tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141934768617513292024-03-13T00:12:16.175-07:00PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference BlogJuly 11-13, 2007
Vancouver, CanadaScholarly Publishinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00705161448814784156noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-83081011727773408362007-07-13T17:00:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:27.083-08:00“Creating an Open Scholarly Archive on Paulo Freire”<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyYv3CBkrtiUonZbD3EfKMnfrStj5eScW7pCGDH01tT4KJFWK-ESDjTC_Ow5MvcheWMZmHpAtZJbjnmWyI8W6l2Hcyv7t6zqSz3YImM3GAcWV0o8nJAWwyH-iIR944BE6YEfCXrMt9Q/s1600-h/freire.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086893798090725314" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyYv3CBkrtiUonZbD3EfKMnfrStj5eScW7pCGDH01tT4KJFWK-ESDjTC_Ow5MvcheWMZmHpAtZJbjnmWyI8W6l2Hcyv7t6zqSz3YImM3GAcWV0o8nJAWwyH-iIR944BE6YEfCXrMt9Q/s320/freire.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div><strong>Presenter:</strong> <a href="mailto:jkincheloe@aol.com">Joe Kincheloe</a>, McGill University<br /><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong>Time:</strong> 9:40 - 10:40 AM July 13, 2007 </div><br /><div><strong>Place:</strong> SFUHC Fletcher Challenge Theatre<br /></div><br /><div><em></em></div><br /><div>Joe Kincheloe defined Critical Pedagogy - as the interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on the social, cultural and political features of schooling - and spoke to the impact of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_School"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Frankfurt School of Philosophy</span></a> and <a href="http://www.paulofreire.org/"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Paulo Freire’s</span> </a>work. Kincheloe highlighted Freire's contribution to the field of critical pedagogy, particularly his passion and impact in the field of education by looking at how the discourse of power works to oppress. His conflict theory regarding the roles institutions and education play in shaping perceptions and re-enforcing dominant ideology provided a new path to insight, voice and emancipation.<br /><br />Critical pedagogy has been criticized for not considering the interests, experiences and perceptions of indigenous people and women. There are also questions around the appropriation of the Latin school of thought Freire founded, as it has been tinged with a decidedly Eurocentric approach. Within critical theory, the notions of who is speaking and how those thoughts are being represented is crucial, so these major criticisms must be addressed. That is the aim of the second phase of critical theory.<br /><br />In general terms, this phase would keep the idea of criticality and open it up to include indigenous and oppressed knowledge, while trying to change the ways knowledge is seen through epistemological, ideological and ontological terms. Kincheloe points to the very nature of scholars as being a privileged elite, yet ones who are often 'illiterate' with regard to the works of authors from outside the traditional North American/European boundaries. He spoke to the notion that the works generated outside of the said realm are often unread, yet these are the very works that need to be heard and read in order for scholars and readers to become truly 'global'. In a broader sense, the same mechanism is present in the relationship between Universities and the representation of indigenous or oppressed knowledge, frequently disregarded as a form of knowledge.<br /><br />Kincheloe believes that instead of perceiving everything from our frame of reference as the 'center' we need to "engage in the genius of the periphery" - that we need to read the world. The project can be seen as a challenge to critical pedagogy, as it needs to become international, multilingual and less Eurocentric in order to remain critical. Kincheloe sees this as a challenge against the colonialist and patriarchal systems of the past which still influence the present. His major focus is to re-visit the idea of knowledge in a more inclusive way. Naturally, there are concerns, which include maintaining the integrity of indigenous/oppressed knowledge as it migrates to a western technology and the potential consequences therein. Kincheloe, however, pointed out that local knowledge would not be appropriated, but shared by indigenous authors and by utilizing open access, this knowledge becomes more visible. His aim is not to make profit from this knowledge, but to benefit indigenous and oppressed people by raising awareness and to transform western thinking and pedagogical mindsets around what constitutes as knowledge.<br /><br /><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div></div><div><strong>The Project:<br /></strong><a href="http://www.chairs.gc.ca/web/chairholders/viewprofile_e.asp?id=2253&"><span style="color:#33ccff;">The Paulo and Nita Freire Centre</span></a> is a project that features the open access model – digitizing and archiving multi media for critical pedagogy. This network will help indigenous, colonial, and oppressed knowledge gain visibility; the intention behind the project is not to be an “add-on” to curriculum or academic canon, but to archive and disseminate the articulation of oppressed voices, told from authentic experience and highlight the transformative power behind that knowledge. As this project will challenge the critical canon, it will be a useful tool to foster critical thinking for students and the general community. It will also create a space for an international network of scholars and practitioners to engage in discussing and reframing critical pedagogy.<br /><br />The foundation of the website is under construction and will be up and running by August 1, 2007. October is the grand opening at McGill and plans include having Nita Freire attend the ceremony. </div><div><br /></div><div></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"><em>"The future isn't something hidden in a corner. </em></div><div align="center"><em>The future is something we build in the present."--</em>Paulo Freire</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><br /><strong>Related sites:<br /></strong><a class="external text" title="http://www.paulofreireinstitute.org/" href="http://www.paulofreireinstitute.org/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#33ccff;">The Paulo Freire Institute at UCLA</span></a><span style="color:#33ccff;"><br /></span><a class="external text" title="http://www.ukzn.ac.za/cae/pfi/index.htm" href="http://www.ukzn.ac.za/cae/pfi/index.htm" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#33ccff;">The Paulo Freire Institute of South Africa</span></a><span style="color:#33ccff;"><br /></span><a class="external text" title="http://www.institutpaulofreire.org/" href="http://www.institutpaulofreire.org/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Instituto Paulo Freire of Spain</span></a><span style="color:#33ccff;"><br /></span><a class="external text" title="http://www.paulofreire.org/" href="http://www.paulofreire.org/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Instituto Paulo Freire, Brasil</span></a><span style="color:#33ccff;"><br /></span><a class="external text" title="http://www.jesuit.org.mt/justice/freire.html" href="http://www.jesuit.org.mt/justice/freire.html" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Paulo Freire Institute, Malta</span></a><span style="color:#33ccff;"><br /></span><a class="external text" title="http://paulofreirefinland.org/" href="http://paulofreirefinland.org/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Paulo Freire Research Center, Finland</span></a><span style="color:#33ccff;"><br /></span><a title="Paulo Freire Freedom School" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Freire_Freedom_School"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Paulo Freire Freedom School</span></a><span style="color:#33ccff;"> in Tucson, Arizona<br /></span><a class="external text" title="http://www.freirecharterschool.org/" href="http://www.freirecharterschool.org/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Freire Charter School in Philadelphia, PA, USA</span></a><span style="color:#33ccff;"> </span></div><div></div><div></div></div>Valerie Hodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585579750641287408noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-71341105438188123232007-07-13T16:41:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:27.278-08:00Embracing Electronic Scholarly Publishing In Africa; The Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science And Technology Library, Kumasi, Ghana As A Case Study<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rxiwhi73K1E/RpvcVDblkRI/AAAAAAAAABs/pC6LoZn8RSQ/s1600-h/GhanaMap.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rxiwhi73K1E/RpvcVDblkRI/AAAAAAAAABs/pC6LoZn8RSQ/s320/GhanaMap.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087902458301485330" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);font-family:georgia;" ><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Presenter</span>: Helena Asamoah-Hassan, Library, <span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);font-family:georgia;" ><a href="http://www.knust.edu.gh/">KNUST</a></span>, Kumasi, Ghana<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Time</span>: 9:40 AM - 10:40 AM, 13 July 2007<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Location</span>: SFU Harbour Centre, Westcoast Energy Executive Meeting Room, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);font-family:georgia;" ><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=24">Abstract</a><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/papers/Asamoah-Hassan.pdf">Paper</a></span></span><br /><br />“the wind of ICT revolution…has also blown onto the continent”<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Helena Asamoah-Hassan presented on her university library’s consideration of publishing a scholarly journal electronically. What follows is a case-study of their assessment, evaluation and conclusions. While a study of her particular library’s experience, her observations are relevant to e-publishing throughout Africa.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Demerits of Electronic Scholarly Publishing in Africa:</span><br />- lack of standardization<br />- lack of knowledge that many journals maintain both online and print versions and only a small proportion are strictly online<br />- few journals have put back issues online<br />- URLs change and crash<br />- lack of a permanent archive<br />- e-journal articles may not be recognized for promotion decisions<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Merits of Electronic Scholarly Publishing in Africa:</span><br />- online access to journals<br />- ease and speed of use<br />- access available at anytime to multiple users<br />- embedded links add value to article<br />- articles may be available ahead of complete issue<br />- reduces space issues and labour costs at libraries<br />- multi-media options (sound, video etc) that unavailable with print<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Both the merits and demerits have a strong relationship with libraries so it is logical that libraries get involved in publishing and work to find solutions to the demerits.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">African Libraries as Electronic Publishers:</span><br />Africa produces a lot of scholarly journals and reports, most in print form. African researches, however, also need information from other parts of the world. While it is important to provide access to knowledge created elsewhere, it is more important to promote the creation of knowledge within Africa. Further, it is imperative that an avenue is created to disseminate this knowledge. Libraries are age-old conduits for information acquisition, repackaging and dissemination.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">KNUST Library:</span><br />- consists of Main Library and 6 College Libraries.<br />- total stock ~320,000 volumes, 500 print and e-journal subscriptions as well as fee e-journals (mostly through <a href="http://www.inasp.info/">INASP</a>)<br />- in total ~19,000 e-journal titles for 22,000 students and 650 faculty and researchers<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">KNUST as Publisher:</span><br />- training programmes begun on setting up Institutional Repository (IR) with plans to set up an IR for KNUST with the server in the Main Library<br />- workshop held in Kumasi 23-24 November 2006 to introduce <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ojs">OJS</a> to editors, grad students and IT administrators from 6 research institutions and 5 universities<br />- KNUST planning a multidisciplinary journal that will feature research reports, technical reports, theses, conference papers, articles and other scholarly communication between staff (this journal will be in addition to KNUST’s journal the Journal of Science and Technology (<a href="http://www.ajol.info/journal_index.php?jid=229">JUST</a>) already featured in African Journals Online (<a href="http://www.ajol.info/">AJOL</a>)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">KNUST must still decide:</span><br />1) whether to institute a referee system for the journal<br />2) whether to make journal online only or also produce a print version<br />3) whether to place copyright with library or author<br />4) amount of information to make freely available and timeframe for doing so<br />5) whether author role will differ from role in print publishing<br />6) what type of reading software to be used<br />7) whether services will be performed voluntarily, how to fund<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">KNUST is currently working on a budget so hopefully the journal will be able to launch by early next year.</span><br /><br />Having been introduced to OJS, Helena Asamoah-Hassan then offered some comments and recommendations for <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/">PKP</a> software in Africa. Generally, from her own experience and from conversations with others who had used the software, she indicated that it is considered user-friendly (not filled with technical jargon) with a logical process and built in guides that are easily understandable. She offered the following <span style="font-weight: bold;">suggestions for PKP software in Africa:</span><br />1) Government approval of software from the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports is required in order for it to be used by institutions. Approval is more likely if the Ministry is approached by the software manufacturer and not the institutions.<br />2) A CD-ROM of the software would be valuable to institutions with no regular Internet access or slow bandwidth<br />3) Regular updates on developments and full training on the use of OJS after installment would be helpful<br />4) Training should be provided to core IT staff in each country<br />5) Software requires a regular automatic saving function given regular breaks in electricity<br />6) OJS developers should consider assisting in sourcing equipment support to interested institutions who lack basic equipment<br />7) Public relations work is need to demonstrate OJS software will last (skepticism attached to fact that it is free “too good to be true”)<br /><br />References:<br /><a href="http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/03-03/rohe.html">http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/03-03/rohe.html</a><br /><a href="http://www.bookrags.com/electronic_publishing">http://www.bookrags.com/electronic_publishing</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Blogger's Blurb:</span><span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“The publisher of an Africa scholarly journal is faced with the rapid expansion of higher education and an increased number of disciplines. This results in many small niche markers of isolated scholars, who either look to the North for specialized journals or are tempted into creating one of their own.”</span></span><span> - Jaygbay, J. 2007 Jun 29. The Politics of and Prospects for African Scholarly Journals in the Information Age. Developments in Scholarly Publishing<br /><br />Helena </span>Asamoah-Hassan<span>’s presentation was followed with a presentation by <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=31">Charles Kiven Wirsiy</a>, Library Services, University of Buea, Cameroon. The presentations are closely related to the extent that Helena visited Cameroon to help launch the Consortium of Cameroon University and Research Libraries. Both presenters, and the libraries discussed, suffer from a dearth of information and resources and are constrained by small budgets. While electronic journals and open-access seem an ideal means of enabling small libraries to access a wealth of information, the disparity of the “digital divide” is evident in the African context. Access to computers and reliable Internet connections were noted by both presenters and scholars at the University of Buea now depend on their mobile telephones to download and Internet cafés play a crucial role. Both presenters however expressed optimism and interest in electronic journal publishing and open access. Crucial insight was offered on how to introduce software such as OJS despite fear, skepticism and the challenges of government bureaucracy in Africa. While global access to information is the ultimate vision and hope, both presentations highlighted that global access still requires knowledge of regional and cultural issues.<br /><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=78">Thomas Abraham</a>’s presentation on scholarly publishing in India raised many similar concerns and considerations. His discussion of customizing OJS software in Hindi and the potential to extend this to other Indian languages seems particularly relevant in the African context. While the coordination and sharing between the libraries in Ghana and Cameroon is promising, extending such dialogue to other countries outside of Africa, such as India, would not only be valuable for all involved but very much in the spirit of expanding lines of communication with the aim of improving the quality of information that underlies the Public Knowledge Project. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Related conference presentations:<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">On libraries</span><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=11">"Rethinking Collections: Libraries and Librarians in an Open Age"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=7">"Librarians as campus OA leaders: the University of Alberta experience"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=55">"The Library as a mediator for e-publishing. A case on how a library can become a significant factor in facilitating digital scholarly communication and open access publishing for less web savvy journals"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=1">"The National Library of Australia: open access to Open Publish"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=44">"A content management strategy – implementing OJS and OCS at Swinburne University library"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=67">"Beyond the Experiment: The Scholarly Publishing Office and the Maturation of Library-Based Publishing"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=28">"Survey of Librarian Attitudes about Open Access"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=56">"A Critical Theory of Library Technology: Libraries & Electronic Publishing"</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">On Africa</span><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=83">"Strengthening African Research Culture and Capacities Project"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=84">"Scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa in the twenty-first century: challenges and opportunities"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=49">"Open Source Software in Education in Africa"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=31">"The State of Acquisition, Organization and Use of Open Access Information Resources in Cameroon University Libraries: The Case of the University of Buea and University of Yaounde I Libraries"</a>Shauna Labmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01354885130122363541noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-56936546852535685512007-07-13T15:02:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:27.451-08:00Open Access Web-Only Peer-Reviewed Journal for Radiology Case Reports: Development and Implementation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzj0h88F09AzLruSmDWJ9BCtO_06C3Mb3ytzfxsQROD1dpYp2UNTnwzEyjL8LVpSGmih6BkcU6koc_COW8Giyx6QTrn9BIgnoIc1ubG_lTaIX9pTZqsIYjsjmisNfr1N4Z3XzGEQoxTs3/s1600-h/IMG_0539.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086805909845343666" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzj0h88F09AzLruSmDWJ9BCtO_06C3Mb3ytzfxsQROD1dpYp2UNTnwzEyjL8LVpSGmih6BkcU6koc_COW8Giyx6QTrn9BIgnoIc1ubG_lTaIX9pTZqsIYjsjmisNfr1N4Z3XzGEQoxTs3/s320/IMG_0539.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:12;">By:<br />Felix Chew<br />Michael Richardson<br />Kira Lichtenfeld<br />Annemarie Relyea-Chew</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Presented at </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">11-13 July, 2007</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Vancouver</st1:city>, <st1:state st="on">BC</st1:state></st1:place><span style="font-size:0;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1:place></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Presenter: Felix Chew</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Department of Radiology, <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Washington</st1:placename></st1:place></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><b>The presentation covers the following:<o:p></o:p></b></p><ul><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">What we did</span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Why we did it</span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">How we did it</span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">How are we doing</span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Future challenges</span></div></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><b>What we did:<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">A number of diseases have entered the scientific medical literature in the form of case reports such as Paget's disease, Parkinson's disease, and AIDS.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>However, the established radiology journals have focused their efforts on bringing major research studies and review articles to their readers, while simultaneously de-emphasizing case reports.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Therefore, authors of case reports have less chances of their work being published.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Because of the case reports significance and because of level of attention paid to case reports by established radiology journals the presenter and others have decided to establish the Radiology Case Report journal.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>The journal is peer-reviewed, open access, and specializes in case reports.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><b>Why we did it:<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Because there is no place to publish case reports.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>In addition, they have a business plan for case reports journal, and the presenter has the knowledge of being author, editor, and publisher.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">The decrease rate of case reports acceptance made the presenter and his colleagues to think seriously about publishing a journal that focuses on case reports.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>For example, the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), the last large-circulation general radiology journal to accept case reports has announced that they will not publish case reports any more.<span style="font-size:0;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><b>How we did it:<o:p></o:p></b></p><ul><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">UW Technology Transfer<span lang="AR-SA" dir="rtl"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Open Journal Systems (OJS)<span lang="AR-SA" dir="rtl"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Open Access business model<span lang="AR-SA" dir="rtl"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">No capital required<span lang="AR-SA" dir="rtl"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Revenues and profits increase with size<span lang="AR-SA" dir="rtl"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Personal relationships to recruit peer reviewers and authors</span></div></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><b>How are we doing?