PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference Blog

“Creating an Open Scholarly Archive on Paulo Freire”

2007-07-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Joe Kincheloe, McGill University

Time: 9:40 - 10:40 AM July 13, 2007

Place: SFUHC Fletcher Challenge Theatre

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 Frankfurt School of Philosophy and Paulo Freire’s 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.

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.

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.

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.

The Project:
The Paulo and Nita Freire Centre 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.

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.

"The future isn't something hidden in a corner.

The future is something we build in the present."--Paulo Freire

Embracing Electronic Scholarly Publishing In Africa; The Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science And Technology Library, Kumasi, Ghana As A Case Study

2007-07-13T16:41:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Helena Asamoah-Hassan, Library, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
Time: 9:40 AM - 10:40 AM, 13 July 2007
Location: SFU Harbour Centre, Westcoast Energy Executive Meeting Room, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Abstract
Paper

“the wind of ICT revolution…has also blown onto the continent”

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.

Demerits of Electronic Scholarly Publishing in Africa:
- lack of standardization
- lack of knowledge that many journals maintain both online and print versions and only a small proportion are strictly online
- few journals have put back issues online
- URLs change and crash
- lack of a permanent archive
- e-journal articles may not be recognized for promotion decisions

Merits of Electronic Scholarly Publishing in Africa:
- online access to journals
- ease and speed of use
- access available at anytime to multiple users
- embedded links add value to article
- articles may be available ahead of complete issue
- reduces space issues and labour costs at libraries
- multi-media options (sound, video etc) that unavailable with print

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.

African Libraries as Electronic Publishers:
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.

KNUST Library:
- consists of Main Library and 6 College Libraries.
- total stock ~320,000 volumes, 500 print and e-journal subscriptions as well as fee e-journals (mostly through INASP)
- in total ~19,000 e-journal titles for 22,000 students and 650 faculty and researchers

KNUST as Publisher:
- 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
- workshop held in Kumasi 23-24 November 2006 to introduce OJS to editors, grad students and IT administrators from 6 research institutions and 5 universities
- 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 (JUST) already featured in African Journals Online (AJOL)

KNUST must still decide:
1) whether to institute a referee system for the journal
2) whether to make journal online only or also produce a print version
3) whether to place copyright with library or author
4) amount of information to make freely available and timeframe for doing so
5) whether author role will differ from role in print publishing
6) what type of reading software to be used
7) whether services will be performed voluntarily, how to fund
KNUST is currently working on a budget so hopefully the journal will be able to launch by early next year.

Having been introduced to OJS, Helena Asamoah-Hassan then offered some comments and recommendations for PKP 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 suggestions for PKP software in Africa:
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.
2) A CD-ROM of the software would be valuable to institutions with no regular Internet access or slow bandwidth
3) Regular updates on developments and full training on the use of OJS after installment would be helpful
4) Training should be provided to core IT staff in each country
5) Software requires a regular automatic saving function given regular breaks in electricity
6) OJS developers should consider assisting in sourcing equipment support to interested institutions who lack basic equipment
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”)

References:
http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/03-03/rohe.html
http://www.bookrags.com/electronic_publishing

Blogger's Blurb:
“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.” - Jaygbay, J. 2007 Jun 29. The Politics of and Prospects for African Scholarly Journals in the Information Age. Developments in Scholarly Publishing

Helena Asamoah-Hassan’s presentation was followed with a presentation by Charles Kiven Wirsiy, 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.

Thomas Abraham’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.

Related conference presentations:

On libraries
"Rethinking Collections: Libraries and Librarians in an Open Age", "Librarians as campus OA leaders: the University of Alberta experience", "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", "The National Library of Australia: open access to Open Publish", "A content management strategy – implementing OJS and OCS at Swinburne University library", "Beyond the Experiment: The Scholarly Publishing Office and the Maturation of Library-Based Publishing", "Survey of Librarian Attitudes about Open Access", "A Critical Theory of Library Technology: Libraries & Electronic Publishing"

On Africa
"Strengthening African Research Culture and Capacities Project", "Scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa in the twenty-first century: challenges and opportunities", "Open Source Software in Education in Africa", "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"

Open Access Web-Only Peer-Reviewed Journal for Radiology Case Reports: Development and Implementation

2007-07-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

By:
Felix Chew
Michael Richardson
Kira Lichtenfeld
Annemarie Relyea-Chew

Presented at

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference

11-13 July, 2007

Vancouver, BC

Canada

Presenter: Felix Chew

Department of Radiology, University of Washington

The presentation covers the following:

What we did
Why we did it
How we did it
How are we doing
Future challenges

What we did:

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. 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. Therefore, authors of case reports have less chances of their work being published.

