[P2P-F] Fwd: Kitsune #1 - The Ronin Institute Newsletter Nov/Dec 2014

Mon Nov 24 21:08:02 CET 2014

Dear Kevin

this is an important initiative in the context of p2p scholarship,

could you announce it in the p2p blog, and perhaps re-publish their
'Vision' piece below ?

Michel
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship <
kitsune at ronininstitute.org>
Date: Fri, Nov 21, 2014 at 1:45 AM
Subject: Kitsune #1 - The Ronin Institute Newsletter Nov/Dec 2014
To: Michel Bauwens <michel at p2pfoundation.net>

    [image: The Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship]
<http://ronininstitute.org>   Issue #1  November / December 2014

Greetings!

You hold in your virtual hand the very first issue of *Kitsune*, the Ronin
Institute Newsletter, which will allow me to share the latest research from
our community of independent scholars as they reinvent academia.

The name *Kitsune* comes from the multi-tailed foxes from Japanese
folklore, who serve as messengers for the Shinto spirit Inari. My hope is
that they will also be willing to serve as messengers for the Ronin
Institute.

*Kitsune* will be published six times a year, and it will highlight many of
our programs, projects, and scholars. In this first issue, I want to start
with our roots: the overarching vision for the Institute – why we need it,
our mission, and how you can help out. I'll let you know about the progress
we've made in getting the Institute up and running and give you a brief
overview of the growing body of research that is already being published
under the Ronin Institute name.

With that, let's get to know the Ronin Institute.
Scientiam Consecemus!

Jon F. Wilkins
President and Research Scholar

  ------------------------------

In this Issue

The Ronin Institute Vision <#149ce869120fa7b8_field_vision> | How to Help
<#149ce869120fa7b8_field_how_to_help> | Recent Progress
<#149ce869120fa7b8_field_progress> | Publications
<#149ce869120fa7b8_field_publications> | About
<#149ce869120fa7b8_field_about>

  ------------------------------

*The Ronin Institute Vision*

At the Ronin Institute, we are assembling a twenty-first century community
of Research Scholars who are addressing the important and interesting
questions that are now being neglected by universities, and who are doing
it at a fraction of what it would cost in the old system. We hope that you
will support us, or maybe even join us, as we endeavor to return
scholarship to its fundamental core: taking smart, talented people who have
profound expertise and passion, and helping them to push at the boundaries
of human knowledge.

Since World War II, the predominant model of basic research has been one
where the federal government provides the funding and universities carry
out the work, to the point where being an active researcher became
virtually synonymous with holding a faculty position at a university. But
that system is fundamentally broken. Universities carry exoribant costs
associated with extravagant facilities and bloated administrations, and the
ongoing corporatization of universities is distorting decisions about which
fields and questions receive resources and attention.

When a university researcher receives funding for a project, that funding
comes with a substantial amount of "indirect" support, which is intended to
pay for incidental costs, like electricity, facilities maintenance, and
accounting. This overhead also supports things like luxury rec centers
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/fashion/college-recreation-now-includes-pool-parties-and-river-rides.html>
and ever-increasing administrative payrolls
<http://necir.org/2014/02/06/new-analysis-shows-problematic-boom-in-higher-ed-administrators/>.
Universities invest in expensive state-of-the-art facilities in order to
attract grant money, but this increases their need for overhead money in
the future.

The dependence on grant money -- not just to support research, but to
maintain the physical and administrative infrastructure -- distorts
decisions about hiring and promotion. The system does not necessarily
reward the most important research. Rather, it too often promotes
approaches that are most likely to be able to feed the university's need
for overhead. These problems have been compounded in recent years due to a
general shift toward a more corporatized
<http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2014/08/college_course_syllabi_they_re_too_long_and_they_re_a_symbol_of_the_decline.html>
model
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2011/08/16/colleges-and-universities-should-operate-more-like-businesses/>.
It is no longer simply that universities have large fixed costs that must
be paid every year. Today, maximizing the flow of cash through the
university is treated as a goal in itself.

