Abby Tabor Abby Tabor

Open and Closed Cases

[3 - 7 February 2014] The editors’ note about your science week

Openness is a good thing - unless we're talking about bank accounts. Your research, we'd love to see open; access to your Twitter account, feel free to lock that down. This week, we're talking about tightening password security with ink blot-based GOTCHAs and opening up science with the launch of the FOSTER project. And, at the heart of the conflict around controlling access to research results, there has been a spate of journal subscription cancellations by major French institutions. What does it all mean? Read on to find out!

Openness is a good thing - unless we're talking about bank accounts. Your research, we'd love to see open; access to your Twitter account, feel free to lock that down. This week, we're talking about tightening password security with ink blot-based GOTCHAs and opening up science with the launch of the FOSTER project. And, at the heart of the conflict around controlling access to research results, there has been a spate of journal subscription cancellations by major French institutions. What does it all mean? Read on to find out!


Open and Closed
(Flickr / SFB579 :))

You’ve heard of CAPTCHAs, probably: those often maddening little tests you have to pass in order to submit a form online. They’re designed to make sure you’re human, but if you’re no better at deciphering squiqqly letters or scanned texts of old documents than I am, you’ll find this challenging.

Well, now, to the arsenal of cyber security comes the equally delightfully named GOTCHA. This time, though, the goal is to prevent brute-force password thieves. Because computers alone are no good at describing ink blots…

See how it works in:

GOTCHAs Outsmart Brute-Force Password Thieves

 

Secure passwords allow us to protect the things we don’t want open to wandering eyes, spammers, or thieves. But other things can, should and must be shared, like research. That is the view of a growing swathe of the scientific world and a project has just been launched to help researchers comply with open access requirements for Horizon 2020 and the European Research Area.

The aim is to support everyone in the research life cycle, but especially young researchers, in embracing open science.

Find out how you can help and benefit from the FOSTER project:

Launch of the FOSTER Project: Facilitate Open Science Training for European Research

 

Still not convinced of the need for open policies in science? Would you feel differently if your institution were forced to cancel its subscriptions to the biggest journals in your field? And all because of failed negotiations over sky-high subscription prices? This is what’s been happening, with several recent examples in France. Read how the fights went down and what it might mean for the future in:

An Epidemic of Journal Subscription Cancellations

 

It surely won’t be much longer that science stays locked up as tightly as we hope your bank account is. If that’s not the case, consider changing your password: 123456 really is not your safest option. ;)

Have an excellent weekend.

The MyScienceWorkTeam