Caroline Ball

@heroicendeavour

Open Book Collective, #ebookSOS, WikimediaUK, NLISN. Easily swayed by rainbows, cupcakes, cats, Cheetos, unicorns, and all things sparkly and fabulous.

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Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· 9d

I have no idea what mine means, other than perhaps I'm shouty and predictable?

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· 10d

George Eliot knew what she was talking about...

Quote from George Eliot's Middlemarch - "The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· 18d

New t-shirt! Because, well, I don't really need to explain, do I? Vote @countbinface.bsky.social!

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· 18d

Overall data for the UK, by institutional spend. Eye-opening!

A treemap in which each rectangle's area is proportional to article processing charge expenditure by that organisation. UCL is the largest at €17,578,248, with the Wellcome Trust close behind at €15,336,686. The next tier comprises the University of Oxford (€10,886,254), the University of Cambridge (€10,013,672) and Imperial College London (€7,643,943). Below these: Manchester (€6,476,187), Edinburgh (€5,142,167), King's College London (€4,797,509), Birmingham (€4,367,730), Cardiff (€3,657,998), Newcastle (€3,151,448), Sheffield (€2,423,077), Bristol (€1,993,773) and Exeter (€1,952,221). The remainder resolves into well over a hundred progressively smaller rectangles, most too small to label - the spend concentrated heavily in a handful of large, research-intensive institutions.

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· 18d

It's fascinating exploring the institutional data published via the OpenAPC.net site. Obviously it's only as comprehensive as the number of institutions that chose to volunteer their annual spend (and boo, hiss to those who don't!), but even so... 2025's cost data by publisher, for example.

A treemap in which each rectangle's area is proportional to article processing charge expenditure with that publisher. Springer Nature occupies roughly a third of the chart at €6,630,036. The next tier comprises MDPI AG (€1,346,800), Elsevier BV (€1,234,251) and Frontiers Media SA (€1,101,100). Below these: Wiley-Blackwell (€652,092), Oxford University Press (€650,523), Public Library of Science (€486,230), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (€347,198), the American Physical Society (€346,445), Informa UK Limited (€325,055) and BMJ (€273,533). The remainder of the chart dissolves into several hundred increasingly small rectangles representing society and smaller commercial publishers, most too small to label - a visual illustration of how concentrated the spend is at the top.

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· 21d

My mother unearthed this picture of baby Me when I first learned to ski! 😂

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· 23d

But I wasn’t terrible! I was surprised how much came back to me - muscle memory, after all these years.

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Jul 13

"Wikipedia not currently deemed a Category 1 service under the Online Safety Act." Good news, but the law is still incredibly flawed - Wikipedia should never have been included within its scope in the first place. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...

We're pleased to announce that on 10 July 2026, the Wikimedia Foundation was notified by the UK's communications and post regulator, Office of Communications (Ofcom), that, based on a novel reading of the law, Wikipedia is not currently deemed a Category 1 service under the Online Safety Act (OSA). However, as part of that announcement, Ofcom informed the Foundation that Wikipedia must remain on a "watch list" of platforms that do not currently qualify as Category 1 services, but that could become Category 1 at any point in the future. Any future Category 1 designation remains an existential threat to Wikipedia, open knowledge, and the privacy and safety of the community of contributors. The Foundation will continue to advocate for safeguarding public-interest spaces like Wikipedia, pushing for a more formal and permanent exemption of these spaces under the OSA.

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Jul 6

Nothing like sitting in the audience for the opening of a conference and having your giant headshot flash up on the screen… Hi, everyone? 😬

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Jul 2

One of these plants is not like the other. I thought I was growing tomatoes but this seems to be some form of catcus? Do you think it needs watering?

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Jul 1

It wasn't this hard getting Take That tickets. This is like Glastonbury for history nerds.

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Jun 26

I am feeling all of these right now.

I am not built for this level of sun. I was forged for drizzle and disappointment, as is the custom of this realm.

I have opened every window in my dwelling and still find myself in the furnace of despair.

I am a boiling vessel of petty irritation and noble suffering.

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Jun 20

Choosing the bear…

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Jun 16

Amazing weekend for a wedding, with the best concentration of librarians you’ll find in the known universe…

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Jun 2

Making our sad way home from a wonderful relaxing ‘do nothing’ holiday - I imagine it’s raining back in England?

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Jun 1

This is the life! Batteries fully charged.

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· May 29

I feel like this rabbit is already on crack…

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· May 28

Not sure why one angel is apparently kicking the shit out of the other one? Either this church is particularly big on discipline, or the artist didn’t quite achieve the vision they were aiming for…

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· May 24

It saddens me immensely that you cannot get Fanta Guaraná in the UK - I am taking as much advantage of it as I can while I’m here in Portugal!

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· May 24

I could get used to this! I mean, technically I *could* work from anywhere in my job… 🤔😎

A circular outdoor swimming pool with bright blue water, crossed by a small concrete footbridge, set within a holiday resort complex in southern Portugal. The pool is surrounded by a wide pale stone terrace. White-painted, low-rise apartment buildings with terracotta-tiled roofs and shuttered windows are visible in the background, surrounded by mature umbrella pines, a large leafy tree, and manicured hedging. Sun loungers and folded parasols are scattered around the pool area. The sky is clear and pale blue, suggesting warm, sunny weather.

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· May 22

Love this terracotta plant wall and the little red Vespa. Such Mediterranean vibes!

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· May 21

The water was cold, though! I suppose it is still the Atlantic in mid-May.

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· May 20

Holidays have begun!

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· May 15

‘A plague o’ both your houses!’ [Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene 1]

However, Caroline Ball, community engagement lead at the Open Book Collective, which champions open access publishing, said the Elsevier-Meta face-off was a “complicated one” for academics.

“It’s more complicated than the Anthropic book piracy case, since in that case authors’ rights were at the heart of the issue, and any financial recompense would go to the authors, mostly,” said Ball on the £1.1 billion settlement agreed in September 2025.

“Should Elsevier win and get a payout or compensation, it’s unlikely any of that would make its way back to institutions or academics, since in most cases they will have signed their rights over to Elsevier at the point of publication. So it will be just more money for Elsevier on the basis of their academic labour,” she said.

“Should Meta win, and their wholesale use of copyright material be deemed legal, or more likely in US courts, ‘fair use’, then it’s open season on copyrighted material,” Ball continued, adding: “I suspect for most of us in the academic community it’s a case of ‘a plague on both your houses’!”

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Apr 27

She did such a good job! And yes, I have already worn it more than him…

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Apr 9

Because the world is so awful, pause for a moment and have 30 seconds of my kitty purring in her sleep instead.

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Apr 7

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Apr 2

My almost-mother-in law is a knitter and is making Ryan Gosling’s amazing cardigan from Project Hail Mary for my partner Alex - and I cannot wait to steal it off him. 😂

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Mar 25

So who am I going to see at #UKSG2026 next week? Raise your hand if you're coming!

Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour· Mar 15

Very ready for some warmer weather now. Reynaud’s is no fun in the winter.