“The course Facilitating Information Literacy Education (FILE) was commissioned by the London Health Libraries (http://www.londonlinks.ac.uk/) as part of its Learning Support Programme and developed by the School of Information Management at London Metropolitan University as a continuing professional development (CPD) course which is also accredited as a postgraduate module. The main aim of the course is to equip information practitioners working in the health sector with the competence and confidence required to facilitate information literacy education. The provision of FILE is based on a blended provision involving face-to-face intensive sessions and e-learning activities supported by a dedicated webpage (http://www.ilit.org/file/indexfile.htm) and a blog (http://facilitatingileducation.blogspot.com/). The website is designed to host the learning resources that the participants produce as part of a professional portfolio assessed during the course. This is complemented by the blog employed to foster reflective learning and peer-based evaluation. The long term goal of FILE is to create a web-based repository of information literacy resources (drawn from the existing resources which are customised by the participants as well as the materials they develop as part of the portfolio). The underlying aim is to encourage effective sharing of good practice amongst the authors and enable further dissemination of information literacy education to a wider health-information community of practice. The main aim of the paper is to present an overall evaluation of the participants’ testimonials on their professional development as facilitators of Information Literacy Education following the delivery of the course in January to March 2007. As the title suggests we shall explore the impact of FILE on its participants in terms of developing fluency in Information Technology (FIT) to enhance their Information Literacy practice by identifying and addressing the needs of a diverse user population within the health care sector (including home care workers, NHS support staff, clinical researchers, and perioperative staff ranging from nurses to surgeons). Examples of IT competences presented here include the use of PowerPoint to maximise communication with the users, the use of online surveys to support effective evaluative strategies and of the blog to promote peer-based evaluation and reflective practice by the FILE participants.”
Archives des auteurs : Hans Dillaerts
Open Access, zitationsbasierte und nutzu…
Open Access, zitationsbasierte und nutzungsbasierte Impact Maße: Einige Befunde :
“Die Anwendung bibliometrischer Verfahren ist sowohl für Wissenschaftler als auch für Organisationen höchst relevant: Individuelle Karriere und Evaluierung von Fachbereichen sind abhängig von der Bewertung des Publikationsverhaltens. Der Beitrag eruiert, warum Open-Access-Publikationen in solchen Bewertungen benachteiligt werden, wie die in der Evaluierung üblicherweise herangezogenen bibliometrischen Verfahren (v.a. der Journal Impact Factor JIF) funktionieren, welche Alternativen zu diesen zitationsbasierten Verfahren existieren und zu welchen Ergebnissen sie kommen. Unter der Annahme, dass Open-Access-Publikationen nicht qua geringer Qualität geringere Wertschätzung in der Evaluierung und bei Berufungskommissionen erfahren, sondern aufgrund methodischer Eigenheiten der Evaluierungsinstrumente, wird diskutiert, inwiefern alternative Qualitätsmessungsverfahren sich vorteilhaft auf die Akzeptanz von Open Access auswirken können.”
URL : http://eprints.rclis.org/19008/
Reproducible Research.Addressing the Need for Data and Code Sharing in Computational Science
Developing an Institutional Repository at Southern New Hampshire University: Year One
In 2008, Southern New Hampshire University was awarded a threeyear, $500,000 national leadership grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to create a digital repository using DSpace open source software. Events from the first year of the repository’s development are presented and discussed. Key elements addressed include the challenges involved with customizing the DSpace infrastructure, creating standards for access and master files, implementing metadata standards, and developing digital preservation policies.
The value of cross-departmental participation is shown, and the importance of planning for digital preservation is presented.
The project NECOBELAC : “NECOBELAC stan…
The project NECOBELAC :
“NECOBELAC stands for NEtwork of COllaboration Between Europe and Latin American Caribbean (LAC) countries. This network is intended to spread know-how in:
• scientific writing
• open access publishing among all the stakeholders in scientific communication for the safeguarding of public health.
NECOBELAC aims to foster scientific and technical cooperation between Europe and LAC countries.
The project benefits from European and LAC experiences and take into account different socio-cultural scenarios. The health information needs of the areas involved contribute to stress the importance of creating awareness on document and data diffusion at different levels.
A network of institutions is being creating to collaborate in ad hoc training programmes in information production and dissemination, including technical and ethical issues. NECOBELAC promotes the coordination and effectiveness of the existing health-related information infrastructures in Europe and LAC countries to achieve a wider scale uptake of community engagement, embedding the use of open access methods within accepted working practices.”
URL : http://www.necobelac.eu/en/overview.php
The publications of the project : http://www.necobelac.eu/en/documents.php
This project is not new (it started in 2009), but I just discovered it
The Growing Impact of Open Access Distance Education Journals: A Bibliometric Analysis
Open access dissemination resonates with many distance education researchers and practitioners because it aligns with their fundmantal mission of extending access to learning opportunity. However, there remains lingering doubt whether this increase in access comes at a cost of reducing prestige, value (often determined in promotion and tenure hearings) or reference of the work by other authors.
In this article, we examine 12 distance education journals (6 open and 6 published in closed format by commercial publishers). Using an online survey completed by members of the editorial boards of these 12 journals and a systematic review of the number of citations per article (N = 1,123) and per journal issue between 2003 and 2008, we examine the impact, and perceived value of the 12 journals.
We then compute differences between open and closed journals. The results reveal that the open access journals are not perceived by distance eductation editors as significantly more or less prestigious than their closed counterparts.
The number of citations per journal and per article also indicates little difference. However we note a trend towards more citations per article in open access journals. Articles in open access journals are cited earlier than in non-open access journals.
URL : http://www.jofde.ca/index.php/jde/article/viewArticle/661/1170
Access to Knowledge. A Guide for Everyone
Consumers International (CI), the world federation of consumer groups founded in 1960, serves as the only independent and authoritative global campaigning voice for consumers. With over 220 member organisations in 115 countries, it is building a powerful international consumer movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere.
CI’s global programme on A2K (access to knowledge) was established in 2008 to guarantee that consumer interests are adequately represented in national and global debates around intellectual property (IP) and communications rights. This includes exploring the creation of public goods and enhancing the public domain, and fostering a fairer system of managing intellectual property in international and bilateral trade agreements and regimes.
The programme’s threemain objectives are to:
• Campaign for more balanced intellectual property laws and enforcement practices that take into account consumers’ interests.
• Provide capacity building to all stakeholders on consumer issues related to intellectual property and access to knowledge.
• Promote human rights in the information society, particularly in the areas of communications, education and health.
By harnessing the collective voice and effectiveness of consumer groups working around the world and across issue sectors, CI aims to serve as a catalyst for policy change, putting pressure on governments and international organisations to develop more balanced IP and communications regimes.
This handbook, Access to Knowledge: A Guide for Everyone, is a part of that broader programme. Its aim is to provide a concise and nonspecialist introduction to IP and A2K issues, and selected related issues of communications rights and access to information and communication technologies (ICTs). Its intended readership includes consumer groups and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) who wish to become more knowledgeable in this area, individual academics and activists who could use a simple reference guide to the many related issues of A2K, and consumers at large who are affected by unfair IP laws and practices.
On this note, whilst A2K has not always been high on the agenda of the global consumer movement, CI believes that it is very much of a consumer issue, on a par with the more traditional consumer issues such as food and product safety, sustainable consumption, and unethical marketing. After all, many activities that now form part of consumers’ everyday lives, such as accessing learningmaterials, transferringmusic, videos or e-books from one device to another, and sharing their interests online, are deeply impacted by IP laws and policies.
URL : http://a2knetwork.org/sites/default/files/handbook/a2k-english.pdf