Open Textbooks and Increased Student Access and Outcomes…

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Open Textbooks and Increased Student Access and Outcomes :

“This study reports findings from a year-long pilot study during which 991 students in 9 core courses in the Virginia State University School of Business replaced traditional textbooks with openly licensed books and other digital content. The university made a deliberate decision to use open textbooks that were copyrighted under the Creative Commons license. This decision was based on the accessibility and flexibility in the delivery of course content provided by open textbooks. More students accessed digital open textbooks than had previously purchased hard copies of textbooks. Higher grades were correlated with courses that used open textbooks.”

URL : http://www.eurodl.org/?article=533

Building an Open Data Repository for a Specialized Research Community: Process, Challenges and Lessons

In 2009, the Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS) at Yale University began building an open access digital collection of social science experimental data, metadata, and associated files produced by ISPS researchers.

The digital repository was created to support the replication of research findings and to enable further data analysis and instruction. Content is submitted to a rigorous process of quality assessment and normalization, including transformation of statistical code into R, an open source statistical software.

Other requirements included: (a) that the repository be integrated with the current database of publications and projects publicly available on the ISPS website; (b) that it offered open access to datasets, documentation, and statistical software program files; (c) that it utilized persistent linking services and redundant storage provided within the Yale Digital Commons infrastructure; and (d) that it operated in accordance with the prevailing standards of the digital preservation community.

In partnership with Yale’s Office of Digital Assets and Infrastructure (ODAI), the ISPS Data Archive was launched in the fall of 2010.

We describe the process of creating the repository, discuss prospects for similar projects in the future, and explain how this specialized repository fits into the larger digital landscape at Yale.

URL : http://www.ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/view/222

La politique d’accès aux documents publics étude comparative…

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La politique d’accès aux documents publics : étude comparative entre les États-Unis, la France et le Royaume-Uni :

“Cette étude comparative sur la politique d’accès aux documents publics explore la littérature afin de comprendre comment l’usage des TIC, associé aux réformes politiques, a une incidence sur la vie politique. Nos recherches, placées dans une perspective historique, ont permis de retracer les principaux changements dans chaque pays étudiés et de faire ressortir les actions les plus significatives en faveur de plus de transparence, de plus de responsabilité reddition de compte. Il en ressort que le pays le plus en avance dans la mise à disposition des données publiques et la sollicitation citoyenne est le Royaume-Uni, suivi par les Etats-Unis. En France, ces initiatives sont encore à l’état de projet ou à leurs premiers balbutiements.”

URL : http://archivesic.ccsd.cnrs.fr/sic_00747275

UNT Libraries Open Access Fund Research Report …

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UNT Libraries: Open Access Fund Research Report :

“This report discusses Open Access (OA) funds created at universities in order to assist faculty authors with Article Processing Charges (APCs). Building on the research initiatives of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), thirty North American universities’ OA fund initiatives were reviewed on their sponsors, eligibility, reimbursement criteria, and stipulations related to the fund. In addition, fifteen OA journal funding models and twelve hybrid journal funding models were reviewed on their average APCs and their licensing policies. This report serves as a framework for building upon emerging best practices and outlining possible approaches and considerations for the University of North Texas.”

URL : http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc111007/

Publisher Library Partnership for Accessibility A Case Study…

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Publisher-Library Partnership for Accessibility: A Case Study of Scholarly Publishing for Public Audiences :

“Public outreach and access are becoming more and more important across institutions of higher education. Sustainable information technology approaches are necessary to communicate and preserve public education materials generated as part of this new era of “outreach and engagement.” This paper describes the partnership between Oregon State University’s Extension Service publishing arm and the Oregon State University Libraries to make Oregon State University the first land-grant institution to systematically publish outreach materials using the university’s institutional repository. This partnership models how institutional repositories can be used to publish outreach products developed through faculty scholarship; the university’s outreach materials are thus simultaneously digitally preserved and made discoverable and accessible to a wide public audience. Intra-institutional partnerships, such as the one described in the case study, can be mutually beneficial in the current environment of limited resources and desire for cross-disciplinary collaboration.”

URL : http://hdl.handle.net/1957/34398

Scientometric Mapping of Remote Sensing Research Output A…

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Scientometric Mapping of Remote Sensing Research Output: A Global Perspective :

“This paper presents a quantitative analysis of remote sensing, in terms of research out put throughout the world during 1975 – FEB 2010. During that period, 1188 papers have been published and the cited references have been 30654. The average number of publications published per year has been 38.07. The highest number of paper (119) was published in the year of 2009. The USA topped the list with 473 (39.8%) publications, followed by UK with 128 (10.8%) publications, India with 93 (7.8%) publications respectively. The highly productive authors are Kaufman YJ with 13 (1.1%) publications, followed by Wagner W with 10 (0.8%) publications. There were 1082 institutions involved in the research with NASA which topped the list with 112 (9.4%), followed by NOAA with 48 (4%) publications. The most preferred journal is IEEE Transaction on Geoscience and Remote Sensing with 103 papers, followed by International journal of Remote Sensing with 95 papers, Acta Astronautica with 64 papers. The most preferred language by scientist is English with 1170 (98.5%) publications.”

URL : http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/801/

Analysis and visualization of the dynamics of research…

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Analysis and visualization of the dynamics of research groups in terms of projects and co-authored publications. A case study of library and information science in Argentina :

Objective: The present study offers a novel methodological contribution to the study of the configuration and dynamics of research groups, through a comparative perspective of the projects funded (inputs) and publication co-authorships (output).

Method: A combination of bibliometric techniques and social network analysis was applied to a case study: the Departmento de Bibliotecología (DHUBI), Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, for the period 2000-2009. The results were interpreted statistically and staff members of the department, were interviewed.

Results: The method makes it possible to distinguish groups, identify their members and reflect group make-up through an analytical strategy that involves the categorization of actors and the interdisciplinary and national or international projection of the networks that they configure. The integration of these two aspects (input and output) at different points in time over the analyzed period leads to inferences about group profiles and the roles of actors.

Conclusions: The methodology presented is conducive to micro-level interpretations in a given area of study, regarding individual researchers or research groups. Because the comparative input-output analysis broadens the base of information and makes it possible to follow up, over time, individual and group trends, it may prove very useful for the management, promotion and evaluation of science.”

URL : http://hdl.handle.net/10760/17694