[research] Ever wonder what bad scholarship is really like? This is it

[unjapanologist]

There's a lot of different ways in which you can screw up as an academic, from doing sloppy research full of methodological flaws and bad analysis (maybe so you can quickly monetize it as a popular book), to deliberately plagiarizing and denying other researchers credit for their work in an academic economy where people's reputations and jobs depend on being credited.

However, those are really just procedural issues in the end. There's also scholarship that is bad because it goes completely against the very purpose of scholarship, which is to advance knowledge for the good of the public that pays your salary. (In my book.)

From a bunch of people on Twitter, meet Joseph Henry Vogel, a professor of economics at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras who has patented a method to stop students from sharing textbooks with each other so that the publishing industry can get more money out of them.

The idea is simple. As part of a course, students will have to participate in a web-based discussion board, an activity which counts towards their final grade. To gain access to the board students need a special code, which they get by buying the associated textbook.

Students who don’t pay can’t participate in the course and therefore get a lower grade.

The system ensures that students can’t follow courses with pirated textbooks, as tens of thousands are doing today. Lending books from a library or friend, or buying books from older students, isn’t allowed either. At least, not when the copyright holders don’t get their share.

Vogel’s idea leaves the option open for students to use second-hand textbooks, but they still have to buy an access code at a reduced price. This means publishers can charge multiple times for a book that was sold only once.

Needless to say, publishers are excited about gaining more control in the classroom.

This is bad, bad way for an academic at a public university to spend the tax money that allows him to do his research. Joseph Henry Vogel's invention is bad not because the research behind it was flawed*, or because Joseph Henry Vogel is a bad person in some way. It's bad because it tries to solve an issue in a way that not only does not contribute to the good of the public (propping up anti-student legacy publishing models is not a contribution), but actively works against the public and is proud of that. As TorrentFreak notes, there's nothing admirable about a solution to "piracy" that prevents university students from sharing knowledge, and students without deep pockets from helping each other learn.

ETA: The patent itself is interesting reading too. It's especially creative in the way it distributes blame for the high prices of text books (piraaates) and the way it considers remuneration for the "inventor".


*Although this invention is fatally flawed. If the students don't crack that code themselves, somebody on the internet will help them out. I have no idea why any publisher might think this code will be uncrackable, unlike every other code in the whole of history. This invention will result in very little extra income for anyone, but a lot of useless enforcement costs.

Comments

[ithiliana]

+100000000000000000000000000000000000000

That really pisses me off.

And I hope the internet cracks the code asap.

[unjapanologist]

I have no doubt it will be cracked pronto as soon as it's implemented anywhere.

[angrymermaids]

Fuck. That. Shit.

I say that from the perspective of an undergrad whose soul bleeds a little bit more every time I have to purchase a $100+ textbook. I hope this guy steps on one Lego brick for every dollar this "earns" him.

[unjapanologist]

Well, according to the patent, those $100 textbooks are entirely your own fault. "the inflation cannot be explained by the greed of academic presses since many barely survive due to a shrinking market which is attributable, in part, to the unauthorized access to academic texts, i.e., piracy."

Also, think of the benefits you will get! "This benefit of the system is complemented by a non-pecuniary benefit for the student: the opportunity, through the discussion board, to discuss the text with classmates at their university as well as with classmates from other universities where the same text has also been adopted in a syllabus."

You'll get a cool discussion board on which you will be able to talk with your classmates! Can't get that anywhere else, can you.

And yes, the patent talks about the "inventor" earning money from this.

[havocthecat]

The sad thing is that, if textbooks didn't cost so damn much, I would buy them as a non-academic just so I could read them and learn from them. (Er, as it is, I request them from the library if I find them interesting enough. But it's hard to get them and the lending times are limited. I would rather purchases them!)

[unjapanologist]

I don't think the system is set up for your needs ;) Textbooks are aimed at people who have no choice (in theory) but to pony up.

[havocthecat]

So true. There was a time I had no choice but to pony up; now I have a choice and have to find other methods. Instead of charging an arm and a leg, they might sell more copies than they even expected if they priced it down, because there are non-students who might be interested. (I probably should have been less oblique before, you think?)

I am, however, probably preaching to the choir.

