All these ideas depend on network effects. And ultimately, there will be only one winner.
So the question for any participant is - do I get in on the leading or trailing edge? There's some slight advantage to being leading edge, due to the rich-gets-richer effect, but there's also cost - opportunity cost at not spending time doing research, or whatever. And investment in network sites that sink without a trace is investment wasted. Me - I'm a relatively trailing edge kind of guy - the benefit-cost ratio seems much higher to me. But then who will the leading edge guys be - possibly younger academics for who the cost is more bearable perhaps. Cheers On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 12:14:00PM -0700, Russ Abbott wrote: > I think academia.edu is a legitimate organization. (In fact, I joined a > while ago.) The goal is create a database and network of academics. They > keep track of papers you tell it about, and they keep track of the school > you say you are associated with. They attempt to build a complete faculty > tree for each school. It's an interesting idea, but I doubt that it will > amount to much, though. Academics tend to have contacts through other > sources. One interesting feature, though, is that it tells you about > Google searches for you. I'm not sure what it tracks, but every once in a > while I get a message from them saying that someone from country X found a > paper of mine by doing a search on abc. In that sense it's a form of > passive ego surfing. > > *-- Russ * > > > > On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 7:59 AM, Rich Murray <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I gave academia.edu permission to send membership requests to every email > > on my Google Contacts list, over 500 I believe, after downloading a very > > useful 2010 13-page paper for free, and seeing how much they made available > > -- I felt a business that recruits highly competent members would be > > legitimate -- also believe you are safe as long as you withhold consent -- I > > did lose a computer to CyberDefender scam malware in January, by > > inadvertently downloading their free purported virus scam program -- a > > Google search later revealed that they have actually operating for years as > > a "legitimate" corporation with stock, while their stock has fallen from $ 3 > > to .45 ... > > > > I've never seen any bad news about LinkedIn, which Friam members led me to > > join. > > > > What to do? > > > > within mutual service, Rich Murray > > > > [email protected] > > 505-819-7388 > > Skype audio, video rich.murray11 > > > > On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 6:35 AM, Nicholas Thompson < > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > >> Rich, **** > >> > >> ** ** > >> > >> I have this uneasy feeling that you may be giving away people’s email > >> addresses to some Evil Force. Evil or not, passing on other people’s > >> emails without their consent is …. Um …. Not great. I am very suspicious > >> of > >> LinkDin and god knows what Academia.Edu is. **** > >> > >> ** ** > >> > >> N**** > >> > >> ** ** > >> > >> *From:* Rich Murray [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf > >> Of *Rich Murray > >> *Sent:* Friday, August 26, 2011 6:30 PM > >> *To:* [email protected] > >> *Subject:* Rich Murray added you to Clark University on Academia.edu**** > >> > >> ** ** > >> [image: Description: Image removed by sender. > >> Academia.edu]<http://academia.edu/> > >> **** > >> > >> Hi Nick,**** > >> > >> Rich Murray added your name to Clark University on Academia.edu, the > >> global directory of academics and graduate students. We checked your > >> department directory, and it looks like you are at Clark University. You > >> are > >> currently listed as an 'unknown' member: resolve your 'unknown' status by > >> following one of the links below:**** > >> > >> Yes, I am at Clark University: > >> > >> http://academia.edu/Yes-Nick-Thompson--nthompson-at-clarku.edu--is-at-Clark-University > >> **** > >> > >> No, I am not at Clark University: > >> > >> http://academia.edu/Remove-Nick-Thompson--nthompson-at-clarku.edu--from-the-Clark-University-directory > >> **** > >> > >> Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker have all > >> confirmed their membership of their departments on Academia.edu.**** > >> > >> Thanks, > >> The Academia.edu Team**** > >> > >> Academia.edu's office is at: 251 Kearny St., Suite 520, San Francisco, CA, > >> 94108. To opt out of receiving these kinds of emails from Academia.edu, go > >> to: http://academia.edu/optout/010003522bb39108606788c7953c8ca2 **** > >> > > > > > > ============================================================ > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