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. The journal is peer-reviewed, open access, and specializes in case reports.

Why we did it:

Because there is no place to publish case reports. In addition, they have a business plan for case reports journal, and the presenter has the knowledge of being author, editor, and publisher.

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. 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.

How we did it:

UW Technology Transfer
Open Journal Systems (OJS)
Open Access business model
No capital required
Revenues and profits increase with size
Personal relationships to recruit peer reviewers and authors

How are we doing?

The Radiology Case Report is becoming popular day by day, downloads are increasing, and it is becoming visible via search engines such as Google.

Downloads of articles per day from RCR

June 06 = 18

Dec 06 = 84

June 07 = 127

Downloads per article per day

June 06 = 2.08

Dec 06 = 2.20

June 07 = 2.52

Future challenges:

Indexing (Pubmed Central, Pubmed, ISI)

Journal Operations

Cash flow, revisions, editing, layout

Marketing, marketing, marketing

Competition

BMC Medical Imaging

BMC Medical Case Reports

Additional information:

Abstract: http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=16

Radiology Case Reports Journal:

http://radiology.casereports.net/index.php/rcr/about/editorialTeam

When Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practitioners Use PubMed: Responses of 18 Practitioners to Searching and Retrieving Knowledge in Pubmed

2007-07-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

Presented at

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference

11-13 July, 2007

Vancouver, BC

Canada

By: Mia Quint-Rapoport

OISE/UT, Higher Education, Theory and Policy Studies

Study research questions:

How do ‘non-target’ users use the OA index Pubmed?

Do Pubmed search tools facilitate use of lit. for these groups?

Which tools are most/least useful?

The Open Access question

The study:

Interviews with 18 CAM practitioners.
Varying degrees of education.
Recruited from 3 different sources.
1-1.5 hour lesson in use of Pubmed.
Some face to face, some over the phone

Methods:

Semi-structured interviews.

Interviews were transcribed.

Transcriptions were coded for themes.

Codes were synthesized and analyzed.

Based on grounded theory research methods.

Results:

Favorite tools:

Limits: (e.g. by gender).

The State of Acquisition, Organization and Use of Open Access Information Resources in Cameroon University Libraries

2007-07-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

Full Title: 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 Photo: Charles Kivin Wirsiy at PKP Conference

Presenter: Charles Kiven Wirsiy, Library Services, University of Buea, Cameroon
Time: 9:40 AM - 10:40 AM, 13 July 2007
Location: SFU Harbour Centre, Westcoast Energy Executive Meeting Room, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Photo: University of Buea

Background:
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 universities 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.

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.

University of Buea:
- 14,000 students in 2006/7
- 80,00 volumes of manuals and serials (bulk in English)
- subscriptions to 8 journals
- access to electronic information on-line or on CD-ROM (including ADL, HINARI, AGORA, World Bank, TUFH, AJOL, OpenDOAR, DOAJ)
- connected to the Internet in 2003/4 but not functional due to issues with bandwidth
- automation underway
- directory of open access resources available on CD ROM and printed
- licenses with HINARI, AGORA, and World Bank - passwords provided to users to use from cafes or IT centre
- user education

University of Yaoundé I:
- 25,000 students in 2006/7
- 120,00 volumes of manuals and serials (bulk in French)
- no journal subscriptions
- access to HINARI and AGORA
- connected to Internet but not functional
- media center with 50 computers
- directory of open access resources available on CD ROM but not current
- licenses to HINARI and AGORA – passwords to users “timid”
- user education limited

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 much to be desired.

Improvement Prospects:
- improvement of ICT and bandwidth
- 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
- creation of virtual libraries in state universities (UB given go-ahead but no prospects at UYI yet)
- increasing availability of cheap wireless broadband via mobile telephone companies (using mobile phones to download at UB)
- creation of Consortium of Cameroon University and Research Libraries (COCUREL) though assistance from the Electronic Information for Libraries Network (Helena Asamoa-Hassan from KNUST in Ghana went to Cameroon to help launch a functional consortium)
- creation of institutional information repositories

What’s Still Needed in terms of Open Access?
- improved Internet connectivity
- training
- increased knowledge of resources by those in education community

Blogger's Blurb:
“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.” - Jaygbay, J. 2007 Jun 29. The Politics of and Prospects for African Scholarly Journals in the Information Age. Developments in Scholarly Publishing

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.