The net result is that universities are no longer committed to asking the
most interesting and challenging questions, except to the extent that those
questions are also expensive. The system is still well suited to research
questions that require expensive facilities, equipment, and reagents.
However, there are many questions that will be answered not through
expensive experiments, but through careful study and consideration by
creative people with the sort of deep knowledge that only comes from years
of immersion in a subject.

While the twenty-first century has seen accelerating growth in the problems
associated with universities, it has also seen the development of tools
needed to build a new path forward. In the past, being physically located
at a university was critical for doing top-quality research, because it
allowed you access to resources (like journals and books) and a community
of like-minded experts. Today, that is no longer true. Information and
colleagues are now accessible electronically. Virtual scholarly communities
can be constructed for a fraction of the cost of the brick-and-mortar
university system. While university research has also taken advantage of
these new information and communication resources, it is hamstrung by its
need to continue to financially support the old, twentieth-century
infrastucture.

The transformation of academia underway at the Ronin Institute will return
the focus to the core of scholarship: the quest to discover and share
knowledge.

  ------------------------------

*How to Help*

If the vision of the Ronin Institute resonates with you, maybe you're
wondering what you can do. We are dependent on public support, and if
you're in a position to make a monetary donation, now or in the future, I
hope you'll consider us <http://ronininstitute.org/donate>. Since we are a
501(c)3 nonprofit
<https://www.guidestar.org/organizations/45-4524080/ronin-institute-independent-scholarship-incorporated.aspx>,
donations are tax deductible. If you shop regularly at Amazon, you can help
by using our Amazon Smile account. If you start your session using this link
<http://smile.amazon.com/ch/45-4524080>, Amazon will donate 0.5% of
whatever you spend to the Ronin Institute.

Just as valuable is helping us to get the word out about this new vision
for scholarship and about the great work already being done by our Research
Scholars. If you know someone who might be interested, please feel free to
pass this newsletter along to them, and encourage them to contact us, so
that we can add them to our mailing list.

If you're a researcher yourself, I would encourage you to take a look
through our team of Research Scholars
<http://ronininstitute.org/research-scholars>. Many of them are open to or
actively seeking collaborations. Many would be eager to collaborate on
grant proposals (and you'll find them less expensive than your colleagues
who are shackled to high-overhead univeristies). If you see someone whose
expertise and interests complement your own, reach out to them. You never
know what magic might hapen.

Keep our Research Scholars in mind for other opportunities as well, whether
you're looking for someone to referee a manuscript, serve on an editorial
board, or write a commentary. Each of our Research Scholars has deep
knowledge of and passion for their field, and many of them have fewer
bureaucratic obligations than the typical academic.

Maybe you're looking for someone to speak in a seminar series. Maybe you're
looking for an expert to consult on a project that your company is
undertaking. Or maybe you need an expert opinion for a newspaper article
you're writing. These independent scholars represent an extraordinary
resource. By making use of their knowledge and passion, not only will you
be helping to support an alternative model of academic scholarship, but you
just may find some hidden gems.

  ------------------------------

*Recent Progress*

The Ronin Institute was incorporated in February of 2012, and received its
tax-exempt 501(c)3 status in the fall of that year. In the time since, we
have made tremendous progress toward building an organization that can
effectively support and connect independent scholars. A lot of this
progress has been under-the-hood building and tinkering. We have focused on
trying to understand where to focus our efforts to have the greatest
impact, and we have put in place what we think is the "minimal viable
bureaucracy" required to effectively acquire and manage funding to support
our scholars' research.

Our basic administrative apparatus is now in place, and Research Scholars
have begun submitting grant proposals through the Institute. We are now
moving on to the next phase, where we are exploring ways to build
collaboration networks and opportunities to create innovative educational
content.

