Archives des auteurs : Hans Dillaerts

The new alchemy: Online networking, data sharing and research activity distribution tools for scientists

Posté le par

Authors : Antony J. Williams, Lou Peck, Sean Ekins

There is an abundance of free online tools accessible to scientists and others that can be used for online networking, data sharing and measuring research impact. Despite this, few scientists know how these tools can be used or fail to take advantage of using them as an integrated pipeline to raise awareness of their research outputs.

In this article, the authors describe their experiences with these tools and how they can make best use of them to make their scientific research generally more accessible, extending its reach beyond their own direct networks, and communicating their ideas to new audiences.

These efforts have the potential to drive science by sparking new collaborations and interdisciplinary research projects that may lead to future publications, funding and commercial opportunities.

The intent of this article is to: describe some of these freely accessible networking tools and affiliated products; demonstrate from our own experiences how they can be utilized effectively; and, inspire their adoption by new users for the benefit of science.

URL : The new alchemy: Online networking, data sharing and research activity distribution tools for scientists

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.12185.1

The prehistory of biology preprints: a forgotten experiment from the 1960s

Posté le par

Author : Matthew Cobb

In 1961, the NIH began to circulate biological preprints in a forgotten experiment called the Information Exchange Groups (IEGs).

This system eventually attracted over 3600 participants and saw the production of over 2,500 different documents, but by 1967 it was effectively shut down by journal publishers’ refusal to accept articles that had been circulated as preprints.

This article charts the rise and fall of the IEGs and explores the parallels with the 1990s and the biomedical preprint movement of today.

URL : The prehistory of biology preprints: a forgotten experiment from the 1960s

DOI : https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.3174v1

 

Future Challenges and Opportunities in Academic Publishing

Posté le par

Author : Kyle Siler

Digitization and the rise of Open Access publishing is an important recent development in academic communication. The current publishing system exhibits challenges with cost, where many universities are forced to cancel journal subscriptions for economic reasons, as well as access, as scholars and the public alike often lack access to research published in paywalled subscription journals.

Open Access publishing solves the access problem, but not necessarily cost problems. Universities and researchers are currently in a challenging, interstitial stage of scholarly publishing. Subscription journals still dominate scholarly communication, yet a growing imperative to fund and support Open Access alternatives also exists.

Stakeholders, including faculty, university administrators, publishers, scientific funding institutions and librarians and governments alike currently strategize and fight for their professional and economic interests in the broader publishing system.

Four main trends are suggested that will characterize the future of scholarly publishing: 1) antagonism with scholarly associations; 2) changes and innovations to peer review; 3) Scientific/Intellectual Movements around Open Access 4) publishing and new professional niches in the publishing landscape.

This article suggests potential trajectories and outcomes for these various conflicts over the costs and benefits of academic publishing.

URL : https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/cjs/index.php/CJS/article/view/28140

Copy, transform, combine: exploring the remix as a form of innovation

Posté le par

Authors : Christoph M. Flath, Sascha Friesike, Marco Wirth, Frédéric Thiesse

The reuse of existing knowledge is an indispensable part of the creation of novel ideas. In the creative domain knowledge reuse is a common practice known as “remixing”. With the emergence of open internet-based platforms in recent years, remixing has found its way from the world of music and art to the design of arbitrary physical goods.

However, despite its obvious relevance for the number and quality of innovations on such platforms, little is known about the process of remixing and its contextual factors. This paper considers the example of Thingiverse, a platform for the 3D printing community that allows its users to create, share, and access a broad range of printable digital models.

We present an explorative study of remixing activities that took place on the platform over the course of six years by using an extensive set of data on models and users.

On the foundation of these empirically observed phenomena, we formulate a set of theoretical propositions and managerial implications regarding (1) the role of remixes in design communities, (2) the different patterns of remixing processes, (3) the platform features that facilitate remixes, and (4) the profile of the remixing platform’s users.

URL : Copy, transform, combine: exploring the remix as a form of innovation

Alternative location : https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41265-017-0043-9

What do data curators care about? Data quality, user trust, and the data reuse plan

Posté le par

Author : Frank Andreas Sposito

Data curation is often defined as the practice of maintaining, preserving, and enhancing research data for long-term value and reusability. The role of data reuse in the data curation lifecycle is critical: increased reuse is the core justification for the often sizable expenditures necessary to build data management infrastructures and user services.

Yet recent studies have shown that data are being shared and reused through open data repositories at much lower levels than expected. These studies underscore a fundamental and often overlooked challenge in research data management that invites deeper examination of the roles and responsibilities of data curators.

This presentation will identify key barriers to data reuse, data quality and user trust, and propose a framework for implementing reuser-centric strategies to increase data reuse.

Using the concept of a “data reuse plan” it will highlight repository-based approaches to improve data quality and user trust, and address critical areas for innovation for data curators working in the absence of repository support.

URL : What do data curators care about? Data quality, user trust, and the data reuse plan

Alternative location : http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1797

 

Research Management: Combining Platforms, Practices, and Policies

Posté le par

Author : Shawn Martin

Research management is about more than open access and it is about more than creating online publishing platforms. It is about creating online publishing platforms that meet the needs of all of the stakeholders in the higher education enterprise, most notably faculty.

Technological infrastructure needs to be combined with policies that reflect the career needs of faculty members.

So far, the goal of combining open scholarship policies with online infrastructure has been elusive. The answer may be to rethink how the career structure of faculty members is structured and how research managers and librarians can be a part of the solution.

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0020.212

 

Small Public Libraries as Publishers

Posté le par

Author : Dijana Sabolović-Krajina

The aim of this paper is to stress the importance of small public libraries as publishers. The case study will be the library network of the Koprivnica-Križevci County in the Republic of Croatia. Among five public libraries, three of them are publishers.

Although publishing is not their core business, they use it as a tool in: (i) protecting and promoting richness of local cultural heritage; (ii) contributing to library collections with specific local topics; (iii) empowering local identity; (iv) positioning themselves better as important culture, education and information centres of their local communities; and (v) creating new, added value of libraries in society. Publishing profiles, topics, and formats will be stressed, as well as these public libraries’ creative efforts to find finances in alliances with private and public sectors.

The models show that these libraries use both print and digital opportunities in publishing. Collaboration with all stakeholders who participate in the publishing process is also stressed.

We conclude that publishing activities relating to collection development policies and practices do not primarily depend on type, size, and financial means of libraries, but on library policy and strategic orientation that includes also publishing as a business model.

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0020.207