Thomas Abraham’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.

Related conference presentations:

On libraries
"Rethinking Collections: Libraries and Librarians in an Open Age", "Librarians as campus OA leaders: the University of Alberta experience", "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", "The National Library of Australia: open access to Open Publish", "A content management strategy – implementing OJS and OCS at Swinburne University library", "Beyond the Experiment: The Scholarly Publishing Office and the Maturation of Library-Based Publishing", "Survey of Librarian Attitudes about Open Access", "A Critical Theory of Library Technology: Libraries & Electronic Publishing"

On Africa
"Strengthening African Research Culture and Capacities Project", "Scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa in the twenty-first century: challenges and opportunities", "Open Source Software in Education in Africa", "Embracing Electronic Scholarly Publishing In Africa; The Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science And Technology (Knust) Library, Kumasi, Ghana As A Case Study"

Newfound Press: Digital Imprint of the University of Tennessee Libraries

2007-07-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
13 July 2007
9:40-10:40 SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room

Presenter:
Linda L. Phillips, University Libraries, University of Tennessee.
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America.

Abstract
Full Text HTML

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.

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.

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.

The wide disciplinary background of the Newfound Press editorial board 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 OJS 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.

Current and ongoing work at the Newfound Press includes:

Creating a sustainable labour pool (this includes collection management, learning to use OJS, and transitioning staff)
Appropriate funding
Documentation
Marketing (convincing potential authors that Newfound Press benefits them personally as it benefits the scholarly community)

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.

Question from the audience:

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?

-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.

Commentary

As Phillips explained, marketing will be key to expanding contributions to OJS and developing the Digital Imprint at the University of Tennessee. 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.

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. 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.

Scholarly publishing will always be rooted in an economy. Moving from a monetary for-profit publishing scheme to a for-knowledge circulation scheme is possible. (See Paul David’s chapter for a discussion of “Economic Logic” and Dominique Foray's chapter in The Economics of Knowledge) 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. 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 knowledge economy.

Links:

The Digital Library Center at the University of Tennessee

Gamut - The Newfound Press online journal for the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic
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.

Goodness Gracious, Miss Agnes, 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.

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.

“Living Reviews - Open Access Online Publications”

2007-07-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Christina Weyher, Max Planck Digital Library (in the Max Planck Society)
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM July 13, 2007 Place: SFUHC Bank of Nova Scotia Lecture Room

Abstract:

Christina Weyher is the Project Manager for Living Reviews, 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.

As Christina Weyher discussed the Living Reviews project 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: relativity, solar physics, european governance and landscape research. 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 (ZIM) - non-profit research organisation

What is unique about these journals?

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:

peer-reviewed articles
insightful surveys on research progress in the field
guiding readers to pertinent and current iliterature
research solicited from experts in the field by an international Editorial Board
open access publications
'living articles' meaning regularly updated by the authors to incorporate latest developments and discoveries

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.

Online interface and challenges: 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.

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.

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.

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.

Reflections:
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 Philosophical Transactions. In the Living Review 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 Bioline, and recommended by authors like Subbiah Arunachalam. 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, Living Review 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 Living Review 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. Living Review is demonstrating a protection of the commons while fostering the principles of innovation and scholarly incentives.

Challenging ISI Thomson Scientific's Journal Citation Reports: Deconstructing "Objective", "Impact", and "Global"

2007-07-13T13:31:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Isagani Cruz, De La Salle University
Time: 2:55 PM - Thursday July 12, 2007
Location: SFU Harbour Center - Sauder Industries Policy Room
Links: Abstract
presenter's website
full-text of paper (pdf)

A very convincing case was presented challenging the Thomson Scientific ISI journal citation report and index. The Thomson Scientific citation report 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. 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. 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 Journal Citation Reports (OBJECTIVE, IMPACT, and GLOBAL). In the presenter’s opinion, ISI is far from representing these 3 elements.

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:

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. It was emphasized that in non-European countries, researchers study work in multiple other languages in addition to European texts. 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. 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.

Deconstructing ISI:
- the myth of quality control that ISI claims to do
- highly unlikely that a non-european journal will be cited in a european journal due to language-barriers
- 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.
- current practice has marginalized the contribution of non-European researchers
- production of knowledge cannot be limited to language/country divides

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?

Proposal:
We need to be aware of hegemony in the current system. The existing formula of research evaluation and documentation needs to be dropped. 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. Merely listing journals in the original spirit of Bradford would be most effective. 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.
With all research receiving its due attention, the responsibility then lies on the individual to make a critical evaluation of the research in question.

