Notices by petersuber (petersuber@fediscience.org), page 2

Update. The book = 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘹 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.
* HTML (#OpenAccess)
https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/10243418
* PDF (also OA)
https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/23674879

If you don't have time for a book, here's an essay-length summary (also OA).
https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/4727453

Why does this question deserve a book? I address that in the "Why Bother" section of the preface.
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/10243467/Peter%20Suber%2c%20Paradox%20of%20Self-Amendment%2c%20First%20Preface%20FIXED.html?sequence=1&isAllowed=y#why

Yes, this book is related to #Nomic, my game of self-amendment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomic

#Law #Logic #Paradox #SelfAmendment #PhilosophyOfLaw

Update. #Republicans failed yesterday in their attempt to jack up the difficulty of amending the #Ohio #constitution.
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/08/1191679261/ohio-election-results-issue1-abortion-state-constitution-amendment-ballot-voters

As @ejdionne put it, "the majority backed majority rule."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/08/ohio-referendum-abortion-republicans/

This bodes well for the #ProChoice referendum scheduled for November.

The #Ohio constitution allows voters to amend the state #constitution by #referendum. Today Ohio votes on a referendum to amend that provision of the constitution.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/08/ohio-election-issue-1-abortion/

The big issue is that #Republicans want to make #amendment more difficult before a #ProChoice referendum hits the ballot next fall.

But in case you're fascinated by the legal/logical puzzle of using the amending clause of a constitution to amend the amending clause, I wrote a book about it in 1990.

🧵

Update. First #Ohio #Republicans failed to jack up the difficulty of amending the state constitution. Then (yesterday) they saw a significant majority of Ohio voters (56.6% v. 43.4%) amend the constitution to protect the right to #abortion.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/07/us/elections/results-ohio-issue-1-abortion-rights.html

#Democracy #ReproductiveRights #USPolitics

Update. To block #abortion rights, #Ohio #Republicans first tried to make it harder to amend the constitution. They lost that fight. Then they saw a significant majority (including many Republicans) vote to adopt an abortion-rights amendment to the state constitution. Now they're trying to strip the courts of jurisdiction to interpret the new abortion-rights amendment.
https://apnews.com/article/ohio-abortion-overthrow-judicial-powers-77a68c1e6ee6fc79462f6aaf4ea1a323

#Democracy #ReproductiveRights #USPolitics

Update. #Florida #Republicans are following the tactics of #Ohio Republicans. Fearing a referendum to amend the state constitution to protect #abortion rights, they're trying to jack up the difficulty of amending the state constitution.
https://newrepublic.com/post/177062/sinister-reason-florida-republicans-attacking-democracy

Remember that a large majority Ohio voters (including many Republicans) voted to preserve majority rule.

Update. #Republicans in #Mississippi and #Missouri are now following the (unsuccessful) tactics of #Ohio Republicans. Fearing a referendum to amend the state constitution to protect #abortion rights, they're trying to block referenda to amend the state constitution.
https://apnews.com/article/abortion-ballot-initiatives-voters-democracy-2024-602ebb8a74d7ae45163d79c065a23ef0

Remember that a large majority Ohio voters (including many Republicans) voted to preserve majority rule.

Update. I missed this from last year: "We broadly review the advantages and limitations of…machine #translation…and propose that translation can serve as both a short- and a long-term solution for making science more…accessible, globally representative, and impactful beyond the academy. We outline actions that individuals and institutions can take to support multilingual science."
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/72/10/988/6653151

#Multilingualism #MultilingualResearch

Update. "Non-native English speakers face additional barriers to scientific publishing, from journal guidelines accessible only in English to higher rates of language-related manuscript rejection. Journals, congresses, and others are beginning to offer support ranging from English language mentoring programmes, training, and buddy systems to free AI proofreading tools."
https://thepublicationplan.com/2023/11/07/language-barriers-in-scientific-publishing-how-many-hurdles-are-there/

#Multilingualism #MultilingualResearch

Update. "Much scientific evidence is still published in non-English languages, and excluding non-English-language evidence can introduce biases in evidence synthesis."
https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/6342/

Update. "To what extent are minority languages excluded from scholarly publishing infrastructure and initiatives…This is the provocative question we ask in this opinion piece, drawing on our experience of publishing the world’s only academic journal in our minority language [Sámi]."
https://insights.uksg.org/articles/10.1629/uksg.640

Update. New study: "Most journals [in #biology] offer minimal support for scientists whose first language is not English…Only 8% of the journals made their complete guidelines to authors available in at least one language other than English; less than 7% allowed authors to publish articles in languages other than English; and a mere 10% explicitly approved the use of references published in a language other than English."
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02529-1

#Multilingualism #MultilingualResearch

Update. "Despite English being the lingua franca of science, getting an excellent level of English is a privilege of few, restricted to high-income countries or those who can pay for intense language training in Global South countries. Yet, most of the hiring calls from Global North research institutes urging inclusion conflate being a good scientist with being good (or excellent) at English. This isn’t true."
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/english-may-be-sciences-native-language-but-its-not-native-to-all-scientists/

#Multilingualism #MultilingualResearch

Update. Good line from the previous piece (this thread, above).
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/english-may-be-sciences-native-language-but-its-not-native-to-all-scientists/

"When it comes to language, we often think of Gloria Pritchett, a character in the popular American television show Modern Family. Gloria is a native Spanish speaker living in a fast-paced English-speaking family. 'Do you even know how smart I am in Spanish?' she says in one episode.”

#Multilingualism #MultilingualResearch

Update. Can #AI solve the problem of #language #discrimination (good research by non-native speakers rejected from English-language journals on the ground of weak English)?
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/ai-writing-tools-will-not-fix-academias-language-discrimination-problem
(#paywalled)

Natalia Kucirkova argues no. The best bots may be good enough. But they are not accessible to all who need them, and "non-native researchers still have to invest extra time & more dollars to fix their papers than their native colleagues."

#Multilingualism #MultilingualResearch

Update. All too often scholars researching global attitudes toward something will write a survey in English and only English. Because I've criticized this practice, I'm happy to spotlight and applaud this research team for writing its survey (on data sharing and re-use in the field of traumatic stress) in seven languages — and publishing its abstract in three languages.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20008066.2023.2254118

#Multilingualism #MultilingualResearch

Update. New study: Chinese scholars decide whether to publish in Chinese or English based on the "perceived value" of the "best-fitting" journals.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1249857/full

Update. I missed this from 2020: "Among the researchers [from seven European countries] who published at least three [#SSH] journal articles [in 2013-15] over one-third…had written their work in at least two languages…Research is international, but multilingual publishing keeps locally relevant research alive with the added potential for creating impact."
https://asistdl.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.24336

#Multilingualism #MultilingualResearch

Update. The Confederation of #OpenAccess #Repositories (#COAR) just released an important set of recommendations on managing multilingual and non-English language content in #OA repositories.
https://www.coar-repositories.org/news-updates/managing-multilingual-and-non-english-language-content-in-repositories/

#GreenOA #Metadata #Multilingualism #MultilingualResearch

Update. See some new comments on the previous article (this thread).
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/machine-translation-a-game-changer-in-science/

"The real benefit of machine translation lies elsewhere, said [Vincent] Larivière. 'In an ideal world, the #metadata, #abstracts and titles of scientific articles would be available in [many] languages, increasing their #discoverability…Readers could then choose to translate the text into any language they want. We wouldn’t always have to use English.' "

#Multilingualism #MultilingualResearch