Category Archives: Uncategorized

This blog’s been on hold while I prepared for and (successfully) went through the tenure process. I’d like to start posting again, and I’m shocked that the break has been almost six years..

In an email conversation I tried to make some points about the criticism Piketty has come under for apparently having mistakes in his data. I think the concerns are real but misplaced. Here’s why: There was a point made in … Continue reading →

There’s been an enormous amount of buzz since a study was released this week questioning the methodology in a published paper. The paper under fire is Reinhart and Rogoff’s “Growth in a Time of Debt” and the firing is being … Continue reading →

I love this idea: http://nomoresopa.com/wp/. It’s an Android app that allows you to scan a product’s barcode and it will tell you whether the company that makes the product supports the Stop Online Piracy Act. What’s really happening here is … Continue reading →

Two recent articles call for an openness revolution in science: one on GigaOM and the other in the Wall Street Journal. But they’ve got it all wrong. These folks are missing that the process of scientific discovery is not, at … Continue reading →

Imagine a cell phone database that includes terms of service, prices, fees, rates, different calling plans, quality of services, coverage maps etc. – “smart disclosure,” as the term is being used in federal government circles, means how to make data … Continue reading →

Peter Levin is CTO of the Dept of Veteran’s Affairs and has a take on open gov tailored to his department: He’s restructuring the IT infrastructure within the VA to facilitate access. For example, the VA just processed their first … Continue reading →

I’m here at the National Archives attending the Open Government Research and Development Summit, organized by the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Whitehouse. It’s a series of panel discussions to address questions about the impact and future … Continue reading →

Here’s a vid of Keith Baggerly explaining his famous case study of why we need code and data to be made openly available in computational science: http://videolectures.net/cancerbioinformatics2010_baggerly_irrh. This is some of the discussion that resulted in the termination of clinical … Continue reading →

I had the pleasure of watching my friend and professor of applied physics and applied math Chris Wiggins give an excellent short talk at NYC’s social media week at Google. The video is available here: http://livestre.am/BUDx. Chris makes the often … Continue reading →

Technology has a history of sweeping scientific enterprise: from Vannevar Bush’s first analog PDE calculators at MIT in the 30’s through the differential analyzers of the 50’s and 60’s to today’s unfinished transition that will end with computation as absolutely … Continue reading →

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I’m a Postdoctoral Associate in Law and Kauffman Fellow in Law and Innovation at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. My website is http://www.stodden.net. My research focus is changes to the scientific method arising from the pervasiveness of … Continue reading →

OpinionJournal – Peggy Noonan Peggy Noonan laments the inability of the scientific community to come together and deliver a solid answer on global warning. The reason why? The scientists have political agendas: “You would think the world’s greatest scientists could … Continue reading →

In spring quarter of last year I was quoted (without my permission or knowledge, incidentally) in an article on graduate student unionization in the Stanford Daily. http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=17037&repository=0001_article. It’s not clear to me what the fuss is about, as a TA … Continue reading →

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/05/front2453620.076388889.html This article, “Google Earth images compromise secret installations in S. Korea” partly answers my first question when I found out about Google Earth. How are they handling sensitive satellite data? Other countries have objected, out of national security concerns: … Continue reading →