Postscript:

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.

OJS goes mobile – An investigation of how to adapt OJS to meet the needs of mobile users

2007-07-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

Above: Lawrence Poon (left) and Shubhash Wasti are working on OJS mobile friendliness.

Shubhash Wasti (Athabasca University, Library Services, Alberta, Canada)
Lawrence Poon (Athabasca University, Library Services, Alberta, Canada)

Presented on: July 13, 2007 at 11am in SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room

~Click for abstract~

~Blogger’s Commentary~

Thanks and more thanks to modern technology, the various means of accessing knowledge grow exponentially.

“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.

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.

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.

~Summary of Presentation~
Motivation
- “Face of the web” annual report by Ipsos Insight found that 28% of mobile phone users worldwide access the web on their handset
- less than 0.1% of the OJS users access via their mobile device
- this study is to see how OJS can be made more mobile-friendly
- there is a trade-off between features and mobility: for example, using Flash on the website
- 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

Most important limitations of mobile devices

- 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)

- navigation: often having to use virtual keyboards or difficult to use buttons

- memory limitations may make them unable to handle large files

- lack of support for certain formats (e.g. some devices cannot read Word or PDF)

- limited or no support for certain web features (e.g. Javascript, Java, Flash, Frames, Auto refresh, pop-up windows etc.)

Mobile devices used in the testing:
Palm TX (browser: Blazer)
Dell Axim X30 (browser: Pocket Internet Explorer)
Sony MYLO (browser: Opera)

Potential Problems in view of W3C recommendations

What works and what does not

Intermediary Approaches (Proxies)
- can be used as a “service”
- burden of mobile friendliness is shifted from the software/web developer to a third party
- examples:
Google – http://www.google.com/gwt/n
Skweezer – http://www.skweezer.net
- but these are not perfect and not all problems can be solved this way

A possible approach using plug-in architecture
- “One Web” - different views
- requires a clear separation of presentation and application layers
- having mobile plug-ins for using OJS

Future studies
- study involving real users to find out impract of mobile friendlyiness in the use of mobile devices in accessing articles in OJS
- where is balance between features and mobile friendliness

Conclusions and suggestions
- strong separation of program logic from the presentation
- plug-in developers can develop plug-ins to detect mobile devices and serve pages optimized for mobile devices
- we cannot rely on the end users’ device to handle the page optimization
- provide support team for mobile OJS users
- OJS in its current form is near the unfriendly side on the spectrum of mobile friendliness

~ About the Presenters~
Shubhash Wasti
Lawrence Poon’s CV (personal website)

OJS – MP3 Article Usage: A pilot study

2007-07-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

Main Presenter:

Kathy Killoh

(Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada)

Other memebers of the team:
Paula Smith (Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada) - Absent
Shubhash Wasti (Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada)

Presented on: July 13, 2007 at 11am in SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room

~Click for abstract~

~Blogger’s Commentary~

The pilot study on MP3 articles conducted at Athabasca University 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.

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.

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.”

~Summary of Presentation~
- A team of researchers from Athabasca University conducted a study on the use of MP3 as a format for academic articles available for download
- MP3 articles are available for download on the IRRODL web site

-IRRODL is an open access, peer reviewed e-journal that has been online since 2000
-IRRODL adopted OJS in 2005
-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
-since June 2006, IRRODL content has been available also in MP3 format
-this pilot study is to collect some data on how, when, where and why readers are using MP3 articles

Selection of software: NeoSpeech Voice Text software
- issue of cost: for desktop use or for creating files to publish on the internet, this can create a big difference in pricing
- time it takes for conversion to MP3: 2 – 2.5 hours for 16 – 20 pg. articles
- editing for conversion:

Remove: references, citations, end notes, tables, graphs, figures, charts, etc.

Include: Front Matter, Coding for Heading pauses, table, image, chart descriptions

Code in extra pauses to indicate a new paragraph

- conversion challenges:

Symbols (e.g. >, *, etc.) are not always recognized by the software

Word tenses e.g. “red” to substitute past tense “read”

Brackets are ignored, need to code in a pause or a change in pitch

Acronyms: software would sometimes spell it out or read it as one word)

An online survey was also conducted by the MP3 research team, and selected portions of the results are included below:

Top 3 Geographic Origins of MP3 Downloads: 1) United States 2) Canada 3) United Kingdom

50% of respondents said they listened to MP3 articles on the PC/laptop, 41% on MP3 players

As for reasons why they listened to MP3 articles, responses ranged from "professional development", "education/study", "curiosity", "research", and others.