<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">The Radiology Case Report is becoming popular day by day, downloads are increasing, and it is becoming visible via search engines such as Google. <span style="font-size:0;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Downloads of articles per day from RCR</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 72pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">June 06 = 18</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 72pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Dec 06 = 84</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 72pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">June 07 = 127</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Downloads per article per day</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 72pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">June 06 = 2.08</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 72pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Dec 06 = 2.20 </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 72pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">June 07 = 2.52</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><b>Future challenges:<o:p></o:p></b><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Indexing (Pubmed Central, Pubmed, ISI)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Journal Operations</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Cash flow, revisions, editing, layout</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Marketing, marketing, marketing</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Competition</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 72pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">BMC Medical Imaging</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 72pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">BMC Medical Case Reports</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p><b>Additional information:<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p><br />Abstract: <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=16">http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=16</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p><br />Radiology Case Reports Journal:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><a href="http://radiology.casereports.net/index.php/rcr/about/editorialTeam">http://radiology.casereports.net/index.php/rcr/about/editorialTeam</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p>alzahranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01999337503494463257noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-31761665471644821062007-07-13T14:59:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:27.772-08:00When Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practitioners Use PubMed: Responses of 18 Practitioners to Searching and Retrieving Knowledge in Pubmed<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0TabYqHcBlSCxhxcCJrzDzJY0D_J1HNtTpoWk6maF1RLl5N3MhJcreUMnSPkxxgisFHYBXmGlGmmE_-2fjDigr2AraCiU3M6H4tj5hSN5w8nrTSqu40HSKG9ParVlHBs38ATEfOI5F4rq/s1600-h/IMG_0558.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086804952067636642" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0TabYqHcBlSCxhxcCJrzDzJY0D_J1HNtTpoWk6maF1RLl5N3MhJcreUMnSPkxxgisFHYBXmGlGmmE_-2fjDigr2AraCiU3M6H4tj5hSN5w8nrTSqu40HSKG9ParVlHBs38ATEfOI5F4rq/s320/IMG_0558.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Presented at </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">11-13 July, 2007</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Vancouver</st1:city>, <st1:state st="on">BC</st1:state></st1:place><span style="font-size:0;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1:place></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">By: Mia Quint-Rapoport<span lang="AR-SA" dir="rtl"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">OISE/UT, Higher Education, Theory and Policy Studies</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><b>Study research questions:<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">How do ‘non-target’ users use the OA index Pubmed?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Do Pubmed search tools facilitate use of lit. for these groups?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Which tools are most/least useful?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">The Open Access question</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><b>The study:<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><ul><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Interviews with 18 <st1:place st="on">CAM</st1:place> practitioners.</span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Varying degrees of education.</span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Recruited from 3 different sources.</span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">1-1.5 hour lesson in use of Pubmed.</span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Some face to face, some over the phone</span></div></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><b>Methods:<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Semi-structured interviews.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Interviews were transcribed.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Transcriptions were coded for themes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Codes were synthesized and analyzed.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Based on grounded theory research methods.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><b>Results:<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Favorite tools:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 72pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Limits: (e.g. by gender).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 72pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Related Articles - liked to browse.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 72pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Boolean (in combination with above).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 72pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Clipboard.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><b>Conclusion:<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Participants frustrated by lack of access.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Pubmed not for an exclusive user group - broader applications.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Search and retrieval tools facilitate engagement.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">Scholarly and scientific information is ‘useful’ for this non-target group.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><b>For further information:<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Abstract: <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=62">http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=62</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Article: <a href="http://www.jmir.org/2007/2/e19">http://www.jmir.org/2007/2/e19</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p><br /></o:p></p>alzahranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01999337503494463257noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-33063698515540013652007-07-13T14:44:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:28.355-08:00The State of Acquisition, Organization and Use of Open Access Information Resources in Cameroon University Libraries<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rxiwhi73K1E/RpgBtTblkQI/AAAAAAAAABk/ivC1vadXuYE/s1600-h/IMG_0565.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rxiwhi73K1E/RpgBtTblkQI/AAAAAAAAABk/ivC1vadXuYE/s320/IMG_0565.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086817656936698114" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Full Title:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">The State of Acquisition, Organization and Use of Open Access Information Resources in Cameroon University Libraries: The Case of the University of Buea and University of Yaounde I Libraries</span><span style="font-size:78%;"> Photo: Charles Kivin Wirsiy at PKP Conference </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ub.cm/images/Central%20Admin.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.ub.cm/images/Central%20Admin.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Presenter:</span> Charles Kiven Wirsiy, Library Services, University of Buea, Cameroon<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Time:</span> 9:40 AM - 10:40 AM, 13 July 2007 <br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Location:</span> SFU Harbour Centre, Westcoast Energy Executive Meeting Room, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada<br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Photo: University of Buea</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Background:</span><br />In 1992 Cameroon saw higher education reforms that led to the creation of 5 more universities that went to functional in May 1993. At the time the University of Yaoundé was the lone university in Cameroon. The new <a href="http://www.internationaleducationmedia.com/cameroon/index.htm">universities </a>are either English, French or bilingual, including the University of Buea created in the Aglo-Saxon tradition. The University of Yaoundé has a bilingual and bicultural tradition but the French influence is more dominant. All six universities are funded by the government and suffer a perennial problem of inadequate funding. As a consequence, electronic journals can play a vital role in the delivery of information.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Wirsiy, of the University of Beau, examined the state of acquisition, organization, and use of electronic resources at the universities of Buea and Yaoundé I.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">University of Buea:</span><br />- 14,000 students in 2006/7<br />- 80,00 volumes of manuals and serials (bulk in English)<br />- subscriptions to 8 journals<br />- access to electronic information on-line or on CD-ROM (including <a href="http://www.netlibrary.com/">ADL</a>, <a href="http://www.who.int/hinari/en/">HINARI</a>, <a href="http://www.aginternetwork.org/en/">AGORA</a>, World Bank, <a href="http://www.the-networktufh.org/home/index.asp">TUFH</a>, <a href="http://www.ajol.info/">AJOL</a>, <a href="http://www.opendoar.org/">OpenDOAR</a>, <a href="http://www.doaj.com/">DOAJ</a>)<br />- connected to the Internet in 2003/4 but not functional due to issues with bandwidth<br />- automation underway<br />- directory of open access resources available on CD ROM and printed<br />- licenses with HINARI, AGORA, and World Bank - passwords provided to users to use from cafes or IT centre<br />- user education<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">University of Yaoundé I:</span><br />- 25,000 students in 2006/7<br />- 120,00 volumes of manuals and serials (bulk in French)<br />- no journal subscriptions<br />- access to HINARI and AGORA<br />- connected to Internet but not functional<br />- media center with 50 computers<br />- directory of open access resources available on CD ROM but not current<br />- licenses to HINARI and AGORA – passwords to users “timid”<br />- user education limited<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Wirsiy’s comparison indicated that while open access is gaining ground in Africa, the state of affairs in Cameroon’s two prominent university libraries leaves</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rxiwhi73K1E/RpvfOjblkSI/AAAAAAAAAB0/sHlKfURFYGw/s1600-h/cameroonmap.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rxiwhi73K1E/RpvfOjblkSI/AAAAAAAAAB0/sHlKfURFYGw/s320/cameroonmap.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087905645167218978" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"> much to be desired.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Improvement Prospects:</span><br />- improvement of ICT and bandwidth<br />- creation of “Centre Interuniversitaire des Resources Documentaires” (CIRD) and “Centre interuniversitaires des technologies de l’information et de la Communication” (CITI) by Minister of Education to act as clearinghouses<br />- creation of virtual libraries in state universities (UB given go-ahead but no prospects at UYI yet)<br />- increasing availability of cheap wireless broadband via mobile telephone companies (using mobile phones to download at UB)<br />- creation of Consortium of Cameroon University and Research Libraries (COCUREL) though assistance from the Electronic Information for Libraries Network (<a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=24">Helena Asamoa-Hassan</a> from KNUST in Ghana went to Cameroon to help launch a functional consortium)<br />- creation of institutional information repositories<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What’s Still Needed in terms of Open Access?</span><br />- improved Internet connectivity<br />- training<br />- increased knowledge of resources by those in education community<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Blogger's Blurb:</span><span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“The publisher of an Africa scholarly journal is faced with the rapid expansion of higher education and an increased number of disciplines. This results in many small niche markers of isolated scholars, who either look to the North for specialized journals or are tempted into creating one of their own.”</span></span><span> - Jaygbay, J. 2007 Jun 29. The Politics of and Prospects for African Scholarly Journals in the Information Age. Developments in Scholarly Publishing<br /><br /></span><span>Wirsiy’s presentation was preceded by Helena Asamoah–Hassan’s presentation on the KNUST library in Kumasi, Ghana’s experience with electronic scholarly publishing The presentations are closely related to the extent that Helena visited Cameroon to help launch the Consortium of Cameroon University and Research Libraries. Both presenters, and the libraries discussed, suffer from a dearth of information and resources and are constrained by small budgets. While electronic journals and open-access seem an ideal means of enabling small libraries to access a wealth of information, the disparity of the “digital divide” is evident in the African context. Access to computers and reliable Internet connections were noted by both presenters and scholars at the University of Buea now depend on their mobile telephones to download and Internet cafés play a crucial role. Both presenters however expressed optimism and interest in electronic journal publishing and open access. Crucial insight was offered on how to introduce software such as OJS despite fear, skepticism and the challenges of government bureaucracy in Africa. While global access to information is the ultimate vision and hope, both presentations highlighted that global access still requires knowledge of regional and cultural issues.<br /><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=78">Thomas Abraham</a>’s presentation on scholarly publishing in India raised many similar concerns and considerations. His discussion of customizing OJS software in Hindi and the potential to extend this to other Indian languages seems particularly relevant in the African context. While the coordination and sharing between the libraries in Ghana and Cameroon is promising, extending such dialogue to other countries outside of Africa, such as India, would not only be valuable for all involved but very much in the spirit of expanding lines of communication with the aim of improving the quality of information that underlies the Public Knowledge Project. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Related conference presentations:<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">On libraries</span><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=11">"Rethinking Collections: Libraries and Librarians in an Open Age"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=7">"Librarians as campus OA leaders: the University of Alberta experience"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=55">"The Library as a mediator for e-publishing. A case on how a library can become a significant factor in facilitating digital scholarly communication and open access publishing for less web savvy journals"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=1">"The National Library of Australia: open access to Open Publish"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=44">"A content management strategy – implementing OJS and OCS at Swinburne University library"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=67">"Beyond the Experiment: The Scholarly Publishing Office and the Maturation of Library-Based Publishing"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=28">"Survey of Librarian Attitudes about Open Access"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=56">"A Critical Theory of Library Technology: Libraries & Electronic Publishing"</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">On Africa</span><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=83">"Strengthening African Research Culture and Capacities Project"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=84">"Scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa in the twenty-first century: challenges and opportunities"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=49">"Open Source Software in Education in Africa"</a>, <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=24">"Embracing Electronic Scholarly Publishing In Africa; The Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science And Technology (Knust) Library, Kumasi, Ghana As A Case Study"</a>Shauna Labmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01354885130122363541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-89192725326433311122007-07-13T14:41:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:28.527-08:00Newfound Press: Digital Imprint of the University of Tennessee Libraries<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIfaK3tVlX_n37H16Wq5K_wO0lq0EY0vrnJfofQzjSVOAVH6lM5buVVzH4k2a7CUTd8-hcazrnW2fL5L1TlAVqLvI084z-Z2-bYTzCgx7N0DVyaBZyUqQXkZfqmHuxpZ5jJHdTkthliMh/s1600-h/Linda+Phillips+002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIfaK3tVlX_n37H16Wq5K_wO0lq0EY0vrnJfofQzjSVOAVH6lM5buVVzH4k2a7CUTd8-hcazrnW2fL5L1TlAVqLvI084z-Z2-bYTzCgx7N0DVyaBZyUqQXkZfqmHuxpZ5jJHdTkthliMh/s320/Linda+Phillips+002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086745464228669634" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/">PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference</a><br />13 July 2007<br />9:40-10:40 SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room<br /><br />Presenter:<br />Linda L. Phillips, University Libraries, University of Tennessee.<br />Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=20">Abstract</a><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewpaper.php?id=20">Full Text HTML</a><br /><br />The University of Tennessee Newfound Press is positioned at the start of a new movement in scholarly publishing. Linda L Phillips, Alumni Distinguished Service Professor and Head of the University's Collection Development & Management provided reasons why the library made the move into digital availability of documents and some of the challenges of this move into the digital imprint.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.lib.utk.edu/newfoundpress/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.lib.utk.edu/newfoundpress/images/nfp-logo-copy2.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The homepage of the Newfound Press site illustrates the four components of the library's work in web-based document access. Click on the logo to visit the site.<br /><br />Developing the Newfound Press started with the familiar, the monograph, and lead to the non-traditional, incorporating video-streaming of conference presentations. In the future, journal articles could contain sound clips, video links, and further context to content in the electronic environment - adding value to textual content.<br /><br />The wide disciplinary background of the Newfound Press <a href="http://www.lib.utk.edu/newfoundpress/editor.html">editorial board</a> reflects the interdisciplinary work that is possible and thrives with OA products. As the Press moves forward, building on a growing and positive interest by University of Tennessee faculty in OA and <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ojs">OJS</a> publishing, the board is committed to providing a place for high quality and significant scholarly work as well as specialized work that might not be published in a print environment.<br /><br />Current and ongoing work at the Newfound Press includes:<br /><ul><li>Creating a sustainable labour pool (this includes collection management, learning to use OJS, and transitioning staff)</li><li>Appropriate funding<br /></li><li>Documentation</li><li>Marketing (convincing potential authors that Newfound Press benefits them personally as it benefits the scholarly community)</li></ul>Phillips' closing anecdote related the reason for the the name of the University of Tennessee's press as a reference to the Newfound Gap between North Carolina and Tennessee. The university library, through digital imprints and digital publishing is venturing into this territory where there are unimaginable possibilities in the field of scholarly communication.<br /><br /><div id="photoImgDiv738898294" style="width: 502px; text-align: right;" class="photoImgDiv"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1423/738898294_9fbefbac68.jpg?v=1183732188" alt="" onload="show_notes_initially();" class="reflect" height="333" width="500" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Question from the audience:</p><p class="MsoNormal">In Phillip's presentation, she noted the importance of attracting tenured faculty as authors to contribute to OA and OJS. So, is the perception that OJS and similar ventures are not of yet of value to those in established academic positions?</p><p class="MsoNormal">-Fair statement. Phillips explained that as those with tenure do not face the same pressure to establish their reputations via publication, OJS is not the risk that it might be for newer members of academia. Currently, creating and establishing a publishing persona in the print journal world might be the better option for scholars just starting out in their respective fields. As the perceptions of digital publishing change and if senior tenured faculty continue to contribute to OJS, this reputation bias will change as well.<br /></p> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Commentary</span><br /></span> <div style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 1pt 4pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in;">As Phillips explained, marketing will be key to expanding contributions to OJS and developing the Digital Imprint at the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Tennessee</st1:placename></st1:place>.<span style=""> </span>Funding for Newfound Press projects has come thanks to librarians using internal leverage within their institutions and building on past grants that suggest there is an interest in funding OA ventures.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in;">The commitment to publishing high quality and significant scholarly work as Newfound Press moves forward should combat the reputation bias (regarding questions of peer-review and the inherent value of articles that are free to access) that can be associated with OJS.<span style=""> </span>Instead of requiring continued funding to access the same material via subscription on-line publications, OA publishing needs the most investment at the idea stage – making possible the presentation of scholarly knowledge to a wide community, not the long-term management of institutional subscriptions. <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p>Scholarly publishing will always be rooted in an economy.<span style=""> </span>Moving from a monetary for-profit publishing scheme to a for-knowledge circulation scheme is possible. (See Paul David’s <a href="http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10785&page=19">chapter</a> for a discussion of “Economic Logic” and Dominique Foray's <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/demo/present/index.php/joe/article/view/168/43">chapter</a> in <span style="font-style: italic;">The Economics of Knowledge</span>)<span style=""> </span>For this to happen, universities can lead the way by recognizing that an initial investment in OJS start-up and maintenance can allow for a greater return to students, faculty, and staff who can freely access and share ideas with colleagues around the world and outside the academic fields.<span style=""> </span>Continuing to pay increasing subscription fees to for-profit publications not only limits the number of projects libraries can fund, it limits the access to ideas that form the basis of the <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=1Zp7_rJ1vcMC&dq=peter+drucker+the+age+of+discontinuity&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=2uuNspmG5j&sig=bNWmIMukEkHbOmsTMBQ8XWXyFqs#PPP1,M1">knowledge economy</a>.</p> </div><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span>Links:<br /><br /><a href="http://diglib.lib.utk.edu/dlc/">The Digital Library Center at the University of Tennessee</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://diglib.lib.utk.edu/utj/gamut-index.html">Gamut</a> - The Newfound Press online journal for the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic<br />This summer marks the journal's adoption of the OJS format and Newfound Press is working to integrate the homepage with the on-line journal format.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.lib.utk.edu/newfoundpress/pubs/knox/cover300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.lib.utk.edu/newfoundpress/pubs/knox/cover300.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.lib.utk.edu/newfoundpress/pubs/knox/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Goodness Gracious, Miss Agnes</span></a>, Newfound Press' first fully digitized monograph available for on-line viewing. The memoirs of Lera Knox, a Tennessee woman who documented life in the state during the Depression and onward.<br /><br />Newfound Press adds value to textual contents of digital imprints by designing the images like the one at left, producing page-like pdf documents for easy readability, fully editing the monograph, translating documents, and providing authoritative introductions to the works.Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03399815501343267967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-50463688605007233722007-07-13T14:30:00.000-07:002007-07-17T18:33:17.379-07:00“Living Reviews - Open Access Online Publications”<strong>Presenter: </strong><a href="http://www.livingreviews.org/"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Christina Weyher</span></a>, Max Planck Digital Library (in the Max Planck Society)<br /><strong>Time:</strong> 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM July 13, 2007 <strong>Place:</strong> SFUHC Bank of Nova Scotia Lecture Room<br /><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=26"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Abstract:</span></a><span style="color:#33ccff;"><br /></span><br />Christina Weyher is the Project Manager for <em><a href="http://www.livingreviews.org/"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Living </span><span style="color:#33ccff;">Reviews</span>,</a></em> an open access, on-line only publishing platform for science-based journals, which operates out of Germany. The presenters area of speciality is in information science and she share her experience working in the field of scientific scholarly publishing.