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A genomics professor has devised a tongue-in-cheek measure of scientific work vs. scientific recognition.
Neil Hall, a genomics professor with the University of Liverpool, has kicked up a bit of an Internet storm. He's written a paper and has had it published in the journal Genome Biology, suggesting (with tongue firmly in cheek) that some scientists are getting more attention than they deserve, due to their heightened social standing. He's even come up with a way to measure it, his so-called "Kardashian-index" or more simply, K-index-it's derived by noting how many people are following the scientist on Twitter and then dividing that number by followers the scientist probably should have due to papers written and associated citations for it, i.e. proof of actual work done.
The index is named after Kim Kardashian (and her family) of course, who have become famous for being famous -- they don't actually do anything. And that's the point of Hall's paper-is the scientific community in danger of being overrun by scientists who make a lot of noise in the social media world, but do very little actual scientific work? Hall notes that there seems to be times when scientists are asked to give talks at conferences based more on their social standing than on work they have actually done. This begs the question, are scientists (regardless of field) just as susceptible to the cult of celebrity as everyone else and if so, is it harming science?
Full text: http://genomebiology.com/2014/15/7/424
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Thursday August 07 2014, @11:06AM
I gave my scientist extra chili peppers, because she is "hot"! (See discussion about slang, above). Yes, this is why letting idiots (journalists, the public, undergraduate students) evaluate anything is a really bad idea. For all the discussion of the "begs the question" faux pas (um, that's French for a social mistake, just incase you are illiterate), we are faced here with a more deadly fallacy, the argumentum ad populum, yes, the appeal to Karadashians! Or popularity. My Favorite was in intellectually beleagured state of Wyoming, where they allegedly said, "Eat lamb, 10 Million Coyotes can't be wrong!" Or in the 50's: Nine out of ten doctors who smoke, smoke Camels! Nearly Five Million Coyotes smokes Camels, too, but that is not important now.
Judge no scientist, or other academic, until they have been dead for at least one hundred years. Only way to counter act the "star" syndrome of scientists who are famous because they are famous, like the Kardashians. (And here, at the end is our petitio principii, where we beg the question of why they are famous. Got it now, mouth-breathers? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc "And people mock you online...." Ha!.>
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 12 2014, @10:12AM
Ass.