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Academia in the age of digital reproducibility (mcgilldaily.com): The uneasy situation with copyright collectives in which Canadian universities have found themselves is a strong indication of the current state of academic publishing. New possibilities and limitations on the use of scholarship are fundamentally restructuring how research is circulated and the ways we think about access.     Click here

Starting UKSG in a state of ... informed bewilderment (liveserials.blogspot.com): The scholarly ecosystem has grown complex in its proliferation (of publishers, authors, institutions etc), and "for a system to be viable, it has to match the complexity of its environment." But there's not a single organism in our ecosystem able to match the complexity of our environment. Complexity is the new reality, and complex systems are intrinsically unpredictable.     Click here

Professors must 'publish or perish' (usustatesman.com): Beyond teaching responsibilities, those in academia have an expectation to publish research on a yearly basis. Utah State University Press director Michael Spooner said the attitude is often expressed in the phrase, "publish or perish." Spooner said often, faculty jobs depend on getting research into print.     Click here

Only 4 per cent of Canadians willing to pay for news online: study (theglobeandmail.com): Only four per cent of Canadians said they'd be willing to pay for news online, according to a study by the Canadian Media Research Consortium, which also suggests Canadians have not been keen to pay for much digital content at all. Another 15 per cent of the 1,682 adults polled for the study said they were unsure if they'd pay for their favourite news site, but an overwhelming 81 per cent said they definitely wouldn't.     Click here

Burgeoning eReader and Tablet Sales Hurt PC Manufacturers (pdfdevices.com): Sales of tablets and eReaders have doubled and tripled in 2010. While this has worked great for Apple, Samsung, Barnes&Noble, and Amazon, the spiraling sales have dampened the hopes of PC manufacturers. Asus, that had earlier estimated a 3% increase in PC sales in Q1 has revised it to a 10% drop compared to the previous 3 months. And the competition isn't doing any better.     Click here