Well, there is one possibility here....breaking the chokehold of academic publishers on communication among academics. But that would require more than somebody trying to make a little money off academics wanting to network, which is what I fear this is.
N -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Russell Standish Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2011 8:14 PM To: [email protected]; The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Rich Murray added you to Clark University on Academia.edu 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 ============================================================ 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
