Open notebook science as an emerging epistemic culture within the Open Science movement

Authors : Anne Clinio, Sarita Albagli

The paper addresses the concepts and practices of “open notebook science” (Bradley, 2006) as an innovation within the contemporary Open Science movement. Our research points out that open notebook science is not an incremental improvement, but it is a new “literary technology” (Shapin, Shaffer, 1985) and main element of a complex open collaboration ecosystem that fosters a new epistemic culture (Knorr-Cetina, 1999).

This innovation aimed to move from a “science based on trust” to a science based on transparency and data provenance – a shift that recognizes the ability of scientists in performing experiments, but mostly, values their capacity of documenting properly what they say they have done. The theoretical framework was built with the notion of epistemic culture (Knorr-Cetina, 1999) and the “three technologies” perspective used by Shapin and Shaffer (1985) to describe the construction by natural philosophers of “matter of fact” as “variety of knowledge” so powerful that became synonymous of science itself.

Empirically, we entered the “open lab” through a netnography that led us to understand that the epistemic culture being engendered by its practitioners is based on a “matter of proof”.

URL : https://rfsic.revues.org/3186

De l’open data à l’open science : retour réflexif sur les méthodes et pratiques d’une recherche sur les données géographiques

Auteurs/Authors : Nathalie Pinède, Matthieu Noucher, Françoise Gourmelon, Karel Soumagnac-Colin

Nous mobilisons ici l’expérience d’un projet de recherche en cours pour analyser la façon dont les nouveaux terrains d’expérimentations sur le web, modifient les conditions de la pratique scientifique, des objets aux méthodes, de l’open data à l’open science.

La massification des données géographiques disponibles sur le web reconfigure les dynamiques de recherche selon trois axes de transformation : les objets, les méthodes et les pratiques de recherche. Tout d’abord, nous soulignerons comment les enjeux de pouvoir autour de la cartographie se sont déplacés avec l’avènement du web et de l’open data.

Nous développerons ensuite les impacts en matière de méthodologie de recherche dans un contexte d’approche interdisciplinaire. Enfin, nous montrerons comment ce projet de recherche s’inscrit dans une démarche de type open science.

URL : https://rfsic.revues.org/3200

Les mécanismes de centralisation des données de la recherche. Étendre l’accès libre à l’hébergement libre

Auteur/Author : Chloé Girard

Derrière leur accès ouvert, qu’en est-il de l’hébergement des données de la recherche ? L’accès libre peut être exclusif et l’hébergement complètement centralisé. Qu’en est-il alors d’une science « ouverte » dont les chercheurs useraient des données, comme des données d’usage, à leur gré ?

L’exclusivité et la centralisation ne sont pas compatibles avec la diversité des modes d’exploitation des contenus et par conséquent avec l’innovation. Nous verrons ici les mécanismes, sociaux, économiques et techniques qui, à tous les niveaux de la chaîne de publication, induisent pourtant cette centralisation jusque dans les sphères les plus enclines au libre.

Nous proposerons des solutions pour penser et mettre en œuvre cet impensé de l’hébergement et de l’exploitation distribués et ouverts pour une science ouverte.

URL : https://rfsic.revues.org/3255

Open access megajournals: The publisher perspective (Part 1: Motivations)

Authors : Simon Wakeling ,Valérie Spezi , Jenny Fry, Claire Creaser, Stephen Pinfield, Peter Willett

This paper is the first of two Learned Publishing articles in which we report the results of a series of interviews with senior publishers and editors exploring open access megajournals (OAMJs).

Megajournals (of which PLoS One is the best known example) represent a relatively new approach to scholarly communication and can be characterized as large, broad-scope, open access journals that take an innovative approach to peer review, basing acceptance decisions solely on the technical or scientific soundness of the article.

This model is often said to support the broader goals of the open science movement. Based on in-depth interviews with 31 publishers and editors representing 16 different organizations (10 of which publish a megajournal), this paper reports how the term ‘megajournal’ is understood and publishers’ rationale and motivations for launching (or not launching) an OAMJ.

We find that while there is general agreement on the common characteristics of megajournals, there is not yet a consensus on their relative importance. We also find seven motivating factors that were said to drive the launch of an OAMJ and link each of these factors to potential societal and business benefits.

These results suggest that the often polarized debate surrounding OAMJs is a consequence of the extent to which observers perceive publishers to be motivated by these societal or business benefits.

URL : Open access megajournals: The publisher perspective (Part 1: Motivations)

Alternative location : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/leap.1117/full

 

 

Open Innovation in Development: Integrating Theory and Practice Across Open Science, Open Education, and Open Data

Author :  Jeremy de Beer

This article integrates the concepts of open innovation and open development. It extends the theory of open development beyond the field of information communications technology to address aspects of innovation systems more generally.

It applies the concept of openness to innovation in practice across the domains of open science, open education, and open data. Creating a framework that is more integrated in theory and cross-cutting in practice creates new possibilities for interdisciplinary research and policy-relevant insights.

URL : https://ssrn.com/abstract=3008675

 

Towards open science in Argentina: From experiences to public policies

Authors : Valeria Arza, Mariano Fressoli, Sol Sebastian

The emergence and wide diffusion of information and communication technologies created ever increasing opportunities for sharing and collaboration, which shortened geographic, disciplinary and expertise distances.

There exist various technologies, tools and infrastructure that facilitate collaborative production processes in various social spheres, and scientific production is not an exception.

Open science produces scientific knowledge in a collaborative way, including experts and non-experts and to share the outcomes of knowledge creation processes. We identify 68 open science initiatives in Argentina using different primary and secondary sources.

This paper describes those experiences in terms of goals, disciplines and openness along research stages. Building on the relationship between characteristics of openness and expected benefits, we discuss policy implications in order to better support openness and collaboration in science.

URL : http://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/7876

Afraid of Scooping – Case Study on Researcher Strategies against Fear of Scooping in the Context of Open Science

Author : Heidi Laine

The risk of scooping is often used as a counter argument for open science, especially open data. In this case study I have examined openness strategies, practices and attitudes in two open collaboration research projects created by Finnish researchers, in order to understand what made them resistant to the fear of scooping.

The radically open approach of the projects includes open by default funding proposals, co-authorship and community membership. Primary sources used are interviews of the projects’ founding members.

The analysis indicates that openness requires trust in close peers, but not necessarily in research community or society at large. Based on the case study evidence, focusing on intrinsic goals, like new knowledge and bringing about ethical reform, instead of external goals such as publications, supports openness.

Understanding fundaments of science, philosophy of science and research ethics, can also have a beneficial effect on willingness to share. Whether there are aspects in open sharing that makes it seem riskier from the point of view of certain demographical groups within research community, such as women, could be worth closer inspection.

URL : Afraid of Scooping – Case Study on Researcher Strategies against Fear of Scooping in the Context of Open Science

DOI : http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2017-029