Report on Integration of Data and Publications …

Report on Integration of Data and Publications :

« Scholarly communication is the foundation of modern research where empirical evidence is interpreted and communicated as published hypothesis driven research. Many current and recent reports highlight the impact of advancing technology on modern research and consequences this has on scholarly communication. As part of the ODE project this report sought to coalesce current though and opinions from numerous and diverse sources to reveal opportunities for supporting a more connected and integrated scholarly record. Four perspectives were considered, those of the Researcher who generates or reuses primary data, Publishers who provide the mechanisms to communicate research activities and Libraries & Data enters who maintain and preserve the evidence that underpins scholarly communication and the published record. This report finds the landscape fragmented and complex where competing interests can sometimes confuse and confound requirements, needs and expectations. Equally the report identifies clear opportunity for all stakeholders to directly enable a more joined up and vital scholarly record of modern research. »

URL : http://www.libereurope.eu/sites/default/files/ODE-ReportOnIntegrationOfDataAndPublication.pdf

« Rome Wasn’t Digitized in a Day »: Building a Cyberinfrastructure for Digital Classics

Cogent and insightful, Rome Wasn’t Digitized in a Day: Building a Cyberinfrastructure for Digital Classicists rewards the reader with a many-faceted exploration of classical studies: the history of this complex and multidimensional field, its development of computer-based resources and tools over the last several decades, its current opportunities and needs in a digital era, and prospects for its future evolution as envisioned by digital classicists. Alison Babeu reminds us early in her report of the astonishing reach of classical studies, a field that includes the disciplines of history, literature, linguistics, art, anthropology, science, and mythology, among others, bounded by the Mycenean culture at its most distant past and continuing to the seventh century C.E. Not surprisingly, within this historical compass the sources for classicists are equally complex: stone fragments, papyri, pottery shards, the plastic arts, coins, and some of the most breathtaking physical structures the world has known.

In the course of this report, the substantial gains in the use of digital technologies in service to classical studies become obvious. Over the past 40 years, remarkable resources have been built, including largescale text databases in a variety of languages; digital repositories for archeological data, as well as for coins and cuneiform tablets; and datasets of texts for paleography and epigraphical studies. Applications that assist the scholar in morphological analysis, citation linking, text mining, and treebank construction, among others, are impressive. The challenges are also significant: there persist problems with the integrity of OCR scans; the interoperability of multimedia data that contain texts, images, and other forms of cultural expression; and the daunting magnitude of so many languages in so many different scripts.

The intellectual return on this investment in technology as a service to classical studies is equally startling and complex. One of the more salient developments has been the reconceptualization of the text. As recently as a generation ago, the “text” in classics was most often defined as a definitive edition, a printed artifact that was by nature static, usually edited by a single scholar, and representing a compilation and collation of several extant variations. Today, through the power and fluidity of digital tools, a text can mean something very different: there may be no canonical artifact, but instead a dataset of its many variations, with none accorded primacy. A work of ancient literature is now more often deeply contextualized, its transmission over time more nuanced, and its continuity among the various instantiations more accurately articulated. The performative nature of some of the great works—the epics of Homer are a prime example—can be captured more rigorously by digital technology, which can layer the centuries of manuscript fragments to produce a sharper understanding of what was emphasized in the epics over time and what passages or stories appear less important from one era to another, affording new insight into the cultural appropriation of these fundamental expressions of the human condition.

Achieving these new perspectives has required a cultural change in the classics. Scholarship in the digital environment is more collaborative, and can include students as integral contributors to the research effort. The connections, continuities, and cultural dialogue to which classical works were subject are reflected by new teams of scholars, working across traditional disciplines (which can often include computer science) to develop new methodological approaches and intellectual strategies in pursuit of knowledge about the ancient world. In this regard, the digital classics encompass new alignments of traditional hierarchies, academic boundaries, and technologies.

The Council on Library and Information Resources is pleased to publish this far-reaching study. The issues and perspectives to which it gives voice pertain significantly to the humanities at large. Its appearance is especially relevant as plans to build very large digital libraries in Europe and the United States flourish. Indeed, a transdisciplinary approach will be essential in constructing a digital environment with the scale and sophistication necessary to support advanced research, teaching, and lifelong learning. As this study suggests, we must continue to engage humanists, engineers, scientists, and all manner of pedagogical expertise in pursuit of a new, transformative educational ecology.

URL : http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub150/pub150.pdf

Open Access Publishing with Drupal In January…

Open Access Publishing with Drupal :

« In January 2009, the Colorado Association of Libraries (CAL) suspended publication of its print quarterly journal, Colorado Libraries, as a cost-saving measure in a time of fiscal uncertainty. Printing and mailing the journal to its 1300 members cost CAL more than $26,000 per year. Publication of the journal was placed on an indefinite hiatus until the editorial staff proposed an online, open access format a year later. The benefits to migrating to open access included: significantly lower costs; a green platform; instant availability of content; a greater level of access to users with disabilities; and a higher level of visibility of the journal and the association. The editorial staff chose Drupal, including the E-journal module, and while Drupal is notorious for its steep learning curve—which exacerbated delays to content that had been created before the publishing hiatus—the fourth electronic issue was published recently at coloradolibrariesjournal.org. This article will discuss both the benefits and challenges of transitioning to an open access model and the choice Drupal as a platform over other more established journal software options. »

URL : http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/5913

A case study in openness Salford University …

A case study in openness: Salford University :

« A case study in institutional openness has just been published, focused on Salford University. Written by the Vice Chancellor and EOS Board member, Professor Martin Hall, the study describes the drive to openness and the benefits it brings to the University and its public. « The University aims to create economic and social value through innovative ways of working together. A key element of this is openness », says Professor Hall.

In the paper, he develops the concept of a ‘Generic Open Access University’ and describes how the univeristy repository, USIR, is the core of intermediary agencies and a wide range of networked connections. « The open access repository is at the heart of this model, in the place that the library has occupied from the earliest days of the university », Professor Hall says. »

URL : http://www.openscholarship.org/jcms/c_7273/a-case-study-in-openness-salford-university

Knowledge without Borders : GEANT 2020 as the European Communications Commons

The GÉANT Expert Group’s report on the 2020 Vision for European Research and Education Networking was delivered today to Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda. The report presents the experts’ views on the future of the pan-European research and education network GÉANT. It makes specific recommendations to policy makers, funding bodies and the research and education networks community for supporting and expanding knowledge communities, pushing the state-of-the-art in technology and adapting to change both from a governance and funding point of view.

The GÉANT Expert Group, chaired by Prof. Žiga Turk and composed of six other high-level European experts in different fields of policy, technology and science, was set up in 2010 with the mission to « articulate a 2020 vision for European Research and Education networking and identify an action plan for realizing this vision”.

URL : https://www.terena.org/about/ga/ga36/GEANTExpertGroup.pdf

Cite Datasets and Link to Publications This…

Cite Datasets and Link to Publications :

« This guide will help you create links between your academic publications and the underlying datasets, so that anyone viewing the publication will be able to locate the dataset and vice versa. It provides a working knowledge of the issues and challenges involved, and of how current approaches seek to address them. This guide should interest researchers and principal investigators working on data-led research, as well as the data repositories with which they work. »

URL : http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/cite-datasets