The Hidden History Of Governor Longley's Administration
Why can't it be said that Governor Longley instituted the centralized economy?
Today I made an interesting discovery, or two, for anyone who is interested in the social impact of NewsBreak and related subject matter.
First, the Good News:
After talking with NewsBreak support and asking why my stats did not show any readers to the Boothbay Region and most readers in the Portland Auburn area, I was told that if I select a larger metropolitan area, my stories will still stream locally in Boothbay.
For my last story, I selected Portland as my location, and sure enough that turned out to be true, dramatically increasing both impressions and page views and even seeing a small but steady increase in followers.
The Other News:
I received an editorial rejection from Humanities and Social Sciences Communications:
Dear Ms Andersen,
Thank you for your above submission to Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
We have now completed an initial assessment of your paper. I regret to inform you that your manuscript was not considered suitable for further consideration.
This editorial decision is based on a recommendation made by one of the journal's Associate Editors, whose feedback is included below should you wish to submit this manuscript elsewhere.Associate Editor (Remarks to Author (Required)):
Dear Ms. Susan Andersen, thank you very much for submitting your work to Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. After a careful consideration, we have concluded that the manuscript misses a critical research design. Hence, we cannot forward with the publication process. However, we agree that the manuscript addresses an important topic with a historical perspective. Your work might find more suitable places in blog-type outlets or professional magazines, and we wish you the best luck in finding a home for your manuscript.
Thankyou.
That’s a catchy phrase and very enlightening- “critical research design”. Was my research, based on the story below, not critical enough of the prevailing system? Or is the editor referring to some structural format to which my paper does not conform? Or is it a matter of style? Or content? He is not saying. I carefully followed all the rules about how to document all references in this paper. I uploaded that version as a PDF here. The version published on Medium and the Data Driven Investor website is here.
Since I am advised to publish as a blog, I think my initial instinct was right- that a blog style of writing might be deemed unacceptable in an academic forum, but the reason I am involved with the academic organization in the first place was that HSSC recruited me to do reviews, and the only way HSSC could be familiar with my writing is through my blogging. HSSC sent a request to do reviews sounding like a non-profit organization, but that is not the case. The main shareholders of Springer Nature are Holtzbrinck Publishing Group and BC Partners.
Founded in 1986, BC Partners is a leading alternative investment manager focused on private equity, credit, and real estate, with deep networks across Europe and North America. https://www.bcpartners.com/
I did some reviews for HSSC and so I have a preferred status as a reviewer on Orcid.
Having absolutely nothing to lose, and feeling that institutions should be more aware of their own larger contextual impact, I responded with the following, to which I have received the initial “it is going to take us a while to respond” response:
I already publish on blog-type venues, The primary reason I wanted to be accepted in the Journal was so that the very selective biography of Governor Longley on Wikipedia could be expanded upon to include what is actually the most impactful change that he made.
However when I tried to add the simple fact to the biography of Governor Longley on Wikipedia, that it was under Governor Longley, the centralized economy was established in Maine and I used legislative documents as a source, I was told that legislative records are not "reliable sources"- (Response quoted below:) The response says that what I wrote is archived under history "for now". I cannot find that history but as I recall, I kept it very simple. As you can see the "reliable resources" for what is published on Governor Longley's biography, is the Maine mainstream media. I started blogging because there was no voice in the Maine mainstream media to represent anything but the views of our centrally managed state, entrenched under Governor Longley.
Since you have rejected my piece for publication in your peer-reviewed scholarly journal, the fact that under Governor Longley, the centralized economy of Maine was entrenched, and thus was the centralized state, which has created the State News hegemony that is considered a "reliable source" in Wikipedia- will remain untold and unspoken history on that venue-for now.
But Now, I am at liberty to submit the article I submitted to HSSC to Newsbreak
Newsbreak has emerged since my edit was rejected by Wikipedia and transcends the hegemony of Maine State News.Newsbreak features my voice with the largest images and a special section called Local Creators. Since Wikipedia uses State News as their "reliable source", and even State News is streaming on Newsbreak - usually with smaller images, who knows- maybe they will have to accept my independent researcher voice that uses historical documents as a source- rather than contemporary Maine mainstream news but that remains to be seen. The only reason Wikipedia matters is that it is at the top of every search and so has an enormous social impact. Will Wikipedia accept Newsbreak as a reliable source- over and above the Maine Legislative Library as it does the local mainstream media? That remains to be seen.
Thank you for considering my work. Below is the response I received from Wikipedia, that connects the impact of HSSC to a more popular form of education:
What Wikipedia Wrote:
Hello, I'm 331dot. I noticed that you added or changed content in an article, James B. Longley, but you didn't provide a reliable source. It's been removed and archived in the page history for now, but if you'd like to include a citation and re-add it, please do so. You can have a look at the tutorial on citing sources, or if you think I made a mistake, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thank you. 331dot (talk) 21:16, 11
December 2019 (UTC)I would also add that the passage seems to be your personal commentary or research; original research is not permitted on Wikipedia. If your research is published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal or reported on in independent reliable sources, please bring up these sources on the article talk page. 331dot (talk) 21:17, 11 December 2019 (UTC
This makes for some relishing subject matter, considering the totality of the inter-relating contexts, but I am only absorbing it at this point. The reliable sources on Wikipedia are the Portland Press Herald, Maine Kennebec Journal, and Bangor Daily News. I even use some of those sources myself, but I also use records found at the Maine Legislative Library- not reliable sources per Wikipedia. This is the strange world in which we find ourselves, a perfect fit with all the rest of the truth or fiction politics that is today’s prevailing context.
I decided to click on one of the sources in Wikipedia,
Susan (2007-12-31). "Dead Serious: Independent Jim Longley wanted to be 'the people's governor'". Kennebec, Maine: Kennebec Journal. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008.
Neither link produces the promised source. The first link just shows the title and nothing more. The original link says “Sorry this page doesn’t work!”. Looks like those links are not reliable sources.
I clicked on the other links but I do not currently have a subscription to BDN or PPH so I can’t access the stories which are not even about Governor Longley. The reliable sources are about LePage or another recent history.
I will have to consider how to represent the story as a NewsBreak article, I doubt the editor at Wikipedia will accept any contribution I make, even if it were to be published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Perhaps I will get a further response at HSSC. It was only one editor’s opinion.