<br /><br />As Christina Weyher discussed the <em>Living Reviews</em> project<em> </em>she draws attention to the importance of having innovative editorial content access through open publication platforms. The publication highlights current research and the challenges that are faced in future research. As interest and visibility are growing, the site now acts as a platform for four key areas: <a href="http://relativity.livingreviews.org/"><span style="color:#33ccff;"><em>relativity</em></span></a>, <a href="http://solarphysics.livingreviews.org/"><span style="color:#33ccff;"><em>solar physics</em></span></a>, <a href="http://europeangovernance.livingreviews.org/"><em><span style="color:#33ccff;">european governance</span> </em></a>and <a href="http://landscaperesearch.livingreviews.org/"><span style="color:#33ccff;"><em>landscape research</em></span></a>. The Living Review portal necessitated certain functions through the library and since 2002 Living Reviews has been supported by the Heinz Nixdorf Foundation as part of the Center for Information Management in the Max Planck Society (<a href="http://www.zim.mpg.de/"><span style="color:#33ccff;">ZIM</span></a>) - non-profit research organisation<br /><br /><strong>What is unique about these journals?</strong><br /><br />Articles are updated and remain current by authors via open access service. The target group is for the scientific community, but authors are asked to keep the content accessible, so the journals are read by members outside the scholarly community as well. Some of the features of Living Journals include:<br /><br /><br /><ul><li>peer-reviewed articles </li><li>insightful surveys on research progress in the field</li><li>guiding readers to pertinent and current iliterature</li><li>research solicited from experts in the field by an international Editorial Board </li><li>open access publications</li><li>'living articles' meaning regularly updated by the authors to incorporate latest developments and discoveries</li></ul><p>In terms of the latter feature, the publication has requirements for updates, usually after two years of submission; a substantional revision review covers recent developments and uncovers any new aspects. After a full peer review a new publication number is generated, but linked to original article through special tracking macro and citation tracking tools. The publication now boasts a fast track revision for minor updates, which usually consist of short notices or the addition of new references. This is reviewed by the subject editor and all changes are tracked. </p><strong>Online interface and challenges:</strong> Some articles are lengthy (which brings to mind Ray Siemen's REKn discussion of how efficient reading need not be the entire document) and require a large amount of space as do the high resolution illustrations that often accompany the submissions. These articles are both in HTML and PDF.<br /><br />Weyher discussed the need for quality control and how the journal is looking at having referee reports published along with the articles. She also brought up the blind referee model as necessary to provide objectivity. As the portal grows, new considerations and discussions emerge, which also keeps the publishing process 'living' much like the author's submissions.<br /><br />Open access has brought down barriers and is a key factor in the success of the portal (3000 downloads per month). As all journal context is exposed to search engines, the publication is viable, visible and accessible. The presenter echoed a common theme heard throughout the PKP conference - the need to have enthusiastic, dedicated people involved in an open-access project.<br /><br />Christina Weyher spoke about the collaboration involved in electronic publishing and the ease with which migration for other journals occurred as they had a successful model to draw from. She also stressed the need for institutional support and the important role that foundations play.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Reflections:</strong><br />Christina Weyher's presentation illustrated the continuity between current open access models of publishing with the original collaborative process seen in the days of Oldenberg's <a href="http://www.jstor.org/journals/03702316.html"><span style="color:#33ccff;"><em>Philosophical Transactions</em></span></a><em>. </em>In the <em>Living Review</em> model, authors are encouraged to revise and update their findings, making for a collection of relevant and accurate research, reviewed and commented on by peers in the scholarly community. This also meen the publishers and authors are engaged in a collaborative communication as they strive to produce affordable, efficient methods of disseminating relevant scholarly information. In keeping with the democratic principles of open access, the articles are free, and being offered in HTML format lessens the technical challenges in access for users in developing nations, a practice seen in other journals, such as <a href="http://www.bioline.org.br/"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Bioline</span></a>, and recommended by authors like <a href="http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/832/01/Arun_01.pdf"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Subbiah Arunachalam</span></a>. This lessens the gap of access and heightens the visibility for potential authors from developing countries who wish to submit articles. This project is equitable in that operates as an entry point for graduate students and a collaborative network for experienced researchers, but also remains accessible - in language and cost -to the general public as well. Seeded, supported and published through the foundational support, all publication software is open source and can be used for non-commercial purposes without attached licensing fees. Unlike the traditional journal models, <em>Living Review</em> publishers allows authors to retain copyright. As publishing and editorial services are available to any journals affiliated with the Max Planck Institutes, the platform is expanding as the distribution grows - generating greater visibility for authors and journals alike. Clearly, the shape of publishing and research access is changing and <em>Living Review </em>demonstrates that open source journals can be an economically sustainable option. Maintaining the balance between retaining intellectual property rights and public knowledge is critical, as is fostering positive relationships between publishers and scholars. <em>Living Review </em>is demonstrating a protection of the commons while fostering the principles of innovation and scholarly incentives.Valerie Hodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585579750641287408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-15522824491567707662007-07-13T13:31:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:29.158-08:00Challenging ISI Thomson Scientific's Journal Citation Reports: Deconstructing "Objective", "Impact", and "Global"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhigNVB8l90dIUXn967Wf5o2FFEP5gvAPcwAe3i32fbqFJ8NhjgO07uhHSG0mEuJFeoowDZpyZYopDXZNPZnMyZsG58D54B-SSUT0_YHMGRcDaMiEEZS3efBBDHwWmzk4MvpF3iD1wRTRPI/s1600-h/Isagani+Cruz+photo.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087222419807388482" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 187px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 250px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhigNVB8l90dIUXn967Wf5o2FFEP5gvAPcwAe3i32fbqFJ8NhjgO07uhHSG0mEuJFeoowDZpyZYopDXZNPZnMyZsG58D54B-SSUT0_YHMGRcDaMiEEZS3efBBDHwWmzk4MvpF3iD1wRTRPI/s320/Isagani+Cruz+photo.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Presenter: <span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="font-family:Arial;"><a href="http://criticplaywright.blogspot.com/"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none">Isagani Cruz</span></a>, De La Salle University </span></b></span><br />Time: 2:55 PM - Thursday July 12, 2007<br />Location: SFU Harbour Center - Sauder Industries Policy Room<br />Links: <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=9">Abstract</a><br /><a href="http://criticplaywright.blogspot.com/">presenter's website</a><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/papers/cruz.pdf">full-text of paper</a> (pdf)<br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhABMvnunHPJKj3_Ed2b0cVv0DzcCldrRy0v4ZI26LAjBfGrABBGlcz1JNPg3ZUhd47tJ5iBWPJq2NR-O2u3MOf8GAITWsHA6xq5BHrT3bLRBmvuq_6qh2yr8bPPUNhROgBNt0i30vOaanf/s1600-h/philippines.manila.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087222707570197330" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhABMvnunHPJKj3_Ed2b0cVv0DzcCldrRy0v4ZI26LAjBfGrABBGlcz1JNPg3ZUhd47tJ5iBWPJq2NR-O2u3MOf8GAITWsHA6xq5BHrT3bLRBmvuq_6qh2yr8bPPUNhROgBNt0i30vOaanf/s320/philippines.manila.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Arial;">A very convincing case was presented challenging the Thomson Scientific ISI journal citation report and index. <span style="font-size:0;"></span>The Thomson Scientific citation repor</span><span style="font-family:Arial;">t calculates the number of current year citations to the source items published in that journal during the previous 2 years to produce what is commonly know as the ‘Impact factor’ of a particular journal. <span style="font-size:0;"></span>This index has affected scientists immensely, as a way of assigning value to their work, contributing to faculty evaluation, institutional prestige and funding agency decisions.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>The presenter, Isagani Cruz, a writer, critic, and Professor Emeritus of De La Salle University-Manila, examined several of the terms stated in the basic tenants of the <a href="http://scientific.thomson.com/products/jcr/">Journal Citation Reports</a> (OBJECTIVE, IMPACT, and GLOBAL).<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>In the presenter’s opinion, ISI is far from representing these 3 elements.</span></p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:12;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Speaking from his own professional area of literary studies, Professor Cruz takes a critical look at the study of literary texts and illustrated the following:<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUu0pLwEvV-lb_RxXswJRWH6VcMScKicf7gIVH354o4CFO0vExo9dDejfBjp42Tze9lZFYyFv4RFQKYd500AwxxdKpd_53dHbT2g8jI_5FCJIBao36KNeA-ZafboSqVSJRJ7_YAirgYkbW/s1600-h/Graphic1.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087214216419853106" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUu0pLwEvV-lb_RxXswJRWH6VcMScKicf7gIVH354o4CFO0vExo9dDejfBjp42Tze9lZFYyFv4RFQKYd500AwxxdKpd_53dHbT2g8jI_5FCJIBao36KNeA-ZafboSqVSJRJ7_YAirgYkbW/s320/Graphic1.bmp" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:12;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Since literary texts themselves are the basis for theories and the majority of criticisms are based only on European language texts, the appreciation and evaluation of non-European language texts have been largely ignored.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>It was emphasized that in non-European countries, researchers study work in multiple other languages in addition to European texts.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>With the acknowledgement that there are over a hundred languages and thousands of dialects in the global community, it was suggested that developing literary theories based only upon literary texts from European language texts was fundamentally flawed.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>With the understanding that scientific literature needs to be properly documented, the current practice of excluding non-European texts from the ISI as an industry standard needs critical reformation.<span style="font-size:0;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Deconstructing ISI:</span></span><br />- the myth of quality control that ISI claims to do<br />- highly unlikely that a non-european journal will be cited in a european journal due to language-barriers<br />- therefore, journals in non-european language are not cited, but this is simply a reflection of the language barrier, not the fact that the science itself is not valuable.<br />- current practice has marginalized the contribution of non-European researchers<br />- production of knowledge cannot be limited to language/country divides<?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p></o:p>Based on these observations, the ISI system is simply a point of view but is not objective nor is its evaluation global. Is the current process one which perpetuates ignorance rather than knowledge, as scientists are working independantly and often uninformed of one another’s research?</span><b><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Proposal:</span></span><br />We need to be aware of hegemony in the current system.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>The existing formula of research evaluation and documentation needs to be dropped.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Now that the web has democratized the publication process, with movement away from censorship imposed by editors and selected referees, ISI should continue to monitor journal publications but NOT evaluate journals.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Merely listing </span><span lang="EN" style="font-family:Arial;">journals in the original spirit of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /><st1:place st="on">Bradford</st1:place> would be most effective.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>The ability of tracing 1 citation from 1 journal to another, without an evaluation of which is better, would advance the building of intellectual resources to its full capacity in the global community. In essence, there would be documentation of not only the first 2 pages of search results, but all 2 million citations.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span lang="EN" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" >With all research receiving its due attention, the responsibility then lies on the individual to make a critical evaluation of the research in question.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></strong></p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Postscript:</span></strong></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:arial;">In summary, the underlying themes of this presentation speak to the importance of opening communication between researchers. The use of letters to report data lies in the origins of the spirit of experimental science. This shared data can then be challenged and corrected, leading to the advancement of learning. Contributions from non-European regions of the world have been greatly restricted primarly due to language differences. It is of utmost importance that the communication and advancement of knowledge extend beyond geographical and linguistic boundaries. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07986607678544250528noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-29224871971433210922007-07-13T13:13:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:30.915-08:00OJS goes mobile – An investigation of how to adapt OJS to meet the needs of mobile users<span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjJo7AgDZxtWgMmQdDXlpdGUYAhX2xNAFCTfBEvymh5gdg7dAsLwvLpKAoMweSBd-1zxm27DWlH1A6-at7qCe5BlyDfzDdzPv1yyZWMwCEN3oTIaUNu17qTJgi_ParS_cmMollwmXnJAcM/s1600-h/DSCN2012.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjJo7AgDZxtWgMmQdDXlpdGUYAhX2xNAFCTfBEvymh5gdg7dAsLwvLpKAoMweSBd-1zxm27DWlH1A6-at7qCe5BlyDfzDdzPv1yyZWMwCEN3oTIaUNu17qTJgi_ParS_cmMollwmXnJAcM/s200/DSCN2012.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086777579585461746" border="0" /></a>Above: Lawrence Poon (left) and <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">Shubhash Wasti are working on OJS mobile friendliness.</span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><br /><br /></span></i></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">Shubhash Wasti (</span></i><st1:place><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">Athabasca</span></i></st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"> </span></i><st1:placetype><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">University</span></i></st1:placetype></st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">, Library Services, </span></i><st1:state><st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">Alberta</span></i></st1:place></st1:state><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">, </span></i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">Canada</span></i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">)<o:p></o:p></span></i><br /><st1:city><st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">Lawrence</span></i></st1:place></st1:city><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"> Poon (</span></i><st1:place><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">Athabasca</span></i></st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"> </span></i><st1:placetype><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">University</span></i></st1:placetype></st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">, Library Services, </span></i><st1:state><st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">Alberta</span></i></st1:place></st1:state><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">, </span></i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">Canada</span></i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">)<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><o:p> </o:p><br />Presented on: </span></i><st1:date year="2007" day="13" month="7"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">July 13, 2007</span></i></st1:date><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"> at </span></i><st1:time minute="0" hour="11"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">11am</span></i></st1:time><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"> in SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><o:p> </o:p>~<a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=43">Click for abstract</a>~</span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="" lang="FR-CA">~Blogger’s Commentary~<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Thanks and more thanks to modern technology, the various means of accessing knowledge grow exponentially. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">“Mobile OJS” sounds very hi-tech and is certainly in tune with the increasing popularity of mobile technologies. Although Shubhash Wasti points out that the usefulness of a mobile-friendly OJS for authors, editors, etc. is “arguable”, we cannot possibly argue its advantages for users wishing to read journal articles on their mobile device. At this point, there are many technical issues to be resolved, but the idea of a mobile-friendly OJS serves the interests of both public and commercial spheres. There can be economic incentives for companies to improve their mobile devices to allow better support of OJS. Scholars and seekers of knowledge nowadays no longer spend hours crouched over a desk at the library, but are moving towards finding a variety of ways to access that knowledge through modern technologies. In this sense, the commercial sector is also contributing to increasing access to knowledge. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">As for the public sphere and the effort to increase openness of knowledge, a mobile-friendly OJS can certainly contribute to wider circulation of academic material for the community and allow more people to participate in the Open Access movement. By combining developing technologies with the aims of Open Access, both areas can see major advancements. As we seek new ways to increase access to knowledge through technology, improvements to modern technologies must also be made. Indeed, while the advancement of knowledge access is contributing to the advancement of technologies, these technologies in turn are opening wonderful possibilities for the public to exercise their right to knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>Perhaps in the future, we will not think only of open access to knowledge, but also of “mobile open knowledge” that is available wherever we go.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">~Summary of Presentation~<o:p></o:p></span></i><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">Motivation <o:p></o:p><br />- “Face of the web” annual report by Ipsos Insight found that 28% of mobile phone users worldwide access the web on their handset<o:p></o:p><br />- less than 0.1% of the OJS users access via their mobile device<o:p></o:p><br />- this study is to see how OJS can be made more mobile-friendly<o:p><br /></o:p>- there is a trade-off between features and mobility: for example, using Flash on the website<o:p></o:p><br />- in terms of practicality: readers would be the ones to benefit greatly by a mobile-friendly OJS, but the usefulness of it to authors, reviewers and editors is arguable<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><o:p></o:p>Most important limitations of mobile devices<o:p></o:p><span style=""><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><span style="">-<span style="font-size:7;"> </span></span></span><span dir="ltr"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">screen size, resolution (some web browsers in mobile devices attempt to fit content on the small screens but often these optimizations can distort the pages)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:times new roman;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><span style="">-<span style="font-size:7;"> </span></span></span><span dir="ltr"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">navigation: often having to use virtual keyboards or difficult to use buttons<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:times new roman;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><span style="">-<span style="font-size:7;"> </span></span></span><span dir="ltr"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">memory limitations may make them unable to handle large files<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:times new roman;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><span style="">-<span style="font-size:7;"> </span></span></span><span dir="ltr"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">lack of support for certain formats (e.g. some devices cannot read Word or PDF)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:times new roman;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><span style="">-<span style="font-size:7;"> </span></span></span><span dir="ltr"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">limited or no support for certain web features (e.g. Javascript, Java, Flash, Frames, Auto refresh, pop-up windows etc.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><o:p> </o:p><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mobile devices used in the testing:</span><o:p></o:p></span><br /><st1:place><st1:city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">Palm</span></st1:city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"> </span><st1:state><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">TX</span></st1:state></st1:place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"> (browser: Blazer)<o:p></o:p><br />Dell Axim X30 (browser: Pocket Internet Explorer)<o:p></o:p><br />Sony MYLO (browser: Opera)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><p:colorscheme colors="#FFFFFF,#000000,#808080,#000000,#BBE0E3,#333399,#009999,#99CC00"> </p:colorscheme></span></p><div shape="_x0000_s1026" class="O" style="font-family:times new roman;"> <div style=""><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvj_qd5wAzEuVc-cDfBHCT6K0cy8BL1tnIwrMFOSOnIep3bW2JN0dDycWXtHAKzV1MQsSAzC08ZvsfKcElgqUuFUrRePxPDNlde-Se9OR7oIIY96OT-GHHOyAZPrX8A3k8SooIlSrq5HNV/s1600-h/mobile+1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvj_qd5wAzEuVc-cDfBHCT6K0cy8BL1tnIwrMFOSOnIep3bW2JN0dDycWXtHAKzV1MQsSAzC08ZvsfKcElgqUuFUrRePxPDNlde-Se9OR7oIIY96OT-GHHOyAZPrX8A3k8SooIlSrq5HNV/s200/mobile+1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086783107208371714" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="FR-CA" style="font-size:11;"><o:p><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Potential Problems in view of </span></o:p></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="FR-CA" style="font-size:11;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">W3C recommendations</span></span></span><br /><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB92l3jUHBnNfhnVi-W6HoOtArirI3z5CL_xenJkZHq0qUpkW2WqxtcKsILVnRx7MdEmzxU5wW0JI02mAB3GFTXmnIrRan9byZuffjGz_o_HfNZmmcs_I00l7zxZfln2DZIESuAutZ_jEG/s1600-h/mobile+potentl.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB92l3jUHBnNfhnVi-W6HoOtArirI3z5CL_xenJkZHq0qUpkW2WqxtcKsILVnRx7MdEmzxU5wW0JI02mAB3GFTXmnIrRan9byZuffjGz_o_HfNZmmcs_I00l7zxZfln2DZIESuAutZ_jEG/s200/mobile+potentl.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086783111503339026" border="0" /></a></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="FR-CA" style="font-size:11;"><o:p><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What works and what does not</span><br /></o:p></span></span></div> </div> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZA5wPuUzzjlsn6GrzxjZY20cBlSC6OHhoK6oA6L2zcTTKyz_mYV5CKsKYOOJMUjNXzaWaLt2-EiyOFmQdPN8FJApcgQLxXgE2jK89_1OYBmsF3Y6uxuji7LUC15Upn9zeE6F2YR9c-OTj/s1600-h/what+works+1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZA5wPuUzzjlsn6GrzxjZY20cBlSC6OHhoK6oA6L2zcTTKyz_mYV5CKsKYOOJMUjNXzaWaLt2-EiyOFmQdPN8FJApcgQLxXgE2jK89_1OYBmsF3Y6uxuji7LUC15Upn9zeE6F2YR9c-OTj/s200/what+works+1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086783111503339042" border="0" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRyA5IQeJJDlIfFj3xwyj0jjvpbA5bPgxOciyNSd-YJDCskmqPrSMrkgIjishxc1fX7jkdS3J3ydMeuZ6r7ZOcCZbJ-Eb07o9BR-ipTrTCfMoXbi4hp7P8FjSu7DkggZSMl2nfcT4IxzJ-/s1600-h/what+works+2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRyA5IQeJJDlIfFj3xwyj0jjvpbA5bPgxOciyNSd-YJDCskmqPrSMrkgIjishxc1fX7jkdS3J3ydMeuZ6r7ZOcCZbJ-Eb07o9BR-ipTrTCfMoXbi4hp7P8FjSu7DkggZSMl2nfcT4IxzJ-/s200/what+works+2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086783111503339058" border="0" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQUUzHhuYu3_kQHGfnKHuDzOXD6lxamMYShqyshUYYrBucLUVyw28CtsmKY6BeGHji4n0A8S5Qk9YBfrWSnysm1_t3AOd8VH0MsI6QbmAOIa83_yx8G6nAHi6jf6aWle2g00N_dqiguom/s1600-h/what+works+3.