24% of respondents said they listened at home, 22% in the office, and 21% while commuting.

65% of respondents said they downloaded and listened to 1-2 articles.

Conclusions
- MP3 audio files are at the beginning of the “diffusion” curve (based on Everett Rogers’ Theory of Diffusion of Innovations)
- further research needs to be done

~About the Team~
Kathy Killoh
Paula Smith
Shubhash Wasti

~Related Links~
IRRODL – International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning

A Critical Theory of Library Technology: Libraries & Electronic Publishing

2007-07-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Ajit Pyati, Assistant Professor, FIMS, University of Western Ontario
Friday, July 13, 2007
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM in SFUHC Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room

Abstract

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.

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.

He started his presentation with a bit of background by touching on the notion of Information Society. He explained that the proliferation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has created a new society – the information society. The World Summit on Information Society 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.

Ajit views the so-called crisis in scholarly publication in the context of the dominant information society vision. He observes that libraries are responding to the crisis in various ways:

cutting subscriptions
advocacy by ALA, CLA, ACRL, IFLA
Open Access movements

Within the Open Access Initiatives, several OA advocates such as Stevan Harnad, Peter Suber, and John Willinsky, have responded to the “crisis”.

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.

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:

Are library technology actions progressive and democratic?
Are library technology actions participatory and community-oriented?
Are library technology actions open and collaborative?

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.

Commentary

Libraries are responding to the invitation from the Budapest Open Access Initiative 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.

Links to OA advocacy from library organizations:

Survey of Librarian Attitudes about Open Access

2007-07-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

Presenters:
Emily Dill, Public Services Librarian, Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus
Kristi Palmer, Bibliographic and Metadata Services Librarian, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Friday, July 13, 2007
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM in SFUHC Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room

Abstract

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 Peter Suber). Of the 1300 questionnaires sent, they received 261 responses. The presentation slides above show the result of the survey.

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.

Commentary

Library associations are responding to the invitation from the Budapest Open Access Initiative to join the open access movement. An example is the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Scholarly Communication Initiative. 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.

A Case Study of Online Publishing at CJC-Online: Experiences, Insights, and Considerations for Adoption

2007-07-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

Presenters:

Michael Felczak (School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Canada)
Rowland Lorimer (Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing, Simon Fraser University, Canada)
Richard Smith (School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Canada)

Presented on: July 13, 2007 at 9:40am in SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room

~Click for abstract~

~Blogger’s commentary~

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.

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.

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.

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.

~Summary of Presentation~

1) Motivation, First Steps, Early Challenges (Richard Smith)
- 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
- 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
- the team found a community alternative in PKP/OJS

2) Transition to and Participation with OJS (Michael Felczak)
- moved to OJS in February 2004
- at time of import, 12 volumes online (1993-2003), with 3-4 issues in each volume
- 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
- within a year, back issues vol. 1-15 (1974-1990) were scanned, with help from SFU library (scanning into PDF format)
- today, all back issues are online and open access (currently Vol 31)
- some functionalities were missing at the time, but custom code was later written within the OJS framework. These functionalities included:
a) enter individual or institutional online subscriptions;
b) post announcements to keep in touch with readership;
c) allow graduate students to submit thesis abstracts
- custom code can also benefit community/journals with similar needs

3) From Production to Publishing (Rowland Lorimer)
- production is not the same as publishing; production is the foundation for publishing
- non-profit publishing model: emphasis on the scholarly record, with peer review as essential element

Example: Nature
- has an editorial identity, an existence beyond simply the summation of its articles
- 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”
- 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

Issues to consider in Online Journal Publishing
- human resources: cannot depend only on one person to ensure things run smoothly
- infrastructure: server farms are more reliable than one single server
- enriched production: once the journal is online, it is possible to add other forms of media (such as sound, video, etc.)
- looking at access models & publishing realities

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.

Online Public Knowledge Infrastructure
- authors and journal producers and publishers
- journal repositories and provisioners: library systems and library acquisitions
- aggregation and metacontent: tools and marketing e.g. Synergies)
- emergent: a Public Knowledge Infrastructure
- 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

~Info on the Presenters~
Profile: Michael Felczak, Rowland Lorimer, Richard Smith
ACT Lab » Michael Felczak
studies in technology & society – Richard Smith

Scholarly communication, open access, and the granularity issue

2007-07-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Jean-Claude Guédon – Université de Montréal
Time: July 13 2007 at 9:40 – 10:40am
Location: SFU Harbour Centre Fletcher Challenge Theatre – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

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, (Surfaces), 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 (BOAI). For further information of M. Guédon’s accomplishments, please refer to his university profile (in French).

