The website...
http://scientistlifeboat.com
has been the new home for the essays "Contemporary Problems in Science
Jobs" that were on my old personal homepage website with the CPSJ name.
There is, however, new material and additional topics.
We recommend as a "chat room" for job-career issues the internet
newsgroup
"sci.research.careers." You'll have real freedom of speech capacity, no
censorship, multiple sources instead of a single source for opinons, and
probably a larger lurker-reader audience, too, and archives on DejaNews
The domain, scientistlifeboat.com, is owned by my company via the
authority of Internic (Network Solutions), and that domain name
confirmation came through to me on Sept 30, 1998. The site was "on the
air" a few days later.
The general focus of my website will still be on careers and
particularly
for those with the PhD degree. There is material that you can't find on
the other websites. There are many references to journal, newspaper, and
other sources. Some subjects include age discrimination and the
older scientist, unionization and organization, and additional analysis
of
how "the system" works and if and whether anything can be done about it.
There will be information and resources to help those who may be in
trouble that is not of their own making.
I will continue to do book reviews and cite titles of significant books
that deal directly or indirectly with careers or career issues or
relevant employment trends. I will continue to cite relevant websites
and
internet resources. I will foster the idea that one should NOT get all
information and opinions from just one or a few sources.
I have decided to continue to cite some other websites even if they are
competitors of my website, and even though you will rarely or even NEVER
find on those websites any reciprocal reference to my website, or any
other website. Some websites only acknowledge the existence of other
websites if they are "establishment" websites. I and my company will
support the philosophy that multiple opinions should be sought out on
any
given relevant topic.
My website will also carry a disclosure and disclaimer, a policy and
history, and mission. This is unlike many if not most other websites.
Please remember this as you visit websites.
If you re-visit my website, you may have to empty your browser's cache
and
"expire" the links to see new material. Some browsers will
preferentially
load a page file from your browser's cache over a page file on the
website. You may need to force your browser to get the file from the
website by emptying your cache (as an experiment, you can use your
browser
to open cache files to see what is stored there).
I will continue to emphasize reality over hype and hucksterism, instead
of
concentrating only on positive information as if negative events never
happen and you don't have to worry about them.
There is an up-front hit statistics counter right there, out in the
open.
No cookies. No sign-in with password. No subscription fee. No hidden
marketing. You can watch the hit counter, yourself, if you click on your
"reload" button. A small fraction of the hits are my own in the course
of
adding or modifying files and then changing the links and then checking
to
make sure they work. There are websites where there is an internal link,
and clicking on it dumps you into a "404" error message.
The root word, 'scientistlifeboat,' is to indicate a benfit to
scientists and other technical people, and the "lifeboat" root is a
reference to what saves people in ocean voyages where some disaster
strikes the ship the people are on. A specific event burned in my mind
is
the maiden voyage of the Titanic where not only unwarranted arrogance
and
overconfidence in hyped technology (the "unsinkable") was profusely
used,
but the number of passengers substantially exceeded the number of
lifeboat
seats. Moreover, post disaster investigation showed that not even all
the
lifeboat seats were occupied, thus contributing to additional loss. I am
happy for the fact that attention to safety issues is generally much
stronger in today's world than in the world back in the days of the
Titanic.
There is now substantial consensus about a PhD glut in many fields,
underemployment, and a substantial flow of PhDs into jobs that do not
require a PhD (websites, books, articles, and government and other
studies
are cited on my website about this). There seems, in contrast, to be a
larger proportion of people going through medical schools that actually
end up in long stable careers in medicine than for the PhD.
The website is meant to be a resource for material to help those
succeed,
survive, salvage, or "escape" from their science career.
Reorganizations,
start-up business failures, grant non-renewals, tenure denials,
political
backstabs, and age-discrimination all represent career hazards that are
beyond our control. However, we do not worry about those who get tenure,
or stable and permanent jobs.
Anyone who has news, suggestions, or writings on a career or science
career issue is invited to submit it to us for consideration in our
monthly "feature" section or as a "department.
Anyone finding anything that needs correction, please email me. Anyone
with a suggestion, please email me.
Probably the most important goal of this website is to find people who
would like to help form a true science career advocacy organization.
Universities, colleges, and the various industries in the commercial
world
all have lobbying agencies and entities looking out for their own
interests. Why shouldn't scientists and other PhDs have a group that
looks
out for some of their interests?
Arthur E. Sowers, PhD
president, Arthur E. Sowers, Inc.
a Delaware for-profit corporation since 1995
sponsoring: http://scientistlifeboat.com
mailing address:
P.O. Box 489
Georgetown, DE 19947
email address: arthures at scientistlifeboat.com
...or reply to this post.
our used bookstore: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/lifeboat