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQUUzHhuYu3_kQHGfnKHuDzOXD6lxamMYShqyshUYYrBucLUVyw28CtsmKY6BeGHji4n0A8S5Qk9YBfrWSnysm1_t3AOd8VH0MsI6QbmAOIa83_yx8G6nAHi6jf6aWle2g00N_dqiguom/s200/what+works+3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086783120093273666" border="0" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">Intermediary Approaches (Proxies)<o:p></o:p><br />- can be used as a “service”<o:p></o:p><br />- burden of mobile friendliness is shifted from the software/web developer to a third party<o:p></o:p><br />- examples:<o:p></o:p><br />Google – <a href="http://www.google.com/gwt/n">http://www.google.com/gwt/n</a><o:p></o:p><br />Skweezer – <a href="http://www.skweezer.net/">http://www.skweezer.net</a><o:p></o:p><br />- but these are not perfect and not all problems can be solved this way<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><o:p></o:p>A possible approach using plug-in architecture<o:p></o:p><br />- “One Web” - different views<o:p></o:p><br />- requires a clear separation of presentation and application layers<o:p></o:p><br />- having mobile plug-ins for using OJS<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p face="times new roman" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><o:p></o:p>Future studies<o:p></o:p><br />- study involving real users to find out impract of mobile friendlyiness in the use of mobile devices in accessing articles in OJS<br />- where is balance between features and mobile friendliness<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p face="times new roman" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><o:p></o:p>Conclusions and suggestions<o:p></o:p><br />- strong separation of program logic from the presentation<o:p></o:p><br />- plug-in developers can develop plug-ins to detect mobile devices and serve pages optimized for mobile devices<o:p></o:p><br />- we cannot rely on the end users’ device to handle the page optimization<o:p></o:p><br />- provide support team for mobile OJS users<o:p></o:p><br />- OJS in its current form is near the unfriendly side on the spectrum of mobile friendliness<o:p><br /><br /></o:p></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">~ About the Presenters~<o:p></o:p></span></i><br /><span lang="FR-CA" style="font-size:11;"><a href="http://www.athabascau.ca/html/staff/admin/comp_ser/shubhash.htm"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Shubhash Wasti</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://www.lawrencepoon.net/about-me.aspx">Lawrence Poon’s CV (personal website)</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p face="times new roman" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;">~Related Links~<o:p></o:p></span></i><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone">W3C Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0: Basic Guidelines</a><o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone">Smartphone - Wikipedia</a><o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant">Personal digital assistants (PDAs) - Wikipedia</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>Lina@UBChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05227415717932502264noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-24358288389490694462007-07-13T12:27:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:31.053-08:00OJS – MP3 Article Usage: A pilot study<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rP0c92f1Ih4/RpfUD_qc3cI/AAAAAAAAAA8/EOvlA2bgVVc/s1600-h/DSCN2010.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rP0c92f1Ih4/RpfUD_qc3cI/AAAAAAAAAA8/EOvlA2bgVVc/s320/DSCN2010.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086767469232446914" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="FR-CA">Main Presenter:<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Kathy Killoh<br /></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US">(</span></i><st1:place><st1:city><i><span lang="EN-US">Athabasca University</span></i></st1:city><i><span lang="EN-US">, </span></i><st1:state><i><span lang="EN-US">Alberta</span></i></st1:state><i><span lang="EN-US">, </span></i><st1:country-region><i><span lang="EN-US">Canada</span></i></st1:country-region></st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US">)<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Other memebers of the team:<o:p></o:p><br />Paula Smith (</span></i><st1:place><st1:city><i><span lang="EN-US">Athabasca University</span></i></st1:city><i><span lang="EN-US">, </span></i><st1:state><i><span lang="EN-US">Alberta</span></i></st1:state><i><span lang="EN-US">, </span></i><st1:country-region><i><span lang="EN-US">Canada</span></i></st1:country-region></st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US">) - Absent<o:p></o:p><br />Shubhash Wasti (</span></i><st1:place><st1:city><i><span lang="EN-US">Athabasca University</span></i></st1:city><i><span lang="EN-US">, </span></i><st1:state><i><span lang="EN-US">Alberta</span></i></st1:state><i><span lang="EN-US">, </span></i><st1:country-region><i><span lang="EN-US">Canada</span></i></st1:country-region></st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US">)<o:p></o:p><br /></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><br />Presented on: </span></i><st1:date year="2007" day="13" month="7"><i><span lang="EN-US">July 13, 2007</span></i></st1:date><i><span lang="EN-US"> at </span></i><st1:time minute="0" hour="11"><i><span lang="EN-US">11am</span></i></st1:time><i><span lang="EN-US"> in SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room</span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p><br />~<a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=41">Click for abstract</a>~</span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></i></span> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="" lang="FR-CA">~Blogger’s Commentary~<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The pilot study on MP3 articles conducted at </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span lang="EN-US">Athabasca</span></st1:PlaceName><span lang="EN-US"> </span><st1:placetype><span lang="EN-US">University</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span lang="EN-US"> demonstrates what the meaning of “innovation” is. The idea behind this study is to allow access to academic articles in a format different from traditional formats (HTML or PDF), while using an audio format widely used in today’s society. MP3 articles provide a brand-new way of using academic material, and allow scholars to temporarily rest their tired eyes and work their ears a bit instead.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p><br />Kathy Killoh points out that much research still needs to be done on this topic, but this pilot study is certainly one of its kind and carries great implications in the larger scope of things. MP3 articles present a new possibility for accessing knowledge and thus help widen the circle of people who can take advantage of this possibility. For example, MP3 articles can be helpful for people with reading disabilities. Users of mobile technology can also easily listen to MP3 articles on the run. In short, MP3 articles exploit modern technology and open up new accessibility avenues. After all, and at the risk of sounding redundant, we must remind ourselves that accessibility makes up a major part of the spirit of Open Access.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p><br />We have been used to the idea of audio-books for quite some time now, and MP3 articles might also someday become as popular as PDF files when it comes to accessing academic journal articles. These days, almost everyone is listening to MP3s on the bus or subway, but perhaps next time when you ask your friends what they are listening to, instead of “some popular music artist”, the answer might be “I’m listening to John Willinsky’s newest article on open access.”<o:p></o:p></span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><br />~Summary of Presentation~</span></i><br />- A team of researchers from </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span lang="EN-US">Athabasca</span></st1:placename><span lang="EN-US"> </span><st1:placetype><span lang="EN-US">University</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"> conducted a study on the use of MP3 as a format for academic articles available for download <o:p></o:p><br />- MP3 articles are available for download on the <a href="http://www.irrodl.org/">IRRODL</a> web site <o:p></o:p><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><br />-IRRODL is an open access, peer reviewed e-journal that has been online since 2000</span><br />-IRRODL adopted OJS in 2005<br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">-IRRODL’s editorial scope is international, and the vision is to narrow the digital divide by providing rigorously peer reviewed ODL (Open and Distance Learning) literature using a variety of technologies</span><br />-since June 2006, IRRODL content has been available also in MP3 format<br />-this pilot study is to collect some data on how, when, where and why readers are using MP3 articles<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Selection of software: NeoSpeech Voice Text software<o:p></o:p><br />- issue of cost: for desktop use or for creating files to publish on the internet, this can create a big difference in pricing<br />- time it takes for conversion to MP3: 2 – 2.5 hours for 16 – 20 pg. articles<br />- editing for conversion:<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Remove: references, citations, end notes, tables, graphs, figures, charts, etc.<o:p></o:p><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Include: Front Matter, Coding for Heading pauses, table, image, chart descriptions<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Code in extra pauses to indicate a new paragraph<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">- conversion challenges:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Symbols (e.g. >, *, etc.) are not always recognized by the software<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Word tenses e.g. “red” to substitute past tense “read”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Brackets are ignored, need to code in a pause or a change in pitch <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 24pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Acronyms: software would sometimes spell it out or read it as one word)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR-CA" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">An online survey was also conducted by the MP3 research team, and selected portions of the results are included below:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Top 3 Geographic Origins of MP3 Downloads: 1) United States 2) Canada 3) United Kingdom</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">50% of respondents said they listened to MP3 articles on the PC/laptop, 41% on MP3 players<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">As for reasons why they listened to MP3 articles, responses ranged from "professional development", "education/study", "curiosity", "research", and others.</p><p class="MsoNormal">24% of respondents said they listened at home, 22% in the office, and 21% while commuting.</p><p class="MsoNormal">65% of respondents said they downloaded and listened to 1-2 articles.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Conclusions<br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p>- MP3 audio files are at the beginning of the “diffusion” curve (based on Everett Rogers’ Theory of Diffusion of Innovations)<o:p></o:p><br />- further research needs to be done <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR-CA" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR-CA" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR-CA" style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US">~About the Team~<o:p></o:p></span></i><br /><a href="http://www.athabascau.ca/html/staff/admin/kathyk.htm"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Kathy Killoh</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/rst.php?id=42&op=rst_author_bio">Paula Smith</a><o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://www.athabascau.ca/html/staff/admin/comp_ser/shubhash.htm">Shubhash Wasti</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US">~Related Links~<o:p></o:p></span></i><br /><a href="http://www.irrodl.org/">IRRODL</a> – International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>Lina@UBChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05227415717932502264noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-40912178110265032032007-07-13T12:15:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:31.198-08:00A Critical Theory of Library Technology: Libraries & Electronic Publishing<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjpnaLrzMZeJi2Me38BjdyiazHk0EPWsfZZhDyG0yvVk6QvT1B8zDOADSTfGW_v7Dm_oLO7bW6SbPNwJyUCCwr9jBTo2fOx1XqRjYBawlXj4V0H8QjT8ysdenxXSm0_noRMxLi1M03qlw8/s1600-h/PKP2007+001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjpnaLrzMZeJi2Me38BjdyiazHk0EPWsfZZhDyG0yvVk6QvT1B8zDOADSTfGW_v7Dm_oLO7bW6SbPNwJyUCCwr9jBTo2fOx1XqRjYBawlXj4V0H8QjT8ysdenxXSm0_noRMxLi1M03qlw8/s200/PKP2007+001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087905343013213906" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Presenter:</span> Ajit Pyati, Assistant Professor, <a href="http://www.fims.uwo.ca/">FIMS, University of Western Ontario</a><br />Friday, July 13, 2007<br />11:00 AM - 12:00 PM in SFUHC Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room<br /><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=56">Abstract</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Ajit Pyati has recently finished his PhD at UCLA’s Department of Information Studies and is now looking forward to teach at the University of Western Ontario. His research interests cover the following areas: international library development; information society and policy; and globalization, migration, and ICTs.</span><br /><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=78535&doc=a-critical-theory-of-library-technology-libraries-electronic-publishing4464" height="348" width="425"><param name="movie" value="https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=78535&doc=a-critical-theory-of-library-technology-libraries-electronic-publishing4464"></object><br /><br />Ajit Pyati examines the changing role of libraries, particularly academic libraries, in the era of electronic journals and institutional repositories. Using "critical theory of library technology" as the framework of study, he explores how democratization of technology affects libraries with regards to scholarly publishing.<br /><br />He started his presentation with a bit of background by touching on the notion of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_society">Information Society</a>. He explained that the proliferation of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology">Information and Communication Technology (ICT)</a> has created a new society – the information society. <a href="http://www.itu.int/wsis/index.html">The World Summit on Information Society</a> held by the United Nations has tried to connect the ideas of such information society to the development of countries. The issue falls under his research interest - in his Master's thesis, Ajit looked at how technology affects society, which in some cases marginalizes the society.<br /><br />Ajit views the so-called <span style="font-style: italic;">crisis in scholarly publication</span> in the context of the dominant information society vision. He observes that libraries are responding to the crisis in various ways:<br /><ul><li>cutting subscriptions</li><li>advocacy by <a href="http://www.ala.org/">ALA</a>, <a href="http://www.cla.ca/">CLA</a>, <a href="http://www.acrl.org/">ACRL</a>, <a href="http://www.ifla.org/">IFLA<br /></a></li><li>Open Access movements</li></ul><br />Within the Open Access Initiatives, several OA advocates such as <a href="http://openaccess.eprints.org/">Stevan Harnad</a>, <a href="http://www.earlham.edu/%7Epeters/hometoc.htm">Peter Suber</a>, and <a href="http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?tid=10611&ttype=2">John Willinsky</a>, have responded to the “crisis”.<br /><br />Ajit called for the need for the libraries’ response to draw upon social theories to understand library-based reaction to the crisis (OA advocacy). He maintained that democratic access to information is part of libraries’ ethics and values. The questions are how to extend this to the realm of technology in libraries and what does democratization mean to this realm.<br /><br />After explaining the critical theory underlying his study, he proceeded to apply the framework to the context of library technology. He questioned the levels of impact of various aspects in library technology as follows:<br /><ul><li>Are library technology actions progressive and democratic?</li><li>Are library technology actions participatory and community-oriented?</li><li>Are library technology actions open and collaborative?</li></ul><br />In the future, Ajit would like to see in depth, “test” cases of library-based OA advocacy. He’d also like to study broader library technology practices such as OA publishing, digital libraries, community archiving, content development, etc. He’s also interested to see how this framework can adapt and incorporate other relevant social theories and approaches.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Commentary</span></span><br /><br />Libraries are responding to the invitation from the <a href="http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml">Budapest Open Access Initiative</a> to join the open access movement, to become OA advocates. Ajit has asked us to think critically (in his case using the critical theory as the framework) about library-based OA advocacy, specifically in using library technology. His study is providing a solid base for libraries to take an active role in the development of scholarly publishing and to strategically focus their effort in the right direction.<br /><br />Links to OA advocacy from library organizations:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/woissues/copyrightb/openaccesstoresearch/accessresearch.cfm">ALA - Open Access to Research</a></li><li><a href="http://www.cla.ca/about/committees/openaccessmandate.html">CLA - Open Access Task Force Mandate</a></li><li><a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/scholarlycomm/scholarlycommunication.htm">ACRL - Scholarly Communication</a></li><li><a href="http://www.ifla.org/V/cdoc/open-access04.html">IFLA - Statement on Open Access to Scholarly Literature and Research Documentation</a></li></ul>Desy Wahyunihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04248805565279571274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-3783465365764661652007-07-13T12:00:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:31.336-08:00Survey of Librarian Attitudes about Open Access<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqUiPp0sJAXEgOx8woSGiG9iHuxFQyMc6922tZGab2nR6_hMlxRZKnqkZ8bRyGBGg1EekEoIOJxAFAcPiHAK4cHmFUqeYvZ7qYLt_GOhvj_U-Ku-DvgdtuI5yX0Rg0b_3nc2gqVtwpSSvY/s1600-h/PKP2007+003.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqUiPp0sJAXEgOx8woSGiG9iHuxFQyMc6922tZGab2nR6_hMlxRZKnqkZ8bRyGBGg1EekEoIOJxAFAcPiHAK4cHmFUqeYvZ7qYLt_GOhvj_U-Ku-DvgdtuI5yX0Rg0b_3nc2gqVtwpSSvY/s200/PKP2007+003.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5088571135958537970" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Presenters:</span><br />Emily Dill, Public Services Librarian, <a href="http://www.iupuc.edu/">Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus</a><br />Kristi Palmer, Bibliographic and Metadata Services Librarian, <a href="http://www.iupui.edu/">Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis</a><br />Friday, July 13, 2007<br />11:00 AM - 12:00 PM in SFUHC Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room<br /><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=28">Abstract</a><br /><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=79364&doc=survey-of-librarian-attitudes-about-open-access2275" width="425" height="348"><param name="movie" value="https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=79364&doc=survey-of-librarian-attitudes-about-open-access2275" /></object><br /><br />Emily Dill and Kristi Palmer presented the results of a survey sent out to US academic librarians on their attitudes about open access (using the short OA definition from <a href="http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/brief.htm">Peter Suber</a>). Of the 1300 questionnaires sent, they received 261 responses. The presentation slides above show the result of the survey.<br /><br />Their presentation touched on a very interesting topic, as the audience responded with enthusiastic questions at the end of the session. One noteworthy suggestion from the audience was to follow up the survey with a qualitative study to get a better picture of the situation.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Commentary<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />Library associations are responding to the invitation from the <a href="http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml">Budapest Open Access Initiative</a> to join the open access movement. An example is the <a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleasesbucket/acrlbeginsscholarly.htm">Association of College and Research Libraries’ Scholarly Communication Initiative</a>. At the same time, Emily and Kristi see the need to find out about how librarians, who are supposed to be at the front-line of the open access advocacy, actually feel about this. In this way, they are making a contribution to the library associations in gaining insight that would allow the organizations to tailor their effort for open access advocacy internally.Desy Wahyunihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04248805565279571274noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-53943031517232513742007-07-13T10:43:00.000-07:002008-10-06T12:39:08.147-07:00A Case Study of Online Publishing at CJC-Online: Experiences, Insights, and Considerations for AdoptionPresenters:<o:p></o:p><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Michael Felczak (</span></i><st1:place><st1:placetype><i><span lang="EN-US">School</span></i></st1:placetype><i><span lang="EN-US"> of </span></i><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US">Communication</span></i></st1:placename></st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US">, </span></i><st1:place><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US">Simon</span></i></st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US"> </span></i><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US">Fraser</span></i></st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US"> </span></i><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US">University</span></i></st1:placename></st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US">, </span></i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US">Canada</span></i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i><span lang="EN-US">)<o:p></o:p><br />Rowland Lorimer (Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing, </span></i><st1:place><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US">Simon</span></i></st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US"> </span></i><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US">Fraser</span></i></st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US"> </span></i><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US">University</span></i></st1:placename></st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US">, </span></i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US">Canada</span></i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i><span lang="EN-US">)<o:p></o:p><br />Richard Smith (</span></i><st1:place><st1:placetype><i><span lang="EN-US">School</span></i></st1:placetype><i><span lang="EN-US"> of </span></i><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US">Communication</span></i></st1:placename></st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US">, </span></i><st1:place><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US">Simon</span></i></st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US"> </span></i><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US">Fraser</span></i></st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US"> </span></i><st1:placename><i><span lang="EN-US">University</span></i></st1:placename></st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US">, </span></i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i><span lang="EN-US">Canada</span></i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i><span lang="EN-US">)<o:p></o:p></span></i><br /><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span><br /><i><span lang="EN-US">Presented on: </span></i><st1:date year="2007" day="13" month="7"><i><span lang="EN-US">July 13, 2007</span></i></st1:date><i><span lang="EN-US"> at </span></i><st1:time minute="40" hour="9"><i><span lang="EN-US">9:40am</span></i></st1:time><i><span lang="EN-US"> in SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span><i><span lang="EN-US">~<a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=32">Click for abstract</a>~<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US">~Blogger’s commentary~<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The CJC (Canadian Journal of Communications) experience is certainly worthy of note, in terms of its contribution of valuable insights into various issues related to scholarly online publishing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">First of all, in describing the motivation and early stages in moving CJC online, Richard Smith touches on the economics involved in scholarly publishing and sees online publishing as a way to deal with increasingly high prices of periodicals. Although we understand the incentive behind the publishers’ intent to protect their own economic interests, when journal costs become less and less affordable, educational institutions must seek alternatives to protect their own scholarly interests as well as the public’s intellectual rights to access knowledge. The CJC example contributes to increasing that accessibility to knowledge for every one of us, and perhaps also to decreasing just a little bit of that monopoly granted to publishers through copyright law.