The Duck of Minerva

Data, data on the wall

by Jon Western

1 September 2011, 0317 EDT

OK, OK, OK, I know life is short and some of us need to get a life (I’m not in Seattle by the way), but this is a really cool app from Uppsala:

From the iTunes description: “Data on 300 armed conflicts, more than 200 summaries of peace agreements, data on casualties etc, without having access to the Internet.”

I actually do think this is really cool and I can see real benefits to having this type of data at one’s fingertips, but I do wonder how these dramatic changes in the ease of access to select types of data and data summaries (even from reputable places like Uppsala) will alter research strategies, research teaching methods, the research capabilities of future scholars, and ultimately research output.

With Kate’s excellent post directly below, I wonder is this a good thing or not so good? Thoughts?

Oh, one other thing, any interest in an app for Duck?

Jon Western has spent the last fifteen years teaching IR in liberal arts colleges at Mount Holyoke College and the Five Colleges in western Massachusetts. He has an eclectic range of intellectual interests but often writes on international security, U.S. foreign policy, military intervention, and human rights. He occasionally shares his thoughts about professional life in liberal arts colleges. In his spare time he coaches middle school soccer, mentors the local high school robotics team, skis, and sails.

0 Comments