design. Do you want to do something about it? Do you want us to have nice free software tools for print?

Well Martin Owens @doctormo@floss.social is making things better, he's the one working on CMYK and revamped PDF export for Inkscape. It seems like a massive endeavour, and it looks very promising!

https://www.davidrevoy.com/article1061/cmyk-support-in-inkscape-could-be-a-game-changer-for-professional-print-designers

This would open up Inkscape to a whole new sector. Inkscape is pretty good for digital work, but it lacks crucial features for print. CMYK would be a massive step in the right direction.

You can support his work on Liberapay and Patreon. Personally, I would do so, if I had an income
- https://liberapay.com/doctormo/
- https://www.patreon.com/doctormo

Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines?

Jevin West and I have spent the last eight months developing the course on large language models (LLMs) that we think every college freshman needs to take.

https://thebullshitmachines.com

This is not a computer science course.

It’s a humanities course about how to learn and work and thrive in an AI world.

Neither instructor nor students need a technical background. Our instructor guide provides a choice of activities for each lesson that will easily fill an hour-long class.

The entire course is available freely online. Our 18 online lessons each take 5-10 minutes; each illuminates one core principle. They are suitable for self-study, but have been tailored for teaching in a flipped classroom.

The course is a sequel of sorts to our course (and book) Calling Bullshit. We hope that like its predecessor, it will be widely adopted worldwide.

Large language models are both powerful tools, and mindless—even dangerous—bullshit machines. We want students to explore how to resolve this dialectic.

So today I met with an executive from the International Association of Forensic Nurses—an organization I’m collaborating with. I was told that they were receiving overwhelming communications from their 6,000+ membership of nurses unable to access information on #sexualhealth and #traumainformed care. My Mastadon buddy @lavaeolus was able to upload access to important #CDC documents through #safeguardingresearch

This place really is making change. #mastadon #HoosierMast

Scientific societies: please do not advertise X/Twitter to "live tweet" your conferences this year. Prepare now accounts and instructions to use Mastodon and Bluesky.

i'm working on a giant terminal cheat sheet with

- how to quit
- redirect syntax
- keyboard shortcuts you can use (including in `less`)
- how to set environment variables
- some basic useful commands (history, !!, kill/pkill/killall/top, reset, alias, etc)

and it's really leaving me feeling like "how is anyone supposed to LEARN all of this stuff??” like all of this is theoretically documented and obviously I learned it somehow but it's split across so many different man pages

1/ 🌟 Explore our new Reproductive Health Special Issue 🌟

Research into #ReproductiveHealth has historically been overlooked, while issues shape everything from fertility and pregnancy to demographic trends and healthcare disparities.
https://elifesciences.org/collections/f8cc6f3f/special-issue-reproductive-health?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic

More and more reports like these coming in from the US, so far unconfirmed but consistent with Project 2025:

https://mastodon.social/@DeliaChristina@sfba.social/113904395784087309

https://mastodon.social/@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io/113903050750787577

This time, the coup happens without storming the Capitol and without cameras recording it - for now.

Is DeepSeek really sending data to China? Let’s decode https://venturebeat.com/ai/is-deepseek-really-sending-data-to-china-lets-decode/ #AI #privacy #Perplexity

Trump hits NIH with ‘devastating’ freezes on meetings, travel, communications, and hiring.

US science is going to suffer, by the looks.

"Panels that were scheduled to review grant proposals also received eleventh-hour word that they wouldn’t be meeting."

No grant reviews, no grants.
No grants, no science.

#Science #Research #Academia

https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-hits-nih-devastating-freezes-meetings-travel-communications-and-hiring

Journalists really need to stop referring to #ElonMusk's "Department of Government Efficiency" as if it were real. It's not, until and unless Congress creates and funds it. A president can listen to advice from anyone, but that's not the same as building an actual federal agency. Don't perpetuate a fraud. #journalism

Ever wonder about the basis for fear-mongering & conspiracy theories about mRNA vaccine? Wish you had a place to go when someone cites "proof"?

I've got you covered! In my latest post @PLOS, I buckle up for the waves of anti-vax claims likely to come at us in 2025 :

https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2024/12/28/getting-ready-for-more-mrna-vaccine-fear-mongering-a-compendium/

#Vaccines #Covid

Do you know of any #rstats teams who could use some help in 2025?

I'm a freelance consultant with 10yrs of experience in #DataSci, #DataEng, #DataOps, and providing #SysAdmin for related tools. I primarily work with R, but I have enough SQL and Python knowledge to get by. I know my way around a linux terminal and docker-compose file. I'm also handy as an interpreter between IT and analytics teams. Open to many types of engagements (project-based, temp staff, etc).

If you have a need or a lead, I'd love to chat!

boosts welcome :-)

Spotify killed the Car Thing, but they don't have to die! When a company like Spotify decides to generate huge amounts of unnecessary e-waste, the community steps in to save them from the landfill.

Image credits:
DeskThing (Dammit Jeff on YouTube)
GlanceThing (GlanceThing on GitHub)

#spotify #SpotifyWrapped #ifixit #ewaste #trash #hacking #repair #righttorepair

Today is the day. Welcome to THE charger!

USB-C is officially the common standard for charging electronic devices in the EU.

This means:

🔌The same charger for all new phones, tablets and cameras
⚡ Harmonised fast-charging technology
🔄 Reduced e-waste
🛑 No more “Sorry, I don’t have the right cable”

One charger to rule them all.

#SingleMarket #DigitalEU 

In case you missed it, the hackers who reverse-engineered DRM on Polish trains got sued by the train manufacturer…

…multiple times.

You can donate to their defense fund:
https://www.ccc.de/en/updates/2024/das-ist-vollig-entgleist

Context:

Their original talk from last year
https://media.ccc.de/v/37c3-12142-breaking_drm_in_polish_trains

My piece about the first lawsuit against them
https://rys.io/en/175.html

#Newag #38C3 #DRM #Trains