See-Why.Net

We’re doing a research project right now in the wonderful world of CPSC430, and I came upon an article about Nature Publishing Group giving the University of California a 400% increase. While we are not reading from Nature in CPSC430, I have used it extensively for biology courses, and other scientific journals probably run under the same model. Researchers at universities submit their papers to the journals, and other researchers then peer-review the papers all for free. The paper then turns around and sells these researcher’s own work right back at them at astronomical prices! I’m not even going to analyze this using ethical theories, it is just too ridiculousness. Obviously it’s only the publisher getting anything out of this system. It’s time for a more web 2.0 approach to scientific publishing, reviewers can leave comments right on the paper then. I remember my co-op supervisor talking about something like this before too. I’m surprised that universities don’t already run their own databases like that for their own faculty’s work. I guess when papers are submitted to journals, the authors lose copyright so they can’t post it elsewhere? :/ I’m not sure, but if it is that is also the lamest thing ever.

So in the last post in my class journal here, I talked about Mouse Manufacturing. It reminds me of a poem by Canadian poet Rita Wong, here’s an excerpt:

nothing comes between me &
the labour of the garment workers
their fifty cents a day sweat
hugs me tight every morning

my auntie’s fingers nimble
with the demands of piecework
how she churns dozens of jeans by dim lamplight
one more casualty for casual wear

The rest is posted on her website (It’s near the bottom of the page, called “denim blues”. To change the situation for computer mice:

nothing comes between me &
the labour of the factory workers
their fifty cents a day sweat
under my hand everyday
as I point and click

ok so I’m not a poet.

We discussed an article about Microsoft and other electronic companies using young and poorly paid, mostly female workers to make their computer mice. The image on the article, and many more on the flicker stream showed the workers sleeping at their factory benches. I think the article was really shocking to many of us in the class because a lot of us are from Chinese descent. Having lived in Canada most of our lives, however we’re not really aware of what goes on in the “homeland”. Although I can’t say I’m really surprised. China never gets huge props in the media for their treating of human rights, they are a communist country after all. And my parents and grandmother all tell me horror stories about working in factories when they were young before they left the mainland… So in 30+ years, China has not changed much.

Someone in class also pointed out that in the photo they looked like they were playing Heads Up 7 Up. Yeah, they do.