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Michael Felczak then relates the happy tale of moving all the CJC issues online, as well as the challenge of writing a custom code within the OJS framework. Fortunately, through collaborative efforts, both tasks were accomplished. Currently, everyone with an internet connection can access all of CJC’s issues, and their custom code is in itself a commendable contribution to the Open Access movement, since their code can also be of use to other journals requiring similar functionalities for the system.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Finally, Rowland Lorimer mentions the possibility of cooperation between the commercial sector and the public sphere. These two can attempt to balance the interests of each sphere by working together, so that the tragedy of the commons as well as that of the anti-commons can be avoided. Rowland Lorimer also recognizes the importance of looking at access models and market realities in publishing today. Various access models are out there today, whether it be delayed open access or partial open access, and this diversity only means that the innovation or creativity element is significant in the expansion of Open Access. As we cannot ignore the realities of the publishing industry, the non-profit or academic sector must find innovative solutions to achieve the aim of making knowledge public, while finding workable ways around the legal, economic, moral and epistemological issues.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US">~Summary of Presentation~<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US">1) Motivation, First Steps, Early Challenges (Richard Smith)<br />- interested in online publishing because of curiosity, desire to find an alternative (to continually rising serials pricing), extendability (i.e. new options for delivery) and possibility<br />- DIY online publishing: first steps involved converting SGML to HTML but this was not a sustainable method because it required a lot of manual work, and conversion routes were never reliable<br />- the team found a community alternative in PKP/OJS<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US">2) Transition to and Participation with OJS (Michael Felczak)<o:p></o:p><br />- moved to OJS in February 2004<br />- at time of import, 12 volumes online (1993-2003), with 3-4 issues in each volume<br />- OJS import tool requires XML description of volumes/issues/articles: fortunately this info was already in the database, making it so much easier to export data into XML format and begin using OJS<br />- within a year, back issues vol. 1-15 (1974-1990) were scanned, with help from SFU library (scanning into PDF format)<br />- today, all back issues are online and open access (currently Vol 31)<o:p></o:p><br />- some functionalities were missing at the time, but custom code was later written within the <span style=""> </span>OJS framework. These functionalities included:<br />a) enter individual or institutional online subscriptions;<br />b) post announcements to keep in touch with readership;<br />c) allow graduate students to submit thesis abstracts<br />- custom code can also benefit community/journals with similar needs <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US">3) From Production to Publishing (Rowland Lorimer)<o:p></o:p><br />- production is not the same as publishing; production is the foundation for publishing<o:p></o:p><br />- non-profit publishing model: emphasis on the scholarly record, with peer review as essential element</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US">Example: <i>Nature</i><br />- has an editorial identity, an existence beyond simply the summation of its articles<br />- has a publishing vision: how the journal is presented to the world, such as what is presented on the cover, giving it a “planned public face”<br />- important to look at market realities, which is another word for your “readership”, so it is essential to think about the market and how you present yourself to your readers</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US">Issues to consider in Online Journal Publishing<br />- human resources: cannot depend only on one person to ensure things run smoothly<br />- infrastructure: server farms are more reliable than one single server<br />- enriched production: once the journal is online, it is possible to add other forms of media (such as sound, video, etc.)<br />- looking at access models & publishing realities</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US">We can also consider strategic cooperatives for online knowledge dissemination through the libraries, editors, and even through commercial sectors where they are people interested in cooperating with the non-profit sector.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US">Online Public Knowledge Infrastructure<o:p></o:p><br />- authors and journal producers and publishers<o:p></o:p><br />- journal repositories and provisioners: library systems and library acquisitions<br />- aggregation and metacontent: tools and marketing e.g. Synergies)<br />- emergent: a Public Knowledge Infrastructure<br />- coda: from patents to copyright, as there is much valuble intellectual property that we want to keep in the public domain through public sector cooperatives<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US">~Info on the Presenters~<o:p></o:p></span></i><br /><span style="" lang="FR-CA"><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/rst.php?id=32&op=rst_author_bio">Profile: Michael Felczak, Rowland Lorimer, Richard Smith</a><o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://www.actlab.org/?page_id=24"><span style="" lang="EN-US">ACT Lab » Michael Felczak</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://arago.cprost.sfu.ca/smith">studies in technology & society – Richard Smith</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span lang="EN-US">~Related Links~<o:p></o:p></span></i><br /><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.cjc-online.ca/"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC)</span></a><o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://www.cmns.sfu.ca/">School of Communication, Simon Fraser University</a></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p><br /><a href="http://www.ccsp.sfu.ca/index.html">Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing, Simon Fraser University</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span style="" lang="FR-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>Lina@UBChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05227415717932502264noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-24451908329468554422007-07-13T09:40:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:31.638-08:00Scholarly communication, open access, and the granularity issue<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglCbdtvtMr3TmnWgIrXXpCz6gNaXSz9oAx7mEj0aDqAXmM-nTWci0yIvahRHJdcbLuhJq3s76Z1uofwxwDVGexibEJRXErbHQwcjJOjDSv-QR2K1vdOCju5HfZLPfjF8P3s5p0z3orN54/s1600-h/DSC00602.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086770017511195970" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglCbdtvtMr3TmnWgIrXXpCz6gNaXSz9oAx7mEj0aDqAXmM-nTWci0yIvahRHJdcbLuhJq3s76Z1uofwxwDVGexibEJRXErbHQwcjJOjDSv-QR2K1vdOCju5HfZLPfjF8P3s5p0z3orN54/s320/DSC00602.JPG" border="0" /></a><strong>Presenter</strong>: <a href="http://www.littco.umontreal.ca/personnel/guedon_j-c.htm">Jean-Claude Guédon</a> – <a href="http://www.umontreal.ca/">Université de Montréal</a><br /><strong>Time</strong>: July 13 2007 at 9:40 – 10:40am<br /><strong>Location</strong>: SFU Harbour Centre Fletcher Challenge Theatre – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.<br /><br />Jean-Claude Guédon, professor at the University of Montreal, is a key figure in the Open Access movement. He is the founder of the first Canadian scholarly e-journal, (<a href="http://www.pum.umontreal.ca/revues/surfaces/home.html">Surfaces</a>), steering committee member and Chair of the advisory board of the Canadian National Site License Project (SNSLP), and one of the first signatures on the Budapest Open Access Initiative (<a href="http://www.soros.org/openaccess/">BOAI</a>). For further information of M. Guédon’s accomplishments, please refer to his university profile (in French).<br /><br />During his presentation at the Public Knowledge Project conference 2007, M. Guédon spoke to the audience about the process of knowledge production, storage and dissemination, from the Antiquity to present day. A quick history lesson on how <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen">Origen</a> revolutionized the way text was organized, read and analyzed shows us that the digitization of our scholarly communications is also taking our own production, storage and dissemination of knowledge towards new directions.<br /><br />As we move in these new directions, we must not only concentrate on the technical and organizational means of publishing online, but also consider wider implications accompanying this movement. M. Guédon has aptly recognized that while there are systems available to allow for Open Access, such as OJS, anything beyond accessing the information will lead to new forms of knowledge, new kinds of questions, new possibilities for the answers. For example, while reading an article in a print journal or an article in an electronic journal, you see an error. Can you change it? No, not easily, short of writing your own correction because the present system is too rigid, too unwieldy to permit such small-scale, yet potentially crucial interventions. To make the proper corrections, one would have to republish and perhaps even go through the publisher if it is in print. The communication process is therefore limited or blocked.<br /><br />There is a second type of difficulty: the present system of scholarly publishing relies more on a credential system and a co-operative system rather than on the intrinsic quality of individual intelligence and the excellence of the submitted text. One does not enter scientific or scholarly territories without showing the right kinds of references - diplomas, titles, names of institutions, etc. As a result, the scientific and scholarly enterprises work as a two-tier system where the authorized write and read and the others do not write and often cannot read because of economic barriers, such as high subscription prices and lack of affiliation to the right library).<br /><br />To address these obstacles, M. Guédon touches on the granularity issue. The article is not the only possible model to contribute to scholarly or scientific research. This is even truer of the monograph in the humanities and, in fact, the article has superseded the monograph in most disciplines. He suggests that knowledge should be regarded as a conversation. People should freely be able to contribute to it. In the scientific community for example, moving closer to a wikipedia model could be the way of the future as knowledge would be made available to everyone; it can be created together, modified on a global scale, improved upon, and so forth. However, the argument of quality comes to mind. He counters that the present criteria for quality inherently rest on a hierarchical vision of society. When excellence is sought, the greater the number of minds involved, the greater the quality of the work done: the case of free software and some recent analyses of Wikipedia confirm this general rule. The greater the numbers of people involved in an issue, the better the answers are crafted. Consequently, the lines that separate the experts from the rest of society should be erased. We will always have experts in various fields, but to limit contributions to knowledge as a whole to experts only is to deprive all of humanity of its enormous potential for distributed intelligence.<br /><br />As a consequence of all this, Open Access is not limited to increasing availability or access, although it certainly aims at achieving these goals; it also corresponds to the relocation, repositioning, and redefinition of what knowledge is, what it means and how it is generated, governed and steered. Asking questions is no longer limited to those in the field with the right credentials; questions from the general public can then be addressed if they are allowed to the information. We presently have the means, but we must move towards involving the global community in our closed expert fields and thus recreate a true "<a href="http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/factover/ch7.htm">Republic of science</a>". Conversely, only with open access can we hope to come closer to this goal.Vickihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16360729808429886870noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-61890847903678760402007-07-13T07:52:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:33.292-08:00Tony & the Hegemones<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBtwaE3F-ntM2-ksQXVWPTRREGDcbBYfqL6Poyr8ZBnOH0B1tHSOedCHIPTUgVxMW_AZylWy3AUjxq9snjAsYlZnUdHRxytZZ0B4ceEN7oKD4ShiVMPgO-cqIya6S8jQ3yq9OachAqrpA/s1600-h/IMG_0387.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086694893536753554" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBtwaE3F-ntM2-ksQXVWPTRREGDcbBYfqL6Poyr8ZBnOH0B1tHSOedCHIPTUgVxMW_AZylWy3AUjxq9snjAsYlZnUdHRxytZZ0B4ceEN7oKD4ShiVMPgO-cqIya6S8jQ3yq9OachAqrpA/s400/IMG_0387.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div align="center">John Willinsky and <span style="color:#cc0000;">Tony & the Hegemones</span> hit it up in style last night at the Segal Centre in Vancouver to much delight of the crowd.</div><div></div><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086696435430012882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsGZasdIH2lxm_33ibKvyG1fOZw7Zjr07dq8HIYEFrlshsLAuhyhyphenhyphenxluphFKkjh8t2z-UWghnkg74wxJTLM4PVNPWPnExz9t5IgehWCYLlNNoSYgnkRne2ZiHnDDjxXXi4UHsbP6PEUZ6H/s400/IMG_0391.jpg" border="0" /> <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086698797662025762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho6Y6aeRAWHQQCUoH_a_IJHrJcZJCx_BeQWkehVvRvbDpYcwvAW7mFszpsaQr4451V1oweG-u8qftA7M5nNT180XZMKuKqALcElNxckjBzI95IURNVu_RQ_dXhNVvo-aS5GYpGyZ7N9xdK/s400/IMG_0393.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086698256496146450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixYI4uIyOjnvgUUBAyuySOVbNFR839KmONG6Rgv6j6dHI1u_dFRFrH6W1cyouv0oyamtniel-CTNw4ufurit4tmr6eV8xwTROPsrPG_p4ZHux1vQw33bXNlOKFGqy6eOkrJ8ARt5yt5acf/s400/IMG_0389.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUA8-cw4PfuBVxAjv7qg8QDdtsX83lODmN_u1he8aha5qPmrAe2JOCXPjed6MZkSZjLqSAxuoYJTX_K_wChAecQIqWBW19BLIu2Z7LYuTU-SX7js3bEYV1zx7e-zg9SizIsdQ-rYmXoSm/s1600-h/IMG_0390.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUnarYZpfM4PCV6pwAotYWNmNi8AVoPwSPFOaT9ptXBKTX2ttgvbp0ozBdu2qToK-tgQBYHLJe-wQtXlelrVoiwoY-I9hQOadxm5GZMNz8FRQALr5nJMdGxGX5f9cOFDJtQkuXu6__CcrS/s1600-h/IMG_0389.JPG"></a>Marianahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11020041204335751937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-66542399461244211982007-07-12T23:08:00.001-07:002007-07-17T09:51:43.044-07:00“Creating Scholarly Communities and Fostering Innovation”<strong>Presenter:</strong> <a href="mailto:Gregg_Gordon@SSRN.Com"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Gregg Gordon</span></a><span style="color:#33ccff;">,</span> Social Science Electronic Publishing<br /><strong>Time:</strong> 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM July 13, 2007. <strong>Place:</strong> SFUHC Bank of Nova Scotia Lecture Room<br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=61"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Abstract:</span></a><br /><em></em><br />Gregg Gordon is one of the founders, the President and acting CEO of the <a href="http://www.ssrn.com/"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Social Science Research Network </span></a>. The concept behind this for-profit company is to provide an efficient means to distribute scholarly research; SSNR is funded by Greg Gordon and a small group of scholars. Their motto - <em>Tomorrow’s Research Today, drives what we do every day.</em><br /><br />As Gregg Gordon reveals, the focus of the SSRN is generally social science, but, as other presenters have suggested over the course of the conference, there is a noticable rise in demand and participation from the humanities field. As an incorporated network since 1994, SSRN's vision was to create a format where scholars could share and distribute their research on a global scale before their papers worked through journal refereeing and publication processes. As the goal is to maintain the the lowest cost for both authors and readers, SSRN boasts a hybrid model, offering free articles and abstracts, as well as pay for view full text articles.<br /><br />SSRN holds a number of specialized research networks in each of the social sciences, as well as an e-library featuring an abstracts data base and full text papers. Subscribers can change their profiles to access journals in different domains. The presenter reports that with the current technology, SSRN can create an E-journal in a few days, as they have a large data bank to draw from. At present the network is being accessed at 1 million hits per month.<br /><br /><strong>What does the future of publishing look like?</strong><br />Certainly electronic access is key. Gregg Gordon maintains the future is in building relationships, and suggests that on-line publishers may be a more sustainable option that depending on university repositories or foundational funding - pointing to issues around the fleeting nature of funding, especially when certain research topics go out of vogue.<br /><br />He sees that change in scholarly publishing is upon us now and new models are inevitable; as traditional publishers see their authority is diminishing, the need for collaboration and innovation is on the rise. What this means is that publishers need to respond and quckly.<br />The presenter revealed that every 22 years the number of scholarly journals will double -meaning scarcity of resources is no longer an issue - and as on-line options are increasing, the number of journals will surely rise. This brings the question of having the right tools to deal with the volume of data and conduct research efficiently. As researchers are looking at data and articles from different disciplines, this cross pollination means that authors' work may be accessed with an increasingly interdisciplinary approach; how the work is stored and archived can create issues in both indexing and accessibility.<br /><br />The presenter reflects on the notion that we have moved from scarcity to abundance and this put demands on the reposititories and on the users. He posits that having too much information is not always a good thing, especially if the tools with which to sort or sift through that information lack the necessary innovative and intuitive features today's users are demanding. Increased access and information require sophisticate tools to facilitate effective navigation and research. Google is a solid example of moving from a fairly simple search framework to one that offers many efficient features designed to refine the ease and usefulness of searching on-line. SSRN works closely with Google with regard to indexing the e-library content.<br /><br />While we may not be able to predict how traditional publishing will change, it is clear that the need is there. The presenter notes that traditional publishing is slowing innovation and damning up the flow of resources. As innovation is key, Gregg Gordon says we can "create more by being exposed to more." However, he cautions against the potential issues of on-line commons or peer based review process, as identity can not always be proved. As he speaks to the idea that new models will need to be considered, it brings the discussion back to the theme of how authority is both challenged and created.<br /><br /><strong>How will authority be established?<br /></strong>Social networking is certainly a step in building community and establishing authority. The presenter brought us to the current popularity of self-publishing - anyone can create content via facebook, flicr and youtube. This represents a response from the public in wanting to establish voice and community. While this is creative, the presenter reminds us that in the scholarly community, authors and publishers face issues of credibility. SSRN also wants to focus on communities and bringing different scholarly groups together, but there needs to be clear standards and those standards need to be upheld by the community. He cites the example of a professor telling students to download his article (presumably to increase his impact factor) and the chaos that ensued. It is important to keep in mind that in SSRN, multiple downloads from one person or machine, like a search engine, do not count.<br /><br />With increased communication and open access, connections are becoming easier to create and those collaborations and partnerships help to foster innovation and establish trust. Greg Gordon maintains that building connections and trust is how authority is earned.<br /><br />The presenter left some intriguing questions for the audience to consider with regard to current publsihing models and platforms. As they stand today, are our journals are sustainable? Are the journals seen as a voice of authority? Do the platforms provide the necessary support for a sustainable presence? Does the software and search features speak to digital natives or to digital immigrants?<br /><br /><strong>Reflections:</strong><br />Gregg Gordon reveals how the publishing world is responding to the demand for change and the right to knowledge. Keeping current in the new publishing model, SSRN allows authors to retain copyright of materials and they are free to remove their papers or publish elsewhere at any time; authors may also grant reuse rights through a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Creative Commons</span></a> licence or a similar license embedded in an electronic file. Clearly, this publishing option has taken authors' incentives into consideration, including <a href="http://opcit.eprints.org/oacitation-biblio.html"><span style="color:#33ccff;">impact</span></a> factor, citation tracking and intellectual property rights. As this is another example of combining both open access articles and pay for view, we are reminded of the need to address both the indirect and the direct economic models in the publishing world. <a href="http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm"><span style="color:#33ccff;">Open access models</span> </a>vary in degree as do publishers in how they structure their models. As on-line access can result in higher visibility and therefore, increased impact or citation reference, the scholarly community needs to consider future methods. The presenter articulated the demise of the artiface of scarcity, as access to information reaches epic proportions; increased resources and access will generate specialized options for users and publishers. The SSRN model offers a different service in that working papers are available and visible, thereby offering upcoming authors the opportunity to participate and present their work in a reliable, respected forum.Valerie Hodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585579750641287408noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-65797430436399804392007-07-12T21:15:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:33.874-08:00SELF: a collaborative platform to share and create free contents about free software and open standards<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsZfw1zCrVATVLpGBtRoZX_ck7dPaYn8APfHd1-ytWrjp9deCNPleXYnvIa1GEMlKH-s6qXci69U_7HuPAXoeAwkKFMv4wvewKHq52vwXVhvE42zG3No_rRa4Jsk5BLpY7CqSN94q604/s1600-h/David+Megias"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087992015698127890" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsZfw1zCrVATVLpGBtRoZX_ck7dPaYn8APfHd1-ytWrjp9deCNPleXYnvIa1GEMlKH-s6qXci69U_7HuPAXoeAwkKFMv4wvewKHq52vwXVhvE42zG3No_rRa4Jsk5BLpY7CqSN94q604/s200/David+Megias" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div><div><div><div>Presenter: <a href="http://www.uoc.edu/directoria/servlet/org.uoc.directori.servlets.SearchFitxes?id=55&opType=2&path=teacherstaff&lang=eng">David Megias</a>, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain</div><div>Paper Co-authors: <a href="http://www.coyote.org/">Jonas Oberg</a>, <a href="http://isoc.nl/SELF/kickoff/keynote_speakers.html">Wouter Tebbens</a>, <a href="http://www.uoc.edu/directoria/servlet/org.uoc.directori.servlets.SearchFitxes?id=76&opType=2&path=teacherstaff&lang=eng">Rafael Macau</a> </div><div><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/">PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference</a></div><div align="left">Thursday, July 12, 2007</div><div align="left">11:00 AM - 12:00 PM in SFUHC Sauder </div><div align="left">Vancouver, Canada</div><div align="left"><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=46">Abstract</a></div><br /><div>David Megias is a lecturer at the UOC (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) with a permanent position. Since October 2002, he has been the co-director of the International Master Program in Free Software offered at the UOC. His teaching activities are mostly related to free and open source software and he has participated in forums and conferences concerned within this field.<br /></div><br /><div>The presentation was based on the paper <em><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewpaper.php?id=46">SELF: a collaborative platform to share and create free content about free software and open standards</a></em>, co-written by the presenter and the three co-authors listed above. SELF stands for Science, Education, and Learning in Freedom. The SELF tag-line is “Be Selfish: share your knowledge.” SELF aims to increase economic and technological development in the European Union and other areas through the advanced implementation of Free Software and Open Standards in science and education. The project has been funded with 1, 000, 000 Euros by the 6th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Commission.<br /><br /><strong>1. Introduction<br /></strong>Free Software and about Open Standards were defined.<br />Free Software allows (the points are numbered from zero to three): 0. The freedom to run the programme in any place for any purpose, forever; 1. The freedom to study how the programme works and adapt it to your needs (which requires access to the source code); 2. The freedom to make and redistribute copies of the program to other people and groups; 3. The freedom to improve the programme, and release improved versions.