Misc

Altmetric collect and collate all  disparate information to provide a single visually engaging and informative view of the online activity surrounding scholarly content. This can be useful for both individual researchers and institutions who want to understand where work might be having an impact beyond citations by other academics. However, I have spoken to a few folk recently about accessing their own (and others) Altmetric scores when they don't have access to a specific link or an Altmetric paper number. The easiest way to do this is via a short snippet of HTML that includes the DOI number of any paper. Here is the HTML (DOI number is in bold): Which generates the following badge and link: This also allows for some interesting customisation options by modifying variables (e.g.  type and/or mentions). Altmetric actually provides a longer winded version of this tutorial on their own website, which can generate the code from a few drop down menus!

UPDATE 4/09/2018 - The hardware failed after 18 months. Interestingly enough, a colleagues watch also failed around the same time. Unfortunately, from a build quality perspective, and like many other consumer wearables, they are simply not built to last. And so ends my Apple Watch journey. ORIGINAL REVIEW I've owned an Apple Watch Series 2 for about 8 months now and given that I have tested and written about a fair few activity trackers in the last 18-24 months, it seemed appropriate to share a few thoughts. Apple Watch Series 2 - I didn't own the Series 1 so can't really compare the two from a personal perspective. However, the Series 2 is both waterproof and has improved battery life over the first version. Health In terms of fitness trackers, it is up there with some of the best when it comes to tracking running, cycling and swimming. When running the watch reports total time, average pace, heart rate and distance travelled. Apple's own acti...

Experience sampling allows for “real time,” in situ assessments of behaviour temporally close to the moment of enactment.  Early attempts involved participants carrying specific devices, which were expensive and bulky, but the rise of smartphones means that this method can be deployed across a variety of research designs. For example, text messages can easily be sent using a specific account or a third-party automated system (e.g. here ).    More complex designs can also combine real-world data from smartphone sensors. This might include location via GPS, or health related data in the form of movement or heart rate .  Experience sampling can also can help reduce the temptation to provide social desirable responses. Most smartphones come equipped with a camera, and mobile phone apps allow participants to upload photos as supplemental data. The changing face of experience sampling - from software running on expensive Personal Digital Assistants to smartpho...

This post previously appeared on CREST's Blog in December 2016. Your mobile phone provides all kinds of useful data about what you do, and where. But does even the choice of handset say something about you? Heather Shaw and CREST Associate David Ellis tell us more. Digital traces can provide scientists and law-enforcement agencies with a range of information about groups and individuals. In particular, smartphones can log communications (e.g., calls and messages) and behaviour from multiple internal sensors (e.g., movement and location). For example, patterns of smartphone usage can be indicative of a person’s sleep-wake activity. Location information, on the other hand, is already used to provide alibis, and can accurately predict where a person works and lives. In a very short space of time, the smartphone has become a mini version of ourselves. This is probably why people become increasingly anxious if someone else attempts to use their smartphone! We found that A...

It's that time of year again. In early January, several reports will appear in the press (e.g. The Sun ) suggesting that the third Monday of January has been identified as the most depressing day of the year. This is false. Previous Weekday Research It is true that some days of the week evoke strong emotional responses . In fact, a small body of research has identified regularities between weekday and behaviour, and also between weekday and mood. Across studies on these topics, two main patterns are emphasised. One is the so-called Blue Monday effect. In a wide range of situations and measures, outcomes are especially negative on Mondays. Many of these situations are non-trivial, as they pertain to health and economic matters. For example, heart attack risk is higher, suicide rate is higher, reported mood is lower, and stock returns are lower. Even emails sent on a  Monday also contain more grammatical mistakes  and are less positive. Especially positive outcomes on Fr...