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 Origen 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.

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.

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).

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.

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 "Republic of science". Conversely, only with open access can we hope to come closer to this goal.

Tony & the Hegemones

2007-07-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

John Willinsky and Tony & the Hegemones hit it up in style last night at the Segal Centre in Vancouver to much delight of the crowd.

“Creating Scholarly Communities and Fostering Innovation”

2007-07-12T23:08:00.001-07:00

Presenter: Gregg Gordon, Social Science Electronic Publishing
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM July 13, 2007. Place: SFUHC Bank of Nova Scotia Lecture Room
Abstract:

Gregg Gordon is one of the founders, the President and acting CEO of the Social Science Research Network . 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 - Tomorrow’s Research Today, drives what we do every day.

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.

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.

What does the future of publishing look like?
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.

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.
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.

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.

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.

How will authority be established?
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.

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.

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?

Reflections:
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 Creative Commons licence or a similar license embedded in an electronic file. Clearly, this publishing option has taken authors' incentives into consideration, including impact 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. Open access models 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.

SELF: a collaborative platform to share and create free contents about free software and open standards

2007-07-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

Presenter: David Megias, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

Paper Co-authors: Jonas Oberg, Wouter Tebbens, Rafael Macau

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference

Thursday, July 12, 2007

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM in SFUHC Sauder

Vancouver, Canada

Abstract

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.

The presentation was based on the paper SELF: a collaborative platform to share and create free content about free software and open standards, 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.

1. Introduction
Free Software and about Open Standards were defined.
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.

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.

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).

The SELF project itself was then introduced by the presenter.
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.

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.

2. State of the Art
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.

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 Wikipedia/Wikiversity, TLDP, Linupedia, and Edukalibre; note that none of these is dedicated to promoting Free Software and Open Standards.

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.

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.

3. SELF Free Materials and Production Cycle
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.

SELF targets educational institutions (from grade schools to universities), training organizations, and local and national governments.

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 paper.

4. Development Roadmap

SELF started July 2006, and will finish July 2008. Please see page 6 of the paper 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.

5. Platform design

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.

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).

6. Summary conclusion

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.

David Megias ended by announcing the upcoming Free Knowledge Free Technology Conference in 2008 in Barcelona, Spain.

Full Text Paper: SELF: a collaborative platform to share and create free content about free software and open standards

SELF Project Website

Commentary (by blogger)

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.

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.

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.

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.

New publishing models for scholarly communication and the Brazilian open access policy

2007-07-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Sely M. Costa
Partner: Helio Kuramoto
PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
Thursday, July 12, 2007
2:55 PM - 3:55 PM in SFUHC
Westcoast Energy Executive Meeting Room
Vancouver, Canada
Abstract

Sely Costa is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Brasilia and can be reached at selmar@unb.br.

The presentation was based on a study of Brazilian online journals using Open Journal Systems (OJS) 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 Dspace and Eprints. The “golden road” relates to open access publishing, through such resources as Open Journal Systems (OJS) and Open Conference Systems (OCS).

Theoretical Framework
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.

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.

Methodological Procedures and Data
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 Instituto Brasileiro de Informacao em Ciencia e Tecnologia’s (Ibict) Open Access information policies.

OJS journals created per year in Brazil:
In 2004, there were 28 OJS journals created.
In 2005, there were 42.
In 2006, there were 71.
In 2007 (the 1st semester only), there were 66.
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.

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.

OJS journals in Brazil by discipline:
Science, Technology, Medicine: 62
Social Sciences: 54
Arts and Humanities: 53
Multidisciplinary: 38
Total: 207

OJS journals in Brazil by geographic region:
North: 5
Northeast: 20
South: 82
Southeast: 83
MiddleWest: 17 (Sely Costa’s region)

What is being Done in Brazil in the Open Access Movement
-Carrying out technology prospective studies
-Customizing software (OJS, OCS, Eprints, Dspace, NDLTD)
-Training people (640 people, at 189 institutions)
-Translating/transferring technology (SEET, SOAC (OCS in Portuguese), Institutional Repositories at universities)
-Building portals (data and service providers, such as BDTD; Oasis.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).
-Expanding Brazilian initiatives to the Portuguese speaking (ALemPLus project) and Latin American countries (DRIVER)

Some Problems with OJS in Brazil
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.