<br /><br />Open Standards include: 1. A published specification of the document format and no limitations on its use; 2. Allows interoperability, or a capacity for the information and communication systems to share data and knowledge; 3. Allows retrieval of information at any time; 4. Open Standards can be used by vendors and developers to avoid monopolies and single application lock-ins.<br /><br />The pitfalls of proprietary software were highlighted with the case of Word Perfect. When the software was discontinued, many people lost information stored in Word Perfect formats. Open Standards software examples are: HTML (W3C) and OpenDocument Format (OASIS).<br /><br />The SELF project itself was then introduced by the presenter.<br />SELF is as a repository of materials (Learning Objects) stored using Open Standards (or semi-open standards). The materials can be organized in a complex hierarchical way. Complex hierarchical structures may be created through combining Learning Objects in whatever way is needed. To allow for the universal creation of hierarchies, XML-based formats are used to define Learning Objects’ Metadata. To further increase universal access, different standards may be used through the import/export feature of SELF, such as LOM, SCORM, and IMS Learning Data.<br /><br />SELF aims to build a knowledge base about Free Software and Open Standards, for teaching, learning and training. SELF is multi-lingual and free. SELF also has a production facility to develop new, standard-compliant, quality assured materials. There are seven international participants in the SELF consortium: The Internet Society of Netherlands (ISOC.NL), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), University of Gothenburg (UG), Internet Society Bulgaria (ISOC.BG), Fundación Vía Libre (CIPSGA) and Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), which are settled in Holland, Spain, Europe, Sweden, Bulgaria, Argentina and India, respectively.<br /><br /><strong>2. State of the Art<br /></strong>Currently, free software is not widely developed because of a lack of awareness about the existence of free software, a perceived lack of technical support, a lack of qualified teachers (which encourages the use of proprietary software), and a lack of training and educational materials about free software.<br /><br />SELF is combining the strengths of existing open-concept educational platforms, which tend to have only fragments concerning Free Software and Open Standards, into one centralized and standardized platform for information about Free Software and Open Standards. Some existing platforms include <a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/">Wikipedia</a>/<a href="http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Main_Page">Wikiversity</a>, <a href="http://tldp.org/">TLDP</a>, <a href="http://www.linupedia.org/">Linupedia</a>, and <a href="http://edukalibre.org/">Edukalibre</a>; note that none of these is dedicated to promoting Free Software and Open Standards.<br /><br />SELF’s general objectives are to bring together universities, governments, and other instituations and organizations; to centralize, transmit and encourage Free Software and Open Standards; and to raise awareness about these topics to contribute to a critical mass about Free Software and Open Standards.<br /><br />SELF’s specific objectives are to research state of the art of education and training around Free Software to detect gaps; create an open platform about these topics; develop educational and training materials; and make SELF self-sustainable by forming an active and involved community.<br /><br /><strong>3. SELF Free Materials and Production Cycle<br /></strong>SELF provides two types of materials: 1. General information on Free Software for non-technical users, and 2. Education and training programmes related to Free Software. These materials are both harvested from previous sources and newly created.<br /><br />SELF targets educational institutions (from grade schools to universities), training organizations, and local and national governments.<br /><br />The SELF production cycle basically runs as follows: Stage 1 Harvesting, Stage 2 Adaptation or Production of Content, Stage 3 Revision and Quality Control, Stage 4 Conversion to Stable End Product. See a detailed diagram of the production cycle on page 5 of the <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewpaper.php?id=46">paper</a>.<br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087992526799236130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHOmsrGT3qXegTQdAl8zkAjFFXyRStmYaUtBMdmIrNFXrH1mAEl4s4thGJXNX8qOwRtqcN1Nvro-WyNzDN9N6iaMxRH98bc0S2pzWbkqhuwVRhfh8cfMvoMXoIhrav6hHxGl1FQX1Fpo/s400/SELF+production+cycle.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><div>4. Development Roadmap<br /><br />SELF started July 2006, and will finish July 2008. Please see page 6 of the <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewpaper.php?id=46">paper</a> for a timeline/flow chart of the project. The project is currently on Step 6, the Pilot Platform in English. In a few weeks, they will be on Step 9, Q & A Mechanisms and Checks, and in September, 2007, they will be on Step 10, the International Launch. </div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087992758727470130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJFrueW7JypS_kRExQDCgbcBT4cI56nFOQqOQHo95HnT6ikROkbNVX485WYgC1l1U9MmTLZ4xDyMZCcFNuW5o4w7hazm0ZZpG5kEi0OehBRMmdBQ11CBoC-QnB9INXrimFIh_QMIDz6Zg/s400/SELF+development+roadmap.jpg" border="0" /> <div>5. Platform design<br /><br />SELF is different because of certain aspects of its authoring model, such as: 1. Low-effort contributions-easy registration; 2. easily identifiable authors of each Learning Object; 3. rating of each Learning Object by other users; 4. the ability to comment on Learning Objects and edit the objects directly; 5. the formation of groups of interestd people around each Learning Object.<br /><br />SELF uses an authoring reputation index, a point system based on: 1. author’s contribution ratio (contribution compared to size of the learning project); 2. accepted contribution ratio (acceptance of user’s contributions relative to his/her overall contributions); 3. harvester’s credit : extra points as incentive for help harvesting materials; 4 contribution to quality (improving quality results in points); 5. density of involvement (points for sustained/regular contributions); 6. expertise in specific area (your expertise in relation to others using similar project).<br /><br />6. Summary conclusion<br /><br />Although dissemination and adoption of Free Software and Open Standards is an objective of the European Commission, no existing project provides freely accessible training and learning materials. SELF fills in this gap by facilitating a platform for the collaborative production and sharing of these materials. SELF is open to all educators and anyone else who is interested. The status, rating, and usage of SELF’s Learning Objects is clearly marked. Free licenses (copyleft) are used by SELF. All are invited to join the SELF community.<br /><br />David Megias ended by announcing the upcoming <a href="http://www.fkft.eu/">Free Knowledge Free Technology Conference </a>in 2008 in Barcelona, Spain.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>Full Text Paper: <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewpaper.php?id=46">SELF: a collaborative platform to share and create free content about free software and open standards</a> </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"><a href="http://selfproject.eu/">SELF Project Website</a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"><strong>Commentary (by blogger)</strong></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left">SELF is developing, and will soon be internationally launching, free, accessible, non-proprietary, and innovative software for education and learning around the benefits and uses of Free Software and Open Standards. The project is based in values such as openness, transparency, collaboration, and sharing. The project uses these values as the basis for creating software (in the model of Wikipedia) that furthers these very values in a tangible way, by spreading knowledge and education about the wide and varied Free Software available for all sorts of uses, and the importance of Open Standards. Further, the software’s intention is to spread this knowledge to educators in all fields and at all levels, which means that it indirectly fosters and promotes its foundational values to learning institutions and students all over the world. SELF gets big points for access because of this snowballing effect in disseminating the information, wherein the software development is founded in values that transfer to initial software users, and from software users to a wider community who may know little or nothing about Free Software and Open Standards.<br /><br />SELF is aware of and uses the strengths of open access information and open source software—namely, the ability to have communities of people who contribute in a collaborative way to increasing and improving the resource. Also, SELF wants its software to be useable by other organizations for whatever purpose they would like, in cooperation with whatever other software they would like to use. SELF’s Open Standards philosophy makes their software free of proprietary hedges and leaves their software open and available for any and all innovations that might be dreamed up by users or other software developers. SELF shows its dedication to its foundational philosophy with its point system, a ranking of users based, among other things, on contribution to the quality of the software and for “harvesting” other free software components that might help improve the SELF community.<br /><br />SELF appears to have high standards for quality of knowledge at the same time that it espouses an open access concept. It has two highly democratic main checks to ensure quality knowledge: review by the community itself, and the point system, which is basically a means of representing “reputation” numerically. Points are awarded not only based on quantity of contribution, but more importantly on quality. Judging the quality of a contribution would appear quite difficult to do in an open access model; however, the SELF project appears confident in the ability of random and open peer review to deal with erroneous information. The point system appears as though it will help maintain this balance between openness and quality information because of the “reputation” factor that will be represented numerically. It will be transparently to all users whether a given contributor’s ideas have been widely accepted in the past, or highly contested and rejected.<br /><br />It should be noted that, although SELF is Free Software created under an Open Standards philosophy, SELF has not been developed for free. It has been funded with 1, 000, 000 Euros. However, from the presentation it appears the SELF may have required funding to get started, but that it has many strategies to keep a self-sustaining, cost-free community in place and thriving.</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"></div></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-26305401620601340752007-07-12T19:21:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:34.220-08:00New publishing models for scholarly communication and the Brazilian open access policy<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMiDbdQx6_0g5H_dEmccWZyacKm0LOPnfYmktQaDPyJom3BY1IY-wFSanW7acZgXqR10RFkUCSXaFmTBHuw2OaBpzE7CtFoBKKfCXxeA_SK1mc4L5EIx48NgzkoDbIhkz3VBZ-tvJOHss/s1600-h/Sely+Costa.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086513219803409378" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMiDbdQx6_0g5H_dEmccWZyacKm0LOPnfYmktQaDPyJom3BY1IY-wFSanW7acZgXqR10RFkUCSXaFmTBHuw2OaBpzE7CtFoBKKfCXxeA_SK1mc4L5EIx48NgzkoDbIhkz3VBZ-tvJOHss/s200/Sely+Costa.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Presenter: Sely M. Costa<br />Partner: <a href="http://blogdokura.blogspot.com/2006_12_31_archive.html">Helio Kuramoto</a><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/">PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference<br /></a>Thursday, July 12, 2007<br />2:55 PM - 3:55 PM in SFUHC<br />Westcoast Energy Executive Meeting Room<br />Vancouver, Canada<br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=68">Abstract</a><br /><br /><br /><br />Sely Costa is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Brasilia and can be reached at <a href="mailto:selmar@unb.br">selmar@unb.br</a>.<br /><br />The presentation was based on a study of Brazilian online journals using <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ojs">Open Journal Systems (OJS)</a> and of Brazilian open access policies. The idea behind the study was to ask if, using open software, it is possible to implement both the “green road” and the “golden road” in scholarly publishing in Brazil? The “green road” relates to open self-archiving policies, through such resources as <a href="http://www.dspace.org/">Dspace</a> and <a href="http://www.eprints.org/">Eprints</a>. The “golden road” relates to open access publishing, through such resources as <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ojs">Open Journal Systems (OJS)</a> and <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ocs">Open Conference Systems (OCS)</a>.<br /><br /><strong>Theoretical Framework</strong><br />The high prices of journal subscriptions required by prestigious publishers have produced a journal crisis, the result of which has been the bourgeoning new and varied business models for scholarly journals, including open archiving and open access models.<br /><br />The conventional process of journal publishing is not changing outright because of open access, but a number of patterns in the process are revealed, and questions arise when we talk about open access. Each stage of the conventional process has been called into question by the open access movement, because of new business models. It is unlikely that every journal will become open access, nor is the journal the only communication medium for scholarly communities.<br /><br /><strong>Methodological Procedures and Data</strong><br />The study performed an analysis of documents, and used both a quantitative and a qualitative approach. It studied 207 scholarly, open access, OJS journals in Brazil, and the <a href="http://www.ibict.br/">Instituto Brasileiro de Informacao em Ciencia e Tecnologia’s (Ibict)</a> Open Access information policies.<br /><br />OJS journals created per year in Brazil:<br />In 2004, there were 28 OJS journals created.<br />In 2005, there were 42.<br />In 2006, there were 71.<br />In 2007 (the 1st semester only), there were 66.<br />The total OJS journals in Brazil as of the end of the study was 207, although Kuramoto (the partner mentioned at the beginning of this blog) told Sely Costa by phone that today, on July 12, 2007, the number has become 230.<br /><br />The way that OJS journals caught on in Brazil was that, in 2004 John Willinsky presented at a conference. Kuramoto was there and he decided to carry out OJS initiatives in Brazil.<br /><br />OJS journals in Brazil by discipline:<br />Science, Technology, Medicine: 62<br />Social Sciences: 54<br />Arts and Humanities: 53<br />Multidisciplinary: 38<br />Total: 207<br /><br />OJS journals in Brazil by geographic region:<br />North: 5<br />Northeast: 20<br />South: 82<br />Southeast: 83<br />MiddleWest: 17 (Sely Costa’s region)<br /><br /><strong>What is being Done in Brazil in the Open Access Movement</strong><br />-Carrying out technology prospective studies<br />-Customizing software (OJS, OCS, Eprints, Dspace, NDLTD)<br />-Training people (640 people, at 189 institutions)<br />-Translating/transferring technology (SEET, SOAC (OCS in Portuguese), Institutional Repositories at universities)<br />-Building portals (data and service providers, such as BDTD; Oasis.br)<br />-Sensitizing the scholarly community and policy makers to the issues and benefits of Open Access (for example, Sely Costa has run two international conferences in Brazil; also Brazil has been the first country to have a bill presented to parliament proposing a mandatory policy for open access).<br />-Expanding Brazilian initiatives to the Portuguese speaking (ALemPLus project) and Latin American countries (DRIVER)<br /><br /><strong>Some Problems with OJS in Brazil<br /></strong>There is a rapidly growing number of OJS journals being created in Brazil, contributing to the gradual accomplishment of the “golden road,” full open access approach.<br /><br />However, the study revealed some problems within the open access journal movement in Brazil: 1. a great number of OJS journal titles do not reflect any area, field, topic, or discipline. An academic journal title should reflect the topic in some respect, especially with the creation of so many new journals; 2. discontinuities of publication, wherein some journals are created without studying whether there is enough knowledge production in the area and there will be enough submissions to publish regularly. Some journals publish only one or two issues, then stop; 3. many journals do not disclose information about the submission process and peer review process of the journal, so it is unclear if these process are even happening at all, or how they are proceeding, a lack of disclosure which is unscholarly; 4. although the majority of OJS journals in Brazil are created and maintained by an individual researcher of a university dept/course/post-grad programme, there is a problem with the journals not complying with academic standards, even though they are created in academic environments. The problem is that publishers are not trained in the standards of academic publishing before actually going ahead and publishing with the easy and straightforward OJS system.<br /><br />Many problems identified are due to a lack of knowledge about scholarly publishing itself, in whatever medium. Although there are technicians developing competence in OJS, none are concerned with or aware of the process of scholarly publishing as a whole.<br /><br />In closing, the presenter briefly went over <a href="http://www.ibict.br/">Ibict</a>’s role in the open access movement in Brazil (although Sely Costa is not part of Ibict, Kuamoto is part of the institution): 1. it is involved in promoting disseminating, and implementing OA initiatives and policies; 2. it has sponsored 5 academic conferences to provide workshops to train people in these systems; 3. in 2006 the Brazilian Open Access Movement issued its manifesto; 4. work has been done with Portugal, and Latin American countries; 5. work has been done with the <a href="http://www.scielo.br/">SciELO</a> people (though they do not want to work with OA people because they believe their positions of leadership are being taken); 6. work with the Brazilian parliament, Brazilian Council of University Chancellors (have met with every university chancellor), learned societies, funding agencies, and researchers.<br /><br /><strong>Comments and Questions</strong>:<strong><br /></strong>Comment: People don’t want to switch to Open Access because they want to make money. What they (policy makers) do not see is that problems with the OJS system can be fixed by the general populace, and there need not be secrecy and proprietary software use.<br /><br />Costa’s response: Yes, I agree. There is a problem with paying for things. From the information side in Brazil, they pay companies to hold conference proceedings, to manage that information, but then they can’t access the information! OCS could have done this for them for free.<br /><br />Comment (same commenter): There are also human resource problems. People now know about the software, but not about standards of scientific publication in general. Everyone needs training in this area. But three day workshops are not enough to fully train people in all these areas-OJS, academic publishing in general, and the greater philosophy of OA. The problem with the Public Knowledge Project development team is that, in Brazil, we need resources to understand what they at the PKP know already about OA and scholarly publishing. We need PKP chapters around the world to do this.<br /><br /><br />Link to <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ojs">Open Journal Systems (OJS)</a><br /><br />Link to <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ocs">Open Conference Systems (OCS</a>)<br /><br /><br /><strong>Commentary</strong> (by blogger)<br />Sely Costa’s presentation centred on the rapid and accelerating creation of OJS journals in Brazil since the OJS fueled Open Access movement first began in Brazil in 2004, after being initiated by Kuramoto. Her presentation raised points about the counter-productivity of proprietary mindsets and the issue of the continuity of academic standards of publishing. While OJS has taken off and appears to be flourishing in Brazil, the case of Brazil demonstrates that wide implementation of OJS is only one step towards successfully achieving the “golden road” of open access in a nation.<br /><br />The aim of Sely Costa, Kuramoto, and the Open Access Movement appears to be the establishment of a governmental policy mandating open access in the nation of Brazil. A staunch inhibitor to this aim is the propriety mindset of governmental and institutional policy makers, as well as of academics in general. The Brazilian Open Access Movement has been trying to deal with resistance from government, policy makers, and established scientific research repositories such as SciELO, as well as to spread awareness to scholars about the Open Access movement and its benefits for academic publishing. They have made progress on all these fronts, but continue to face resistance to the changeover to a non-proprietary model of publishing. SciELO, for example, is difficult to work with because they believe the Open Access people are trying to steal their position of leadership in the field of scientific research. This protectionism about reputation is mixed with skepticism about the financial viability of the open access model. Government and university policy makers have a similar skepticism about the financial viability of the open access model, and appear unconvinced by the success of numbers of open access journals being created. The argument in favour of a national policy would be that knowledge distribution and quality increase with open access; however, to convince institutions who think in terms of proprietary economics that knowledge distribution and quality are of greater value than proprietary and financial rights may be difficult. The argument may need to turn to such issues as the cost efficiency of open access, and the overall increase in innovation and therefore of possible economic, profit creating technologies for Brazil.<br /><br />The other main issue raised in the presentation was one of standards of scholarly publishing in OJS journals. The four problems that Sely Costa found with OJS journals—non-topical titles, discontinuities of publication, non-disclosure of reviewing policies, and lack of academic standards in general—have to do with a lack of training in and knowledge about the long tradition of academic journal publishing standards. The issue arises partly because of OJS’s strength as a free, easy to access, and easy to use system. The technology itself is being mastered in Brazil, but this ease means that old, established channels for publication can be circumvented. The new publications are proving, in some cases, to lack traditional academic standards, such as continuous publication, publicly known review policies, and scholarly editorial standards. The break from the old publication model has shown that that model, although inefficient in terms of distribution, held high and useful standards in terms of the scrutinizing and preparing the work published. Sely Costa argues that these old standards need to be learned and applied to OJS journals, to keep the OJS movement in the continuous tradition of academic journal publishing. It appears that especially regarding the issue of editoral and peer-review processes, which are a crucial check that ensures quality of knowledge, standards must be open and high.<br /><br />However, it is also possible that OJS will not prove a medium amenable to the exact, proprietary publishing traditions of the past, and that new models and standards might emerge. For example, the idea of continuous publication may fall to the wayside, and new models of “publish when it’s ready” may emerge. In this model, articles would appear in certain fields only when they are available, even if there are gaps in time. The idea of journals in volumes and issues would not be needed. Perhaps, with the high aspirations of the Brazilian Open Access Movement to trigger a national change, achieving and upholding established and strict traditions of academic publishing in open access online journals is crucial for the moment, to convince those used to the proprietary model that Open Access matches proprietary publications in scholarship.<br /><br /><strong></strong>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-73944178075360311152007-07-12T19:20:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:34.432-08:00Strengthening African Research Culture and Capacities Project<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDlAZyGRWY3beM4XILI9S_pRH53ICGNOfWngrTHHZN-tySCzWgfMcj5nOxclrWJmX9764SaOuA62OesoVBo8D_hVhwNOYZv8-ebuongKTTghawvpl_IlQhmN6Ixvvg_rDmQNwP6Mi-WaY/s1600-h/Samuel+Esseh.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086499617641982930" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDlAZyGRWY3beM4XILI9S_pRH53ICGNOfWngrTHHZN-tySCzWgfMcj5nOxclrWJmX9764SaOuA62OesoVBo8D_hVhwNOYZv8-ebuongKTTghawvpl_IlQhmN6Ixvvg_rDmQNwP6Mi-WaY/s200/Samuel+Esseh.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Presenter: <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/node/744">Samuel Smith Esseh</a><br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/">PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference<br /></a>Thursday, July 12, 2007<br />1:45 PM - 2:45 PM in SFUHC<br />Westcoast Energy Executive Meeting Room<br />Vancouver, Canada<br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=83">Abstract</a><br /><br />Samuel Smith Esseh is undertaking doctoral studies at the <a href="http://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia </a>and is a member of the <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/">Public Knowledge Project</a>.