Our current roster includes over sixty Research Scholars
<http://ronininstitute.org/research-scholars/>, who span the gamut of
academic fields, from physics to biology to psychology to philosophy. They
also represent the full diversity of approaches to scholarship that the
Ronin Institute hopes to support and encourage. Some aim to work full time
as independent scholars, while some are interested in what we call
"fractional scholarship." Some have day jobs that pay the bills and support
their scholarship habit. Some even have regular university jobs, but are
dedicated to creating an alternative path. All of these folks are
fantastic, and I've loved getting to know them and their research.

  ------------------------------

*Publications*

The number of publication already out there featuring the Ronin Institute
affiliation is a testament to the quality of our independent scholars. Here
is a list of some recent Ronin Institute publications:

*Articles & Chapters*

Altenberg, L. (2013). Implications of the Reduction Principle for
Cosmological Natural Selection. arXiv preprint arXiv:1302.1293
<http://arxiv.org/abs/1302.1293>.

Altenberg, L. (2014). Mathematics awaits: commentary on “Genetic
programming and emergence” by Wolfgang Banzhaf. Genetic Programming and
Evolvable Machines, 15(1), 87-89
<http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10710-013-9198-5>.

Belcheva, A., Irrazabal, T., Robertson, S. J., Streutker, C., Maughan, H.,
Rubino, S., ... & Martin, A. (2014). Gut microbial metabolism drives
transformation of Msh2-deficient colon epithelial cells. Cell, 158(2),
288-299 <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867414007363>.

Callier, V., & Nijhout, H. F. (2014). Plasticity of insect body size in
response to oxygen: integrating molecular and physiological mechanisms. Current
Opinion in Insect Science
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214574514000157>.

Flach, E., & Schnell, S. (2013). Varying chemical equilibrium gives kinetic
parameters. bioRxiv http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/000547
<http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2013/11/16/000547>.

Konya, T., Koster, B., Maughan, H., Field, C. J., Chari, R. S., Sears, M.
R., ... & Azad, M. B. (2013). The Microflora Hypothesis Of Allergic
Disease: Infant Gut Microbiota Profiles According To Early-Life
Environmental Exposures. Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 187, A2529
<http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1164/ajrccm-conference.2013.187.1_MeetingAbstracts.A2529>.

Kramp, J. M. (2013). Call of the Wild: The Negative Tendency in the Nature
Religions of American Youth. Journal of religion and health, 1-15
<http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-013-9732-z>.

Lim, Y. W., Evangelista, J. S., Schmieder, R., Bailey, B., Haynes, M.,
Furlan, M., ... & Conrad, D. (2014). Clinical insights from metagenomic
analysis of sputum samples from patients with cystic fibrosis. Journal of
clinical microbiology, 52(2), 425-437
<http://jcm.asm.org/content/52/2/425.short>.

Lim, Y. W., Schmieder, R., Haynes, M., Furlan, M., Matthews, T. D.,
Whiteson, K., ... & Rohwer, F. (2013). Mechanistic model of Rothia
mucilaginosa adaptation toward persistence in the CF lung, based on a
genome reconstructed from metagenomic data. PloS one, 8(5), e64285
<http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064285.g004>.

Quinn, Robert A., et al. Biogeochemical Forces Shape the Composition and
Physiology of Polymicrobial Communities in the Cystic Fibrosis Lung. mBio
5.2 (2014): e00956-13 <http://mbio.asm.org/content/5/2/e00956-13.short>.

Whiteson, K. L., Bailey, B., Bergkessel, M., Conrad, D., Delhaes, L.,
Felts, B., ... & Rainey, P. B. (2014). The Upper Respiratory Tract as a
Microbial Source for Pulmonary Infections in Cystic Fibrosis. Parallels
from Island Biogeography. American journal of respiratory and critical care
medicine, 189(11), 1309-1315
<http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/rccm.201312-2129PP>.

Whiteson, K. L., Meinardi, S., Lim, Y. W., Schmieder, R., Maughan, H.,
Quinn, R., ... & Rohwer, F. (2014). Breath gas metabolites and bacterial
metagenomes from cystic fibrosis airways indicate active pH neutral 2,
3-butanedione fermentation. The ISME journal, 8(6), 1247-1258
<http://www.nature.com/ismej/journal/v8/n6/abs/ismej2013229a.html>.

