4 ms·

I know journals differ in their guidance, but shouldn't an abstract say something about the findings? That one reads more like the back cover of a paperback...

I know journals differ in their guidance, but shouldn't an abstract say something about the findings? That one reads more like the back cover of a paperback... (No offense intended to the authors for this fine piece of work, nor to paperback writers for their ability to create suspense. Just a gripe about metadata!)

teekert 5y ago
Indeed! And where is HN when you need it ;) I for one will be refreshing this page over the course of this day hoping for an unsung hero to come along, and I shall be upvoting.
- sideshowb 5y ago
  teekert and sideshowb sat idly on the couch, uninspired to scroll down to the discussion section. Would a tall, handsome hero show up to lift them to new heights of summarization? Only time would tell...
  - dvfjsdhgfv 5y ago
    I doubt they would show up this time as the study has no single conclusion, just a number of observations, nothing really striking.
- willis936 5y ago
  There are links to eReader and PDF in bright buttons at the top of the page. https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/3064176.3064187 https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/3064176.3064187 https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3064176.3064187 https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3064176.3064187
  - sideshowb 5y ago
    The abstract on those is the same in that it does not summarize findings.
KineticLensman 5y ago
> shouldn't an abstract say something about the findings? One counter-example is in security / defence work where the existence of a project is unclassified but the details are protected in some way. Not reporting the findings allows the paper to be indexed in libraries / registries without 'contaminating' the library indexes with classified information. The other example (rightly or wrongly) is where a publisher wants you to be able to find via bibliographic search tools a paper hidden behind a paywall but still wants you to pay to access the paper. If the abstract revealed too much, it defeats the paywall, from the publisher's perspective.

teekert 5y ago

Indeed! And where is HN when you need it ;) I for one will be refreshing this page over the course of this day hoping for an unsung hero to come along, and I shall be upvoting.

sideshowb 5y ago
teekert and sideshowb sat idly on the couch, uninspired to scroll down to the discussion section. Would a tall, handsome hero show up to lift them to new heights of summarization? Only time would tell...
- dvfjsdhgfv 5y ago
  I doubt they would show up this time as the study has no single conclusion, just a number of observations, nothing really striking.
willis936 5y ago
There are links to eReader and PDF in bright buttons at the top of the page. https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/3064176.3064187 https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/3064176.3064187 https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3064176.3064187 https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3064176.3064187
- sideshowb 5y ago
  The abstract on those is the same in that it does not summarize findings.

KineticLensman 5y ago

> shouldn't an abstract say something about the findings? One counter-example is in security / defence work where the existence of a project is unclassified but the details are protected in some way. Not reporting the findings allows the paper to be indexed in libraries / registries without 'contaminating' the library indexes with classified information. The other example (rightly or wrongly) is where a publisher wants you to be able to find via bibliographic search tools a paper hidden behind a paywall but still wants you to pay to access the paper. If the abstract revealed too much, it defeats the paywall, from the publisher's perspective.