<br /><br />Samuel Esseh just returned from a research trip to Africa three days ago. He had been in Africa for eight months, traveling to five countries giving workshops and conducting research on the potential of online systems in African research pursuits. He presented a research paper that is still in progress, and discussed initial findings and what the project hopes to achieve.<br /><br /><strong>The Scholarly Publishing Situation in Africa: Statistics</strong><br />Africa is the second largest continent, and has over 900 million people, and therefore should be a world leader in global scholarship. In 1960-1979, scholarly publishing began to rise in Africa, a result of gains in social and political independence. However, in 1980-1985 scholarly publishing plateaued. From 1986 to now, scholarly publishing in Africa has been declining steadily.<br /><br />Based on studying the PASCAL databsase from 1991-1997, and the ISI from 1981-2000,<br />scholarly publishing in Aftrica has been concentrated in only 7 countries of 52. These seven countries account for 75% of scholarly publishing in the continent, while the other forty-five countries account for only 25%.<br /><br />The circulation numbers for African journals are low. True scholarly publications have an average circulation of 500, or at least 100-200. Only one African journal has more than 400 external subscribers. All the others have a maximum of 50 or less.<br /><br />Africa has not been increasing its overall contribution to world scholarship, while many countries in other continents have seen huge increases in their contribution of publications and papers. One reason is that African universities have very low budgets for journal access and publication, ranging from a budget of 50 cents per student (Ghana) to $2.66 per student (Cape Coast) to the high of $9.00 per student (Dar es Salaam).<br /><br />African scholarly works are poorly distributed, barely marketed, and hardly accessed. African scholars do not have access to all the scientific literature they need in order for science in Africa to progress efficiently and effectively.<br /><br /><strong>The Growth of Internet Use in Africa<br /></strong>The introduction of the internet in Africa has given hope for increasing higher education’s access to research and scholarship, as well as for opening opportunities to create and disseminate information. In 1995, very few countries in Africa had access to the internet. There were only 23,000 users in the entire continent. Now, every country has some form of internet access, with an estimated 9, 000, 000 users. The growth of internet use in the world from 2000-2007 has been 203 %, while the growth in Africa has been much larger, at 625%.<br /><br />The next step, with the increase in internet access, is to support local scholarly publishing initiatives to increase access to African research and advance local research capacities. Print production has failed Africa. Not one resource in the print production process comes from Africa, as the paper, ink, and machines are imported. The only African resource is manpower. However, importing materials is expensive, with many tariffs, and print journals are too costly, putting local publishers out of business.<br /><br /><strong>Aims and Objectives for the Project<br /></strong>This research project aims to assess the potential contribution of online publishing systems for African scholarly journals. It is concerned with studying issues in online scholarly publishing in Africa pertaining to economics, authorship, peer review processes, technical requirements, readership benefits, and scholarly impact.<br /><br />Achieving these objectives requires examining feasibility requirements and the potential value of online journal publishing in Africa. The project has asked three main Questions to achieve its aims:<br /><br />1 Scholarly publishing: what is the current state of journal publishing. What changes are underway in editorial, economic etc. areas?<br />2. Scholarly communication infrastructure: What are current levels and patterns of access to online resources?<br />3 Online publishing systems. In what ways can online technologies be used, and locally produced?<br /><br /><strong>Research Design</strong><br />Samuel Esseh's research involved a sample of 280 participants from five countries in Africa (2 from eastern Africa, 2 from western Africa, and 1 from South Africa). He gave workshops about the use of <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ojs">Open Journal Systems (OJS)</a> for online scholarly publishing. The participants ranged from journal editors, journal staff, potential editors, faculty, students, academic administrators, university librarians, and IT administrators and staff. The participation from universities and research groups broke down in the following way. In Nigeria, two regions were visited, and in these two regions, 8 universities and 7 research groups attended the workshops. In Ghana, one region was visited, and 4 universities, and 6 research groups participated. In Uganda, one region was visited and 2 universities and 3 research groups participated. In Kenya, one region was visited and 3 universities and four research groups participated. In South Africa, two regions were visited and 6 universities and 7 research groups participated.<br /><br />Data collection was done through questionnaires given to four groups: editorial/staff, librarians/IT staff, potential editors/faculty, and IT Administrators. These questionnaires aimed to examine the current state of journal publishing in Africa, and to provide a baseline with which to assess changes in the coming years.<br /><br />The workshops were tailored for these same groups of people, and aimed to introduce the participants to new developments in online publishing support (for example, OJS) as well as to provide a hands-on opportunity to see how these systems work, and how labour would need to be distributed to use these free online journal publishing systems.<br /><br />Now that the questionnaires and workshops have been completed, the project is following up with emails to the participants before writing the report.<br /><br /><strong>Findings</strong><br />Common themes/concerns that came up in questionnaires<br />-What is the appropriate economic model for sustainability of online publishing systems?<br />-The problem of the availability of online infrastructure (bandwith, computers, power outages)<br />-The human resource requirements-skills training (editorial staff, reviewers)<br />-Institutional acceptability of online publishing (accreditations, safeguarding intellectual property).<br />-Incentives to publish.<br />-Where will funding come from?<br />-How to integrate OJS with other repositories?<br />-What are the institutional/national policies around this?<br />-What about institutional priorities?<br />-Is technical support available for this kind of endeavour?<br /><br />General comments from the participants:<br />-OJS is very positive, I see the need for this and it will help the development of countries in Africa.<br />-It would be nice to have more time on the walk through of OJS.<br />-OJS is a powerful tool, it is versatile, easy to operate, not expensive, and few staff are required.<br />-OJS is perfect to launch an institution’s research resources.<br />-I learned more about Open Access publishing. Despite the disadvantage of many people not having internet access in Africa, the software has potential to support research efforts in Africa.<br /><br />In closing, there is a pressing need to explore new ways of having African researchers and scholars participate in the global knowledge exchange. This project aspires to research and develop one possible means of increasing that exchange.<br /><br />Comment at end of presentation:<br />There is a similar situation in Brazil. This research is good because it shows the numbers, which policy makers need. With the numbers, it is not just an idea or a dream, it is real and grounded.<br /><br /><br />Link to the <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/node/634">Strengthening African Research Culture and Capacities Project website</a><br /><br /><br />Link to the original project proposal, before Samuel Esseh's trip to Africa, entitled <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/files/AfricanWorkshops.pdf">Strengthening Scholarly Publishing in Africa: Assessing the Potential of Online Systems</a><br /><br /><strong>Commentary (by blogger)</strong><br />Samuel Esseh’s research shows that, in general, scholars, researchers, librarians, and IT specialists in the major centres for scholarship in Africa see OJS and Open Access in general as a means for increasing the visibility and contribution of African research globally. A large problem is the low level of internet access on the continent, as most countries on the continent do not have the resources to provide cheap and ubiquitous internet access. This is an issue of continuity—a continuing legacy of poverty in the country, and a corresponding lack of technological advancement. However, Samuel Esseh made it clear that, in fact, it is the old print technologies that are overly costly, and that the new, digital technologies are cheaper for publishing academic journals. It appears that Africa is breaking radically from past trends, as is shown by its 625% increase in internet use since 2000. This break is sorely needed, as the old printing presses have failed African scholarly publishing. Increases in technology, which at first are costly, in the end will result in cheaper and greater participation of Africa on the global stage.<br /><br />The larger radical break from past trends being aimed at is the increase in the visibility and contribution of African research to the global community. The brief period of increase in African research publications in the sixties and seventies (a result of a break from the colonial past) died off in the eighties and, currently, is continuing the trend of not increasing over time, especially compared with the huge increases in research output of the rest of the global community. It is clear that, with the enormous size and populations of Africa, the past invisibility of African research is wildly out of proportion to the numbers of potential research contributions, and that the radical break being aimed at is radical only in comparison to the extreme dearth of the past. The hope, at first, is to encourage only a just and proportionate level of global contribution for the continent.<br /><br />OJS and Open Access publishing on the web in general are radical new tools for the efficient and global propagation of new research findings. In some countries, these tools are increasing already vast research contributions greatly. In Africa, these radical and inexpensive tools will hopefully help to produce a radical increase that will result, at first, in an average and proportionate global scholarly contribution. It appears, however, that in Africa the technological issue of lack of internet access must be addressed alongside the changeover to online forms of publishing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-32582540164843123942007-07-12T19:17:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:34.553-08:00Partners<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigSUlKGTbwPBbtbxmDWLe6_RHdizwqJbfVRZJahEDwltGxc8uE4aemGkFPGczl_vaBzGpz099qLsXKnd1e1uUJckUO4I0aJWFnpHyYYoIgQsI930l1DUJCUoYF6E7LDBO7Xk9YnkfBOUY/s1600-h/Astrid+and+Martin+Partners.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086484147169782706" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigSUlKGTbwPBbtbxmDWLe6_RHdizwqJbfVRZJahEDwltGxc8uE4aemGkFPGczl_vaBzGpz099qLsXKnd1e1uUJckUO4I0aJWFnpHyYYoIgQsI930l1DUJCUoYF6E7LDBO7Xk9YnkfBOUY/s200/Astrid+and+Martin+Partners.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Presenters: <a class="AuthorTextLink" href="mailto:a.vanwesenbeeck@uu.nl">Astrid van Wesenbeeck</a> (right), <a class="AuthorTextLink" href="mailto:m.vanluijt@uu.nl">Martin van Luijt</a> (left), both of whom are from the University Library Utrecht, Netherlands<br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/">PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference<br /></a>Thursday, July 12, 2007<br />11:00 AM - 12:00 PM in SFUHC Sauder<br />Vancouver, Canada<br /><a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=71">Abstract</a><br /><br />Astrid van Wesenbeeck is a member of the publishing unit in the <a href="http://www.library.uu.nl/library/12483main.html">University Library at Utrecht</a>, and is responsible for open access projects. Martin van Luijt is the manager of the IT development team in the University Library at Utrecht.<br /><br /><strong>History of Open Access at Utrecht University Library</strong><br />Utrecht University Library is the biggest university library in the Netherlands, at the largest university in the Netherlands. The library serves 27, 000 students, 8,000 staff members, and 45 university departments, all of whom are potential participants in the PARTNER open access and collaboration program.<br /><br />Astrid presented a brief history of the library’s involvement in open access journals. In 2000-2001, the library started publishing e-journals, although most were not open access. Recently, the library had come to be publishing 12 open access e-journals, some of them fully open and others having delayed access. They found that their systems for online publishing were inefficient and it was taking a long time to get new journals up and running, and that these did not have an editorial workflow system to manage workflow once the journal was functional. They came across <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ojs">Open Journal Systems (OJS)</a>, invited John Willinsky to Ultrecht, researched OJS, and in April 2007 decided to work with this program. The result is a new Open Access journal published through OJS called <a href="http://www.revue-relief.org/index.php/relief">Relief</a>.<br /><br />The library wants to do more than publish Open Access journals. As a library, they want to be more supportive to more research communities: to offer an open, solid, clever, smart platform for collaboration. These ideas were put into a five year project called PARTNER. PARTNER found three user groups at the university who wanted to use the library’s proposed collaborative environment and who offered their input in its development stages.<br /><br /><strong>The Goal of the PARTNER Project </strong><br />Martin then presented, stating that the traditional role of the library is changing, and they as a library want to reinvent themselves by establishing more services and collaborative Knowledge Centers for research groups. Collaboration is hard, so they have begun by focusing on research groups because research groups are small, but not too small. They currently focus on the university community at Utrecht. They want to create this collaborative tool through collaboration with interested research communities.<br /><br />The idea behind PARTNER is that researchers do not have an environment to host their own work. From consultations with the three research groups, the project has discovered that researchers want tools for developing ideas for research proposals, and the resources to contribute to an ongoing discussion (Virtual Knowledge Centers). The PARTNER project has prototype online services within the university community, such as Wiki collaborative tools and document libraries. The project wants to offer more of these tools to a wider community, and integrate them with other tools.<br /><br />The trouble the project is currently facing is that they want to integrate their program with other programs, but it is costly to do so because they need to develop each integration by itself. They hope to eventually have 50-100 Virtual Knowledge Centers (VKCs). To do this, they are moving towards an overall architecture that supports the integration of applications. They also wish to obtain different products that can be standardized under similar standards, to develop an architecture based on web services, and to expose functionality openly, so that integration between products can be undertaken easily.<br /><br /><strong>Examples of How it Will Work</strong><br />Astrid offered concrete examples of this kind of integration in the library at Utrecht.<br />Their current development are based on wishes from the three user groups (Medicine and Pharmacy research groups). The library hopes to provide a service wherein a researcher can have written a paper, be at the final stage, and easily store their research output in the related Knowledge Center by clicking a button. The idea is to bring various systems together without bothering the researcher. The researcher need only press an archive button, and the library’s repository retrieves the data automatically. The researcher need not leave the research environment, or fill out long, tiresome web forms, or face security warnings when archiving material.<br /><br />OJS is useful because perhaps you want all the output from one research group combined and/or displayed in a nice way. OJS works well for this kind of thing because OJS can retrieve documents and publish them easily. The new OJS journal at the library, <a href="http://www.revue-relief.org/index.php/relief">Relief</a>, is not really an example of this, but is a step towards working with OJS more widely.<br /><br />Other capabilities will be that researchers can submit an article to a suitable journal as easily as they can archive it. They would simply type in the journal name and send it off to be considered for publication by an OJS journal. The researcher can then monitor the status of the submission using the OJS author’s page—a page whose data would be displayed directly at the researcher’s Knowledge Center.<br /><br />BUT most of this is currently conceptual, based on the sample user groups’ desires. The presenters have no idea if it will go any further.<br /><br />Questions asked after presentation:<br />Q: Where I (questioner) work, central services will never cut it, because they work with people at different institutions all over the world. So how will it work if the IT is all based within a single institution?<br /><br />A: The tools will be provided to international partners as well. There are 3 levels of users: 1.the general public; 2.members of the Knowledge Center (domestic and international partners); 3. groups involved in a specific project (not limited to a single university). The PARTNER project is starting with their own research groups done locally and nationally—international cooperation will come later.<br /><br />Link to <a href="http://www.igitur.nl/nl/default.htm">Igitur</a> a department of the Utrecht Library involved in the PARTNER project<br /><br />Link to <a href="http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ojs">Open Journal Systems (OJS)</a><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Commentary</strong> <strong>(by blogger)</strong><br />The proposed PARTNER project is concerned with changing the role of the library, in a certain way, and simply maintaining the same role in a new, advancing technological setting. The proposal is that the library will offer easy archiving and collaboration services to researchers. In a sense, it has always been the job of libraries to offer both of these tools, although in a much slower and more cumbersome way. In order to have research archived at a library, the researcher needed in the past to get it published, and then to have the journal or book added to the library’s holdings. These research findings were available to the greater research community, and represented a kind of communication among researchers. However, this communication is not exactly collaboration, and the time lapse between obtaining research findings, acceptance for publication in a journal, and the library acquiring the journal could be years.<br /><br />The Utrecht University Library is evolving its role as an institution that archives research findings and enables scholarly communication. In the proposed PARTNER project, researchers could archive their materials immediately in Knowledge Centres, which are linked to other researchers who are likely to be interested in the data. This data can be used immediately by other researchers, and can be changed or amended easily by the original author. The time lapse barrier of the past is essentially eliminated. Further, the past ability of researchers to “communicate” through the holdings of libraries (a communication that is largely one-sided, and not at all interactive or fast) is being updated to an advanced forum for immediate, real-time, two-sided (or more) communication which can easily be used for research collaboration. The library aims to both preserving its old role, and update it for a new, digital age.<br /><br />The Utrecht University Library is not only concerned with maintaining and updating its past role as an archiving and communication-enabling institution. The PARTNER project is also concerned with aspects of research such as incentive, and encouraging innovation among scholars. The incentive to publish is increased when the researcher need only click a button to publish the findings. Further, when the researcher knows that others can use the findings, incentive to publish, and an environment of innovation go hand-in-hand. In the PARTNER project, the library acquires a new concern that goes beyond merely acquiring holdings that might help the academic community—it is concerned with helping the academic community more easily create dynamic archives.<br /><br />The ideas behind the PARTNER project are certainly inspiring and ambitious, but the problem is that the project is currently only ideas. The actual Knowledge Centers and other collaborative tools are not developed or functioning at the library.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-22640872868635823962007-07-12T19:07:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:34.731-08:00Liberation and Struggle: An Editor/Publisher's Experience with Open Access<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiADBRICqb1OUOjPWPwe9wUNcfYtY6gD-aDRa-hqIO_6pKsBlqfFdV6Z_hDf29ej0N-QDx0JppUxMJ3ZHtLvaIIL5cvkYhp1vMlTAhotjbpAztfAQN3r3Pyr9TATuoZ_5P8gHAzpRUK34gq/s1600-h/mattaini.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086801795266674018" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiADBRICqb1OUOjPWPwe9wUNcfYtY6gD-aDRa-hqIO_6pKsBlqfFdV6Z_hDf29ej0N-QDx0JppUxMJ3ZHtLvaIIL5cvkYhp1vMlTAhotjbpAztfAQN3r3Pyr9TATuoZ_5P8gHAzpRUK34gq/s320/mattaini.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Presented at <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference </p><p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">11-13 July, 2007</p><p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Vancouver</st1:city>, <st1:state st="on">BC</st1:state></st1:place><span style="font-size:+0;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1:place></p><p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p>By:</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:';font-size:12;">Mark Mattaini</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><st1:placename st="on">Jane</st1:placename> <st1:placename st="on">Addams</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">College</st1:placetype> of Social Work, <st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Illinois</st1:placename> at <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:city></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Fact about the journal:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">The initial publishing of the journal <i>Behavior and Social Issues</i> was in 1978.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Since that time, the journal has changed its name many times:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">(until 1990): Behavior Analysis and Social Action.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span dir="ltr">(until 1986): Behaviorists for Social Action Journal.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">The journal is managed by volunteers.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Published two times a year.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">In 2000, the editorial board decided to go online. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">In 2005, partnership with <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Illinois</st1:placename></st1:place> at Chicago Library.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Liberation:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Number of visits and downloads gone up 125% from last year.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Enhanced interface.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Plan to go online only (publishing both versions takes more time than hard copy alone).</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Provides quality online presence.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Struggle:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Philosophical struggles with editorial boards: debate to go open access.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Practical: financial advantages of commercial publishers vs. public knowledge and justice considerations.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Sustainability: heavily dependent on individuals (e.g. editor)</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">The commitment required for the volunteers who generally produce such journals</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Increased load of faculty and tech staff.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Conclusion:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">The journal is a good experience for the editor but keeping the journal running is difficult task.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Volunteers do most of the work and sustaining the journal is an important element.