Knowledge processes and information quality in open data context: conceptual considerations and empirical findings

Author : Matti Keränen

In this thesis, the knowledge processes of firms using open weather data and information from Finnish Meteorological Institute are studied. The goal is to describe and understand the knowledge processes and factors contributing to open data use, and at the same time, describe how information quality intertwines in these processes.

The theoretical framework builds on the knowledge management concept of absorptive capacity describing knowledge processes in firms. Explicit and tacit knowledge as well as practical knowledge and their different epistemological premises are noted in the framework.

As a third theoretical component, information quality is defined as both technical property of artifacts and a constructive concept of shared meaning between the data provider and user.

The research process included semi-structured interviews of five firms using open data and an abductive analysis of the empirical material. The outcome is a knowledge management based interpretation of the firms’ knowledge processes, contributing factors and information quality in the open data context.

Firms select different roles and thereby different knowledge domains when exploiting open data. The exploitation process is multidimensional including elements absorbed from the technical domain, weather information and local context.

The technical quality of information is defined dynamically in different phases of exploitation, while quality as a constructive concept is defined in the exploitation process where different knowledge domains intersect.

URL : http://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/147649

Data Sharing and Cardiology : Platforms and Possibilities

AuthorsPranammya DeyJoseph S. RossJessica D. RitchieNihar R. DesaiSanjeev P. Bhavnani, Harlan M. Krumholz

Sharing deidentified patient-level research data presents immense opportunities to all stakeholders involved in cardiology research and practice. Sharing data encourages the use of existing data for knowledge generation to improve practice, while also allowing for validation of disseminated research.

In this review, we discuss key initiatives and platforms that have helped to accelerate progress toward greater sharing of data. These efforts are being prompted by government, universities, philanthropic sponsors of research, major industry players, and collaborations among some of these entities.

As data sharing becomes a more common expectation, policy changes will be required to encourage and assist data generators with the process of sharing the data they create.

Patients also will need access to their own data and to be empowered to share those data with researchers. Although medicine still lags behind other fields in achieving data sharing’s full potential, cardiology research has the potential to lead the way.

URL : http://www.onlinejacc.org/content/70/24/3018

 

Monitoring the transition to open access: December 2017

The studies on which this report is based were undertaken by a team led by Michael Jubb and comprising Andrew Plume, Stephanie Oeben and Lydia Brammer, Elsevier; Rob Johnson and Cihan Bütün, Research Consulting; Stephen Pinfield, University of Sheffield.

Following the Finch Report in 2012, Universities UK established an Open Access Coordination Group to support the transition to open access (OA)  for articles in scholarly journals. The Group  commissioned an initial report published in 2015 to gather evidence on key features of that transition.

This second report aims to build on those findings, and to examine trends  over the period since the major funders of research in the UK established new policies to promote OA.

URL : Monitoring the transition to open access: December 2017

Research Data Management Instruction for Digital Humanities

Author : Willow Dressel

eScience related library services at Princeton University started in response to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) data management plan requirements, and grew to encompass a range of services including data management plan consultation, assistance with depositing into a disciplinary or institutional repository, and research data management instruction.

These services were initially directed at science and engineering disciplines on campus, but the eScience Librarian soon realized the relevance of research data management instruction for humanities disciplines with digital approaches.

Applicability to the digital humanities was initially recognized by discovery of related efforts from the history department’s Information Technology (IT) manager in the form of a graduate-student workshop on file and digital-asset management concepts.

Seeing the common ground these activities shared with research data management, a collaboration was formed between the history department’s IT Manager and the eScience Librarian to provide a research data management overview to the entire campus community.

The eScience Librarian was then invited to participate in the history department’s graduate student file and digital asset management workshop to provide an overview of other research data management concepts. Based on the success of the collaboration with the history department IT, the eScience Librarian offered to develop a workshop for the newly formed Center for Digital Humanities at Princeton.

To develop the workshop, background research on digital humanities curation was performed revealing similarities and differences between digital humanities curation and research data management in the sciences. These similarities and differences, workshop results, and areas of further study are discussed.

URL : Research Data Management Instruction for Digital Humanities

DOI : https://doi.org/10.7191/jeslib.2017.1115

Business models for sustainable research data repositories

Author : OECD

There is a large variety of repositories that are responsible for providing long term access to data that is used for research. As data volumes and the demands for more open access to this data increase, these repositories are coming under increasing financial pressures that can undermine their long-term sustainability.

This report explores the income streams, costs, value propositions, and business models for 48 research data repositories. It includes a set of recommendations designed to provide a framework for developing sustainable business models and to assist policy makers and funders in supporting repositories with a balance of policy regulation and incentives.

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/302b12bb-en

“It’s Not the Way We Use English”—Can We Resist the Native Speaker Stranglehold on Academic Publications?

Author : Pat Strauss

English dominates the academic publishing world, and this dominance can, and often does, lead to the marginalisation of researchers who are not first-language speakers of English.

There are different schools of thought regarding this linguistic domination; one approach is pragmatic. Proponents believe that the best way to empower these researchers in their bid to publish is to assist them to gain mastery of the variety of English most acceptable to prestigious journals.

Another perspective, however, is that traditional academic English is not necessarily the best medium for the dissemination of research, and that linguistic compromises need to be made.

They contend that the stranglehold that English holds in the publishing world should be resisted.

This article explores these different perspectives, and suggests ways in which those of us who do not wield a great deal of influence may yet make a small contribution to the levelling of the linguistic playing field, and pave the way for an English lingua franca that better serves the needs of twenty-first century academics.

URL : “It’s Not the Way We Use English”—Can We Resist the Native Speaker Stranglehold on Academic Publications?

Alternative location : http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/5/4/27

Méta-usages du numérique chez le manager : Nouveaux enjeux pour les formations dans l’enseignement supérieur

Auteur : Bertrand Mocquet, Soufiane Rouissi

Convaincus du rôle des universités dans le développement futur des organisations, nous porterons notre regard dans cet article sur les nouveaux enjeux de formation dans l’enseignement supérieur et de la recherche (ESR) pour prendre en compte la transformation numérique qui s’opère dans la société.

Nous constatons deux mouvements combinés sur les usages du numérique dans les organisations publiques ou privées : l’aisance des usagers des services numériques des organisations et l’apparition de nouveaux managers qui disposent de compétences qui témoignent d’usages personnels et avérés du numérique.

Dans un contexte de transformation numérique, nous nous interrogerons sur les nouvelles compétences dont doivent disposer les managers pour permettre à leur organisation de réussir ce changement.

En nous appuyant sur les travaux de Serge Proulx autour des usages du numérique, nous établirons une proposition de concept, celui de méta-usage du numérique. Notre recherche prend également appui sur une enquête auprès de managers à partir d’un échantillon de type volontaire et nous tenterons de démontrer qu’il est possible de construire de nouvelles formations à partir de l’énoncé de ce concept.

URL : http://journals.openedition.org/terminal/1644