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.

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.

In closing, the presenter briefly went over Ibict’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 SciELO 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.

Comments and Questions:
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.

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.

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.

Link to Open Journal Systems (OJS)

Link to Open Conference Systems (OCS)

Commentary (by blogger)
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.

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.

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.

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.

Strengthening African Research Culture and Capacities Project

2007-07-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Samuel Smith Esseh
PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
Thursday, July 12, 2007
1:45 PM - 2:45 PM in SFUHC
Westcoast Energy Executive Meeting Room
Vancouver, Canada
Abstract

Samuel Smith Esseh is undertaking doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia and is a member of the Public Knowledge Project.

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.

The Scholarly Publishing Situation in Africa: Statistics
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.

Based on studying the PASCAL databsase from 1991-1997, and the ISI from 1981-2000,
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%.

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.

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).

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.

The Growth of Internet Use in Africa
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%.

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.

Aims and Objectives for the Project
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.

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:

1 Scholarly publishing: what is the current state of journal publishing. What changes are underway in editorial, economic etc. areas?
2. Scholarly communication infrastructure: What are current levels and patterns of access to online resources?
3 Online publishing systems. In what ways can online technologies be used, and locally produced?

Research Design
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 Open Journal Systems (OJS) 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.

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.

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.

Now that the questionnaires and workshops have been completed, the project is following up with emails to the participants before writing the report.

Findings
Common themes/concerns that came up in questionnaires
-What is the appropriate economic model for sustainability of online publishing systems?
-The problem of the availability of online infrastructure (bandwith, computers, power outages)
-The human resource requirements-skills training (editorial staff, reviewers)
-Institutional acceptability of online publishing (accreditations, safeguarding intellectual property).
-Incentives to publish.
-Where will funding come from?
-How to integrate OJS with other repositories?
-What are the institutional/national policies around this?
-What about institutional priorities?
-Is technical support available for this kind of endeavour?

General comments from the participants:
-OJS is very positive, I see the need for this and it will help the development of countries in Africa.
-It would be nice to have more time on the walk through of OJS.
-OJS is a powerful tool, it is versatile, easy to operate, not expensive, and few staff are required.
-OJS is perfect to launch an institution’s research resources.
-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.

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.

Comment at end of presentation:
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.

Link to the Strengthening African Research Culture and Capacities Project website

Link to the original project proposal, before Samuel Esseh's trip to Africa, entitled Strengthening Scholarly Publishing in Africa: Assessing the Potential of Online Systems

Commentary (by blogger)
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.

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.

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.

Partners

2007-07-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Presenters: Astrid van Wesenbeeck (right), Martin van Luijt (left), both of whom are from the University Library Utrecht, Netherlands
PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
Thursday, July 12, 2007
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM in SFUHC Sauder
Vancouver, Canada
Abstract

Astrid van Wesenbeeck is a member of the publishing unit in the University Library at Utrecht, and is responsible for open access projects. Martin van Luijt is the manager of the IT development team in the University Library at Utrecht.

History of Open Access at Utrecht University Library
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.

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 Open Journal Systems (OJS), 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 Relief.

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.

The Goal of the PARTNER Project
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.

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.

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.

Examples of How it Will Work
Astrid offered concrete examples of this kind of integration in the library at Utrecht.
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.

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, Relief, is not really an example of this, but is a step towards working with OJS more widely.

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.

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.

Questions asked after presentation:
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?

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.

Link to Igitur a department of the Utrecht Library involved in the PARTNER project

Link to Open Journal Systems (OJS)

Commentary (by blogger)
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.

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.

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.

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.

Liberation and Struggle: An Editor/Publisher's Experience with Open Access

2007-07-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

Presented at

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference

11-13 July, 2007

Vancouver, BC

Canada

By:

Mark Mattaini

Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago

Fact about the journal:

The initial publishing of the journal Behavior and Social Issues was in 1978. Since that time, the journal has changed its name many times:

(until 1990): Behavior Analysis and Social Action.

(until 1986): Behaviorists for Social Action Journal.

The journal is managed by volunteers.

Published two times a year.

In 2000, the editorial board decided to go online.

In 2005, partnership with University of Illinois at Chicago Library.

Liberation:

Number of visits and downloads gone up 125% from last year.

Enhanced interface.

Plan to go online only (publishing both versions takes more time than hard copy alone).

Provides quality online presence.

