Harvard University’s Faculty Advisory Committee has sent out a memo requesting that professors encourage the growth of free, open-access journals. Highlights from the memo include:

• Harvard’s annual cost for journals is $3.75 million. The most expensive journals can cost as much as $40,000 per year and the price is rising unsustainably. In some cases prices have risen by as much as 145% in a year.
• Harvard faculty are encouraged to “move prestige to open access”.
• They are also asked to “consider resigning” if they are on the editorial board of pay for access journals.

To read the full memo and find out what the profit margins of the journals are, click here.

Source: The Harvard Library

Via: Arstechnica

The film industry is moving towards digital formats instead of standard 35 mm film. In a six page article Gendy Alimurung discussed some of the consequences of this:

• Studios are pushing the drive for digital film because it costs $1,500 to print one copy of one movie and to ship it to one screen in one theater. Multiply that by all of the theaters that a movie goes to and it gets expensive fast. In contrast digital costs just $150
• To play digital films new equipment is needed, but not only is upgrading the equipment expensive, it also costs a lot more to maintain. Since studios are no longer giving out 35mm films anymore to accelerate the transition to digital, many art house theaters are likely to go out of business.
• Some within the industry such as Christopher Nolan have fought back. These people note that film forces filmmakers to be masters of their craft. They can’t use digital monitors to check their progress. And since film cameras have to be reloaded every ten minutes discipline is required.
• Digital has its advantages. It can be set up easier and the cameras are smaller. Iconic scenes in 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire could not have been shot without digital.
• However digital movies are more expensive to maintain and there are more risks involved. Toy Story 2 was accidentally deleted by the filmmakers, and they were just barely able to recover it. Moreover because digital formats change so often it’s very easy for movies to become lost in time.
• Film is mortal – every time you play it, there’s a little wear and tear on the film. Every screening of a film is a slightly different experience. Some prefer this more organic experience. Titanic was so popular that the film was literally falling apart within the projector.
• Quentin Tarantino owns an art-house cinema and has threatened to burn it to the ground the day the cinema puts in a digital projector.
• The theater management doesn’t have the heart to tell Tarantino that they’ve been using a digital projector there for years.

To read more about the role that Avatar played, why Robert Downey Jr. sometimes leaves bottles of urine around on set, what exactly is “The Digital Dilemma”, what the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has to say, why some movies will not make the transition to digital, becoming lost to our generation, and the fate of projectionists, click here.

Source: L.A. Weekly

Via: Slate

Soap operas generally have a bad reputation. They’re thought of as vapid dramas that lack any real depth. However Stephanie Hegarty argues that soap operas have a long history of educating people and changing established norms. Some examples include:

• In 1951 the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Agriculture created a soap opera called The Archers that taught farmers ways to increase productivity. 61 years later the show is still running and it is believed to be the longest running soap opera in history.
• In 1975 half of Mexico’s workforce did not know how to read. Miguel Sabido wrote a soap opera that ends with an emotional scene of a father reading a letter his daughter wrote to him. In the next year enrollment in government literacy programs increased by 9 times.
• After Sabido’s success in challenging norms in Mexico, India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi invited him to India to help establish a new set of Indian values. In the soap opera that he wrote a Hindu girl falls in love with a Muslim man, and an upper caste man wants to marry a lower caste girl. At the end of each episode a famous Indian personality would encourage families to discuss the themes depicted in the show.

To read other examples, including the soap opera that convinced girls to celebrate their birthdays, the East African soap operas that have encouraged discussions about sexual health, and the soap opera that taught Afghans how to avoid landmines, click here.

Source: BBC

Skyscanner polled over 1000 airline passengers about their airplane seat preferences, when extra leg room isn’t available. Some of the results include:

• The most sought after seat is 6A – a window seat in the sixth row of the aircraft.
• In general the first six rows of a plane are the most popular with 45% of survey respondents picking a seat in those rows as their favourite.
• 60% of passengers prefer window seats and 40% prefer aisle seats.
• The least popular seat is 31E – a middle seat towards the back of the plane.
• Frequent fliers prefer to sit on the left of the plane because the windows are off-center meaning that they can rest their head against the wall.

To read more about the airliner that charges a premium for passengers who prefer to sit in the front of the aircraft, how to minimize turbulence, and where to sit to get the best choice of food, click here.

Source: Skyscanner

Via: Consumerist

John Paczkowski reports that one analyst predicts that Apple will become the first company in history to have a market capitalization of more than a trillion dollars. Highlights include:

• When Apple’s share price hits $1,072 it will be worth $1,000,000,000,000
• Topeka Capital Markets is predicting that Apple’s share price will hit $1,111 per share in in 2013.
• An analyst noted that the iPhone 5 and an iPad Mini were expected to launch in that timeframe and would likely drive growth.

To read more details and find out why Apple is a juggernaut, the role that China has to play, and how it’s not just Apple’s share price that is reaching for the clouds, click here.

Source: All Things D

Jeff Winkler had the opportunity to sit down with a drug dealer who primarily dealt in marijuana. Highlights from the interview include:

• The drug dealer holds a legitimate job, but on most weeks he makes about $400. On really good weeks he might make up to $600.
• He estimates his hourly wage to be $36.
• He got started selling drugs because he realized that as a supplier he would essentially be able to smoke it for free.
• Without dealing drugs he would be forced to live paycheck to paycheck. This way he is able to afford luxuries for himself such as foreign beers.
• He believes that the risk of him spending time in jail for a first offense is low because he’s white.

To read the three part interview, and to find out about supply-and-demand in the drug dealing world, whether he intends to turn his drug business into a franchise or a pyramid scheme, why he might soon keep a lawyer on retainer, and whether or not he is willing to extend his customers credit, among many other topics, click here.

Source: The Bill Fold

Via: Newmark’s Door

Disneyland is busy trying to pioneer the next generation of theme park experiences. Some of the things in the Disneyland of the future will include:

• The end of lines. Through the use of a system called xPASS families would be able to book a place in line for rides and interactions with Disney celebrities weeks and months before they visit the park.
• All guests will likely be given wrist bands with embedded chips that allow the park to track them. The chip will have the individual’s name, credit card number, and favourite attractions. As the guests walk around the park random attractions may move to greet you.
• These features might be unveiled as soon as 2013.

To read more about some privacy concerns, why this might generate more revenue for Disney, and some early signs that the systems are being set up, click here.

Source: Fox News

Via: Marginal Revolution