I'm very surprised the librarians in question didn't think to better safeguard open access when allowing Google access to their collections.
The time to negotiate is when you're still holding the cards...
I couldn't tell from the article whether they looked at differences between countries, for example those with universal daycare and those without?
It might also be possible to examine admissions bias, particularly in medicine. You could maybe look at the GPA of candidates over the past 25 years vs. admission after the entrance interviews.
I think it's important to be careful with the "she's just going to leave and have babies" argument, as it's been used as a rationale for sexist hiring practices in the past. The study should be examined carefully to determine the validity of its findings.
I so agree - 36 hour shifts are so amazingly stupid. Scheduling is not rocket science - the day divides up into eight hour shifts quite nicely. I don't even want a nurse looking after me who's been on for 11 hours.
The intensity of the internship process may have some defensible goals (can you operate under extreme conditions), but also works as an admirable screen for women with kids. I suppose there might be an exception if a female intern had an amazing partner who is willing to see to all childcare and household duties - I've never heard of this occurring, but it's possible that it could.
That was my first thought, too, Clover Kicker. Especially if the metric becomes hated.
I wonder if there may be ways around that though, with a well-done staff orientation about the intention behind the metric (what kind of behaviour is it recognizing/promoting and what will that do for the company). Sometimes if you appeal to people's integrity it (amazingly) can work. Also, some kind of cross checking would be needed, to make sure the metric is not just being implemented mindlessly.
I'll try the Immortals if I can get it from my library - thanks for the suggestion.
The uncredited source for Idiocracy is CM Kornbluth's "the Marching Morons" - if you ever have time, try it, it's very good. Kornbluth and Frederick Pohl also did a novel in 1952 called "the Space Merchants" which is about the world being controlled by the ad agencies. It's one of my faves.
this could also be useful for sending targetted streams of propaganda out to people's houses.
If the ads are targetted, the programs themselves could be as well.
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I'm very surprised the librarians in question didn't think to better safeguard open access when allowing Google access to their collections. The time to negotiate is when you're still holding the cards...
of possible tangential interest http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090325.wmothers25/BNStory/lifeMain/home "Highly educated women face a much more severe loss of earning power when they have children compared to mothers with less education, says a report published yesterday by Statistics Canada."
nice to see these thoughtful posts from a different perspective
I couldn't tell from the article whether they looked at differences between countries, for example those with universal daycare and those without? It might also be possible to examine admissions bias, particularly in medicine. You could maybe look at the GPA of candidates over the past 25 years vs. admission after the entrance interviews. I think it's important to be careful with the "she's just going to leave and have babies" argument, as it's been used as a rationale for sexist hiring practices in the past. The study should be examined carefully to determine the validity of its findings.
I so agree - 36 hour shifts are so amazingly stupid. Scheduling is not rocket science - the day divides up into eight hour shifts quite nicely. I don't even want a nurse looking after me who's been on for 11 hours. The intensity of the internship process may have some defensible goals (can you operate under extreme conditions), but also works as an admirable screen for women with kids. I suppose there might be an exception if a female intern had an amazing partner who is willing to see to all childcare and household duties - I've never heard of this occurring, but it's possible that it could.
That was my first thought, too, Clover Kicker. Especially if the metric becomes hated. I wonder if there may be ways around that though, with a well-done staff orientation about the intention behind the metric (what kind of behaviour is it recognizing/promoting and what will that do for the company). Sometimes if you appeal to people's integrity it (amazingly) can work. Also, some kind of cross checking would be needed, to make sure the metric is not just being implemented mindlessly.
I'll try the Immortals if I can get it from my library - thanks for the suggestion. The uncredited source for Idiocracy is CM Kornbluth's "the Marching Morons" - if you ever have time, try it, it's very good. Kornbluth and Frederick Pohl also did a novel in 1952 called "the Space Merchants" which is about the world being controlled by the ad agencies. It's one of my faves.
this could also be useful for sending targetted streams of propaganda out to people's houses. If the ads are targetted, the programs themselves could be as well.