[unjapanologist]

I think there's mostly choir here, yes :D

[lizbee]

"the inflation cannot be explained by the greed of academic presses since many barely survive due to a shrinking market which is attributable, in part, to the unauthorized access to academic texts, i.e., piracy."

Back when I was an undergrad, in 2000, the high cost of textbooks was blamed on the secondhand market.

[unjapanologist]

I always thought that secondhand market was fishy.

[branchandroot]

OH MY GOD, AS IF TEXTBOOK COSTS WEREN'T INSANE ENOUGH ALREADY.

*breathing hard*

And what kind of idiot thinks that textbook piracy is enough of a problem to merit this attention in the first place, or that buying a used book should somehow be treated like piracy? Argh!

[unjapanologist]

or that buying a used book should somehow be treated like piracy?

Unfortunate collateral damage?

[hl]

I can help being relieved that this required the professors to go along with it if they want it to even start working; I don't think any professors here would adopt the method. ('piracy' is almost institutionalised -- and with reason, there's little chance most people could take the classes if they were paying full prize on textbooks.)

[hl]

*can't, obv. /0\

[unjapanologist]

Yeah, at first sight, it doesn't sound like a system that gives professors any real benefits.

However, the patent suggests a system in which professors would get financial rewards through a cut of the profits being dedicated to "litigating tenure disputes". I have no idea if this might actually be a real incentive for professorts in a US context, because I don't think there's a lot of that sort of litigation in the Belgian and Japanese universities I've been at.

"In particular, a percentage of the net royalty income such as, for example, 50% generated from textbooks sold by presses using the system, collected in the US and Canada may bededicated to litigating tenure disputes from both within and outside the university walls. The job stability afforded by tenure is the wellspring of academic freedom. Toward this end the royalty income may be distributed as follows (assuming that thetotal allocated income is 50% of the royalty income): 10% for actions challenging post tenure-reviews, 10% for actions challenging tenure decisions, 10% for unionization of non-tenurable professors, 10% for actions challenging grant decisions by privatefoundations (with these monies being allocated to an organization such as American Association of University Professors) and 10% for dissemination of news regarding academic freedom (with this money being allocated to an organization, such as TheChronicle of Higher Education or similar institutions dedicated to academic freedom and/or development of the faculty community). "

[hl]

I'm considerably to the south of USA; I suspect this would not be a realistic fear over here at all. Not, at least, in the public university (which is the one that matters -- people who pay the other ones could afford the books new, or they're already paying them anyway).

[tigerlily]

I attend the university this guy works at. I've had a lot of professors that wouldn't go along with it, but unfortunately some probably would.

The shithead.

[kimboo_york]

Pretty much a big "ditto" to your comments and those of everyone else here, with a side note that the professors I know and work with (at a public US university) would absolutely not want to participate; they are constantly trying to circumvent the need for students to buy textbooks these days, most of them scanning relevant chapters/readings and posting them as PDF files. I'm almost shocked when I do have to buy a textbook for a class. Most of them hate the text book industry, having paid in to it in their own student days, and also because simply textbooks are generally at least a year or two out of date.

Also, yeah, come ON: that code would be cracked w/in days of being implemented. Honestly I'm not sure how much this is going to be popular with textbook companies either because of the extra work they would have to do on the backend to comply.

Dismal idea.

[unjapanologist]

*nod* The only way I can see this being implemented is if they somehow manage to strong-arm professors into it, but unless they pull off something incredibly weird on an institutional level... The benefits for institutions/professors just aren't there at the moment, as far as I can tell, and the system in and of itself provides nothing new compared to other educational offerings. Online discussion boards? Had that since the dawn of time.

[kimboo_york]

Online discussion boards? Had that since the dawn of time.

LOL I suppose that is true but you make me feel pretty damn old. :D

[unjapanologist]

*cough* It's a figure of speech, obviously.

[dhobikikutti]

Oh my god how stupid can they get. :(

[unjapanologist]

I really wonder.

[somariel]

This is a ridiculous idea.

ETA: I sent the article to my dad and he said that it would be really interesting to see what reactions this guy has gotten from his fellow professors.

[unjapanologist]

I'd like to see that too. I hope it made the rounds a bit now, there was no reason for them to know about it before.

[tigerlily]

I hate that this exists, and that he works at my university. Talk about a lack of ethics and empathy for people.

[unjapanologist]

Oh dear, I hope he doesn't try to convince anyone to make a test case out of your university.