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Useful links:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Illinois</st1:placename> at <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:city> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><a href="http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/">http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/</a><span style="font-size:+0;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Journal website:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><a href="http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php?journal=bsi&page=index">http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php?journal=bsi&page=index</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><o:p></o:p></p>alzahranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01999337503494463257noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-23096361759408896572007-07-12T19:02:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:35.160-08:00Scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa in the twenty-first century: challenges and opportunities<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBL-oztBQK4K_04yneT6zjEDyN-7SXMo5lQhOHKiHGLLQIauqKUF84cFWmAy6biyboABHM3YurLYndewMsgOgChMfG_qxjAyJGaz4_nY6GEDelRyHNROvK1qvwvSIg91LRzQhbSnQHLVP0/s1600-h/IMG_0536.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBL-oztBQK4K_04yneT6zjEDyN-7SXMo5lQhOHKiHGLLQIauqKUF84cFWmAy6biyboABHM3YurLYndewMsgOgChMfG_qxjAyJGaz4_nY6GEDelRyHNROvK1qvwvSIg91LRzQhbSnQHLVP0/s320/IMG_0536.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086803019332353394" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Presented at </p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference </p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">11-13 July, 2007</p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Vancouver</st1:City>, <st1:state st="on">BC</st1:State></st1:place><span style="font-size: 7.5pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">By: </p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Ezra M. Ondari-Okemwa</p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><st1:placename st="on">Moi</st1:PlaceName> <st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>, <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Eldoret</st1:City>, <st1:country-region st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region></st1:place></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">This paper explores the challenges and opportunities of scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan <st1:place st="on">Africa</st1:place> in the twenty-first century.<span style="font-size: 7.5pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b>Purpose of the study:<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">The purpose of the study is to examine scholarly publications produced by scholars in sub-Saharan <st1:place st="on">Africa</st1:place> (48 nations) between 1997 and 2007, which was the most productive decade of scholarly publishing in that region.<span style="font-size: 7.5pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b>Methodology:<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">The researcher used content analysis to analyze data extracted from <span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">the Science Citation Index (SCI), the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">Results:</span><o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">In general, scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan <st1:place st="on">Africa</st1:place> face many challenges.</span><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: Times-Roman;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">For example, scholarly publication produced in the entire sub-Saharan Africa in ten years is less than scholarly publication produced in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">USA</st1:place></st1:country-region> in year 2006.</span><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: Times-Roman;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">That is due to four challenges:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-size: 7.5pt;">-</span><span style="font-size: 36pt; font-family: "'Times New Roman'";"> </span><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">Economic (e.g. lack of funding).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-size: 7.5pt;">-</span><span style="font-size: 36pt; font-family: "'Times New Roman'";"> </span><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">Technical (e.g. lack of technical infrastructure).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-size: 7.5pt;">-</span><span style="font-size: 36pt; font-family: "'Times New Roman'";"> </span><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">Environmental (e.g. censorship).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-size: 7.5pt;">-</span><span style="font-size: 36pt; font-family: "'Times New Roman'";"> </span><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">Invisibility (e.g. a few scholars are interested in publications produced in sub-Saharan <st1:place st="on">Africa</st1:place>).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">However, with all these challenges there are some opportunities such as:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">- Rapid advancements in information technology can make scholars from sub-Saharan <st1:place st="on">Africa</st1:place> access publication produced around the world.</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">- Scholars in sub-Saharan <st1:place st="on">Africa</st1:place> can and should collaborate with scholars from outside the region to publish.</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b>For further information:<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Abstract and full text available at: <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=84">http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=84</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><o:p> </o:p></p>alzahranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01999337503494463257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-91314203169370438962007-07-12T19:01:00.000-07:002008-12-10T15:58:35.464-08:00Synergies: The Canadian Information Network for Research<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdNaJllOvH9gGdJuapJZXVaMTKvZ8jkk1xafULSrbItROI2cavrulYshVVG-pgjvtX2goWuQCtOpQ2w6AXSuJEXvZZqjZnP4QCFfNynNgsC0PUNcXH3uRO72qHIcS0HN7gDifmvqEdPZr8/s1600-h/IMG_0581.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdNaJllOvH9gGdJuapJZXVaMTKvZ8jkk1xafULSrbItROI2cavrulYshVVG-pgjvtX2goWuQCtOpQ2w6AXSuJEXvZZqjZnP4QCFfNynNgsC0PUNcXH3uRO72qHIcS0HN7gDifmvqEdPZr8/s320/IMG_0581.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086804041534569858" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Presented at <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">11-13 July, 2007</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Vancouver</st1:city>, <st1:state st="on">BC</st1:state></st1:place><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1:place></p>By: <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Erik Moore<span dir="rtl" lang="AR-SA"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Member of Synergies Steering Committee<b><span dir="rtl" lang="AR-SA"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Synergies is a collaborative initiative of five Canadian universities : <st1:placename st="on">Simon</st1:placename> <st1:placename st="on">Fraser</st1:placename> <st1:placename st="on">University</st1:placename>, <st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">New Brunswick</st1:placename>, Université de Montréal (with the Consortium Erudit), <st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Toronto</st1:placename>, <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Calgary</st1:placename></st1:place>. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style=""> </span>In addition, there are sixteen affiliated universities and more than fifty researchers' committed to build synergies.<span style=""> </span>The five regional centers will act as digital publication service centers. Other universities will form sub-networks coordinated by the regional centers. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">The primary objective of Synergies is the transformation of scholarly publishing from a print to digital environment.<span style=""> </span>Synergies is an innovative infrastructure for research and the dissemination of scholarly documents.<span style=""> </span>Synergies will give access to past and present Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) research data and output.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Syenrgies will provide a unique interface and it is committed to long-term preservation through partnership and taking the right decisions.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Useful cites:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Presentation:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Abstract: <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=57">http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=57</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Synergies: The Canadian Information Network for Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities, by Michael Eberle-Sinatra<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dh2007/abstracts/xhtml.xq?id=263">http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dh2007/abstracts/xhtml.xq?id=263</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">President of Synergies cite</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="http://web.mac.com/meberlesinatra/iWeb/Homepage/Synergies.html">http://web.mac.com/meberlesinatra/iWeb/Homepage/Synergies.html</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Synergies: The Canadian Information Network for Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities, by Michael Eberle-Sinatra</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="http://www.lib.unb.ca/casta2006/viewabstract.php?id=57">http://www.lib.unb.ca/casta2006/viewabstract.php?id=57</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">Synergies website:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="http://www.synergiescanada.org/01_fr.html">http://www.synergiescanada.org/01_fr.html</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><o:p> </o:p></p>alzahranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01999337503494463257noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-45535537059794775092007-07-12T18:58:00.000-07:002008-12-11T03:32:47.304-08:00New Models of Peer-Review: Implications for the Different Roles Journals Play in Scholarly Communities<b><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none">Presenter: </span><a href="http://www.med-ed-online.org/"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none">David Solomon,</span></a></span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /><st1:placename st="on"> Michigan</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">State</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype st="on">University<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Time:</span> 2:55 PM - Thursday, July 12th 2007<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Location: </span>SFU Harbour Center Sauder Industries Policy Room</st1:placetype></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><st1:placetype st="on"><br /><br /></st1:placetype></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><st1:placetype st="on"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5088241044316078978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnWHT4LcROS5bEPiTzTFkNb62rXKK8UbGzP5p1Z__CdCnkM-ag3Sh9_iNbKtzpjJs1xSidGMBOU_q-jvd5YJ6IB1LO_2Rk2pVSie8DBCd8QXfPjfIPRCjB4XAzmBAHDg2rrQ4JZU2FQeun/s320/MEO+screenshot2.bmp" border="0" /><br /><p></st1:placetype></span></p><span style="font-family:arial;">Traditionally, peer review is conducted by a group of “experts” selected by the editors, and both authors and reviewers are often blinded as to the identity of those on the other end. The new practice of open peer-review brings transparency to the review process. For example, <a href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/home/">Biomed Central (BMC)</a> publishes the entire review process.</span><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Using this format, the public can see and make their own decisions about the published research. This also allows anybody who is interested in sharing their research results to publish an article.<br /><br />Reference was made to a piece written by Ann C. Schafner (1994), The future of scientific journals: Lessons from the past, Information Technology and Libraries 13:239-247. This article discusses the roles of journals in scholarly communities as:<br />1. Building a collective knowledge base<br />2. Communicating information<br />3. Validating the quality of research<br />4. Distributing rewards (evaluate the researcher)<br />5. Building scientific communities (discussions in editorials, commentaries)<br /><br />The peer review process in relation to journal roles was explored, based on the above principles:<br />1. Building a collective knowledge base (<strong>essential</strong>)<br />2. Communicating information (<strong>detrimental</strong>)<br />Note: It typically takes 18-months for the conversation to happen<br />3. Validating the quality of research (<strong>essential)</strong><br />4. Distributing rewards (<strong>essential</strong>)<br />5. Buildling scientific communities (<strong>irrelevant</strong>)<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Exploring examples of open peer-review processes:<br /></span><strong>A. Nature</strong><br />Between the period of June to September 2006, the highly regarded basic science journal, NATURE, conducted a trial of an open peer-review process as an experiment. Nature typically receives 10,000 paper submissions which undergo a 2-step process of initial screening then selected papers are subject to peer-review. During this trial period, papers that made it through the initial screening was published in an open peer-review process<br /><br /><strong>B. PloS (Public Library of Science)<br /></strong>PloS One has been established using an open peer-review policy. Basically, submitted articles are screened by an editor who looks at the paper for major problems, then publishes it immediately. Readers can annotate articles, as a form of social commenting. PloS One has been operating for about 7 months, and as of the 3rd of week of June 2007, 1,326 manuscripts have been published. It was also noted that the author fee for publication is approximately $1200.<br /><br /><strong>C. arXiv.org</strong><br />arXiv.org is a site representing the subject area of physics. On arXiv.org there are up to 5000 submissions per month. Taking a random sample, it was found that 444,079 connections were made on a particular day. This site has now expanded to math and quantitative biology.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Results<br /></span>For Nature, the experiment was unsuccessful, despite initial enthusiastic responses. For 1,369 eligible papers, 71 (5%) of authors agreed to participate in the new open peer-review process. There were a total of 92 comments. 33 of the papers (46%) did not receive comments at all. In terms of readership, the site had received an average of 5,600 page views/week, but readers were simply not leaving comments. Of the comments received, a large proportion were not particularly helpful.<br />In contrast, PloS One and arXiv.org have been very successful with operating on an open peer-review system.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Analysis<br /></span>Why do arXiv.org and PloS One work, but the Nature experiment did not?<br />Perhaps the reason is because there is something specific to Nature, as a journal itself. It was suggested that many authors, particularly in biology, were afraid of being “scooped” by participating in open commentary. Another explanation may be the fact that a publication in a highly-regarded journal like Nature bears such a significant influence on authors’ careers, that they choose not to take a chance and participate in a new experimental review process.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Examples of other specialty journals that have implemented open peer-review:<br /></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><st1:placetype st="on">Electronic Transactions on Artificial Intelligence (<a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.ida.liu.se/ext/etai/">http:www.ida.liu.se/ext/etai/</a>)</st1:placetype></span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><st1:placetype st="on"></st1:placetype></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><st1:placetype st="on">Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (<a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.copernicus.org/EGU/acp/">http:www.copernicus.org/EGU/acp/</a>)</st1:placetype></span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"><st1:placetype st="on"><strong>The MEO (Medical Education Online) pilot project (<a href="http://www.med-ed-online.org/index.html">http://www.med-ed-online.org/index.html</a>)</strong></st1:placetype></span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><st1:placetype st="on">Medical Education Online is an open access journal that has been operating for 11 years, providing physicians and other health professionals with medical research results. MEO is currently in the process of implementing a hybrid open review system. Briefly, initial screening of submissions is conducted after which manuscripts are published in a special “preprint” section of the journal. Readers are able to post comments and authors have the option of replying to these comments. It was noted that all comments are first screened by an editor before being posted. Concurrently, a regular peer-review process is conducted. After approximately 6 weeks, the review editor decides on the acceptance of a manuscript for publication based upon the feedback from both the public and selected peer-reviewers. Accepted manuscripts are then published in a separate “peer-reviewed” section of the journal. Preprints and comments to non-accepted manuscripts are kept online unless requested to be removed by the author.<br /><br />Preliminary results from MEO pilot<br />20 of 27 (74%) agreed to participate in the open peer-review<br />Average between 1 and 2 comments per article but the quality of the comments tend to be reasonably good, in many cases on par w/ solicited reviews<br />The biggest value is getting the information out there quickly and out to the public<br /></st1:placetype></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><st1:placetype st="on"></st1:placetype></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><st1:placetype st="on"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Comments from the audience:</span><br /></strong>Many have experienced “reviewer fatigue”. There are rewards for authors in the number of published articles, but reviewers are seldom compensated or rewarded for their efforts. Could a system be established in which merit can be earned through providing reviews?<br /><br />In the system of open commenting, a person needs to feel adequate to provide insightful comments. Perhaps there are very few who feel qualified to comment in Nature, unless officially asked to do so?<br /><br />Also, the social phenomenon of responsibility diffusion may be occuring in open online commenting. People tend to think someone else will provide comments, but when a reviewer is formally selected, they then have the responsibility to provide constructive feedback.<br /><br />Related commentary link: <a href="http://www.webcitation.org/5OC7DQBzQ">www.webcitation.org/5OC7DQBzQ</a></p></st1:placetype></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><st1:placetype st="on"><p><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>In Summary</strong><br /></span>Acceptance of open peer-review by authors vary greatly by journal and subject area. Also, the quality of the feedback does not necessarily reflect effectiveness of the model. Linda J. Miller, Nature’s U.S. executive editor as quoted in the Chronical of Higher Ed. Thursday, January 11, 2007: “ The next generation may be more comfortable with this process”. By utilizing open peer-review to increase access and participation in the review process, a form of crowd-sourcing is developed to advance intellectual scholarship. In addition, the invitation of the public into the discussion creates a much more inviting atmosphere which heightens the incentive for society to be innovative, something that is stifled in the traditional peer-review process. </p><p><br /></p></st1:placetype></span><p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><st1:placetype st="on">Perhaps it is as Max Planck once suggested, “opposition dies and the new generation accepts”.</st1:placetype></span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"><st1:placetype st="on"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></st1:placetype></span></p>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07986607678544250528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114193476861751329.post-27084422905622956962007-07-12T18:55:00.000-07:002008-12-11T03:32:47.628-08:00Scholarly Publishing Initiatives at the International Rice Research Institute: Linking Users to Public Goods via Open Access<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8u1aPV7vqJHlKwlfie7c53u0vyDOHQxb3RJ2YPbJNcad2sAf6qa_45tHuD_ZB_Da_3_-Smc-irYr2yLT0fUEF7Utbzmmzm1muY1MeyTcS6welvFZmZFevF499umVcslyAzdMiKgGp95N/s1600-h/IMG_0538.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8u1aPV7vqJHlKwlfie7c53u0vyDOHQxb3RJ2YPbJNcad2sAf6qa_45tHuD_ZB_Da_3_-Smc-irYr2yLT0fUEF7Utbzmmzm1muY1MeyTcS6welvFZmZFevF499umVcslyAzdMiKgGp95N/s320/IMG_0538.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086804449556462994" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Presented at </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">11-13 July, 2007</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Vancouver</st1:city>, <st1:state st="on">BC</st1:state></st1:place><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1:place></p><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> by: </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-family: arial; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.irri.org/"> </a></p><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Albert Borrero, Mila Ramos, Gene Hettel, Sylvia Katherine Lopez</span><br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: 14.4pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The presenter (Katherine Lopez) discussed one of the important mandates of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which is linking users to public good (knowledge on rice research) via open access. IRRI has five strategic goals for the next nine years (2007-2015). The fourth goal is to provide users with practical access to research results on rice. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: 14.4pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: 14.4pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">IRRI produces a huge volume of research on rice which needs to be made available to the public. IRRI is working with partners (e.g., National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems-NARES) to make this research available to users. The Communication and Publications Services (CPS), the Library and Documentation Services (LDS), and the Training Center (TC) are all working together to reach that goal. For example, CPS has published about 1000 book titles (equivalent to about 100,000 publications pages) and 1000 images, the LDS generates metadata, and TC uses its strong partnership with NARES in capacity building using electronic delivery through the Rice Knowledge Bank. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: 14.4pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: 14.4pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Currently, some full-text publications are available via the IRRI website (<a href="http://www.irri.org/" target="_blank">www.irri.org</a>), the library site (<a href="http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org/" target="_blank">http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org</a>), the Rice Knowledge Bank (<a href="http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/" target="_blank">www.knowledgebank.irri.org</a>),and publications catalog (<a href="http://www.irri.org/publications/catalog" target="_blank">www.irri.org/publications/catalog</a>).</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: 14.4pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The presenter has addressed some of the challenges such as funding, inadequate connectivity, and copyright restrictions. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: 14.4pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: 14.4pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Some positive development has happened such as the change in copyright in October 2006 from "all rights reserved" to "some rights reserved". This step is a good move in the right direction in bringing information more widely to users. Also, other steps are considered (e.g., additional research in OA, launching an educational campaign on OA, consultation with the staff, launching other OA initiatives such as establishing an institutional repository and publishing an online journal). <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For additional information: </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Abstract and full text: <a href="http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=39">http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=39</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Currently, some instruments for open access are already in place at IRRI, such as links to full-text publications posted on: </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the institute’s Web site (www.irri.org), </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">especially via the Library branch site (<a href="http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org/">http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org</a>), </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the Rice Knowledge Bank (<a href="http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/">www.knowledgebank.irri.org</a>),</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">and publications catalog (<a href="http://www.irri.org/publications/catalog">www.irri.org/publications/catalog</a>).</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.irri.org/"><span style="color: rgb(132, 0, 0);"></span></a></p>alzahranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01999337503494463257noreply@blogger.com0