Wilkins, J. F. (2014). Costs and consequences of the conflict over infant
sleep. Evolution, medicine, and public health, 2014(1), 63-64
<http://emph.oxfordjournals.org/content/2014/1/63.short>.

Wilkins, J. F. (2014). Genomic imprinting of grb10: coadaptation or
conflict?. PLoS biology, 12(2), e1001800
<http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001800.g001>.

*Opinions*

Callier, V., & Vanderford, N. L. (2014). Ailing academia needs culture
change. Science (New York, NY), 345(6199), 885-885
<http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6199/885.2.full>.

Callier, V., & Vanderford, N. L. (2014). Mission possible: putting trainees
at the center of academia's mission. Nature biotechnology, 32(6), 593-594
<http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v32/n6/nbt.2928/metrics?message-global=remove>.

Balch, C., Arias-Pulido, H., et al. (2014). Science and technology
consortia in U.S. biomedical research: A paradigm shift in response to
unsustainable academic growth. BioEssays (Early View)
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bies.201400167/abstract>.

*Book Reviews*

Kramp, J. M. (2013). At Home in the World: A Study in Psychoanalysis,
Religion, and Art. By Donald Capps. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2013. Pp.
vi+ 188. $23.00. Religious Studies Review, 39(3), 151-152
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rsr.12050/abstract>.

Kramp, J. M. (2014). Counseling the Hard Cases: True Stories Illustrating
the Sufficiency of God's Resources in Scripture. Edited by Stuart Scott and
Heath Lambert. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2012. Pp. vii+ 318.
$21.79. Religious
Studies Review, 40(1), 19-19
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rsr.12099_5/abstract>.

Kramp, J. M. (2014). Dementia: Living in the Memories of God. By John
Swinton. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2012. Pp. vii+ 298.
$25.00. Religious
Studies Review, 40(1), 19-20
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rsr.12099_6/abstract>.

Kramp, J. M. (2013). George W. Bush and the Redemptive Dream: A
Psychological Portrait. By Dan P. McAdams. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2011. Pp. x+ 274. $29.95. Religious Studies Review, 39(1), 22-22
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rsr.12004_2/abstract>.

Kramp, J. M. (2013). Nature's Sublime: An Essay in Aesthetic Naturalism. By
Robert S. Corrington. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2013. Pp. ix+ 215.
$53.05. Religious Studies Review, 39(3), 152-152
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rsr.12050_3/abstract>.

Kramp, J. M. (2014). Spiritual Care at the End of Life: The Chaplain as a
“Hopeful Presence”. By Steve Nolan. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers,
2012. Pp. 160. $29.95. Religious Studies Review, 40(1), 19-19
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rsr.12099_4/abstract>.

Kramp, J. M. (2013). Tiny Terror: Why Truman Capote (Almost) Wrote Answered
Prayers. By William Todd Schultz. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Pp. vii+ 175. $17.95. Religious Studies Review, 39(2), 73-74
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rsr.12025_2/abstract>.

   ------------------------------

*About the Ronin Institute*

The Ronin Institute is dedicated to building an alternative model of
academic scholarship outside of the traditional university system. To learn
more, visit us at http://ronininstitute.org or send us email
<info at ronininstitute.org>.

We depend on public support. If you are in a position to do so, please
consider making a donation <http://ronininstitute.org/donate/>. The Ronin
Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, so your donation will be tax
deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

If you know someone who might be interested in the Ronin Institute, please
feel free to forward this newsletter on to them. If you want to stop
receiving this newsletter, click here
<kitsune at ronininstitute.org?subject=Unsubscribe&body=Please+remove+me+from+this+email+list>,
and we'll take care of it.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Contact *Kitsune* and Let us know
<kitsune at ronininstitute.org>.

-- 
Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at:
http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan

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