Struggle:

Philosophical struggles with editorial boards: debate to go open access.

Practical: financial advantages of commercial publishers vs. public knowledge and justice considerations.

Sustainability: heavily dependent on individuals (e.g. editor)

The commitment required for the volunteers who generally produce such journals

Increased load of faculty and tech staff.

Conclusion:

The journal is a good experience for the editor but keeping the journal running is difficult task. Volunteers do most of the work and sustaining the journal is an important element.

Useful links:

University of Illinois at Chicago

http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/

Journal website:

http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php?journal=bsi&page=index

Scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa in the twenty-first century: challenges and opportunities

2007-07-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

Presented at

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference

11-13 July, 2007

Vancouver, BC

Canada

By:

Ezra M. Ondari-Okemwa

Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya

This paper explores the challenges and opportunities of scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa in the twenty-first century.

Purpose of the study:

The purpose of the study is to examine scholarly publications produced by scholars in sub-Saharan Africa (48 nations) between 1997 and 2007, which was the most productive decade of scholarly publishing in that region.

Methodology:

The researcher used content analysis to analyze data extracted from the Science Citation Index (SCI), the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI).

Results:

In general, scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa face many challenges. For example, scholarly publication produced in the entire sub-Saharan Africa in ten years is less than scholarly publication produced in the USA in year 2006. That is due to four challenges:

- Economic (e.g. lack of funding).

- Technical (e.g. lack of technical infrastructure).

- Environmental (e.g. censorship).

- Invisibility (e.g. a few scholars are interested in publications produced in sub-Saharan Africa).

However, with all these challenges there are some opportunities such as:

- Rapid advancements in information technology can make scholars from sub-Saharan Africa access publication produced around the world.

- Scholars in sub-Saharan Africa can and should collaborate with scholars from outside the region to publish.

For further information:

Abstract and full text available at: http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=84

Synergies: The Canadian Information Network for Research

2007-07-12T19:01:00.000-07:00

Presented at

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference

11-13 July, 2007

Vancouver, BC

Canada

By:

Erik Moore

Member of Synergies Steering Committee

Synergies is a collaborative initiative of five Canadian universities : Simon Fraser University, University of New Brunswick, Université de Montréal (with the Consortium Erudit), University of Toronto, University of Calgary.

In addition, there are sixteen affiliated universities and more than fifty researchers' committed to build synergies. The five regional centers will act as digital publication service centers. Other universities will form sub-networks coordinated by the regional centers.

The primary objective of Synergies is the transformation of scholarly publishing from a print to digital environment. Synergies is an innovative infrastructure for research and the dissemination of scholarly documents. Synergies will give access to past and present Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) research data and output.

Syenrgies will provide a unique interface and it is committed to long-term preservation through partnership and taking the right decisions.

Useful cites:

Presentation:

Abstract: http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=57

Synergies: The Canadian Information Network for Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities, by Michael Eberle-Sinatra

http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dh2007/abstracts/xhtml.xq?id=263

President of Synergies cite

http://web.mac.com/meberlesinatra/iWeb/Homepage/Synergies.html

Synergies: The Canadian Information Network for Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities, by Michael Eberle-Sinatra

http://www.lib.unb.ca/casta2006/viewabstract.php?id=57

Synergies website:

http://www.synergiescanada.org/01_fr.html

New Models of Peer-Review: Implications for the Different Roles Journals Play in Scholarly Communities

2007-07-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

Presenter: David Solomon, Michigan State University
Time: 2:55 PM - Thursday, July 12th 2007
Location: SFU Harbour Center Sauder Industries Policy Room

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, Biomed Central (BMC) publishes the entire review process.

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.

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:
1. Building a collective knowledge base
2. Communicating information
3. Validating the quality of research
4. Distributing rewards (evaluate the researcher)
5. Building scientific communities (discussions in editorials, commentaries)

The peer review process in relation to journal roles was explored, based on the above principles:
1. Building a collective knowledge base (essential)
2. Communicating information (detrimental)
Note: It typically takes 18-months for the conversation to happen
3. Validating the quality of research (essential)
4. Distributing rewards (essential)
5. Buildling scientific communities (irrelevant)

Exploring examples of open peer-review processes:
A. Nature
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

B. PloS (Public Library of Science)
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.

C. arXiv.org
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.

Results
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.
In contrast, PloS One and arXiv.org have been very successful with operating on an open peer-review system.

Analysis
Why do arXiv.org and PloS One work, but the Nature experiment did not?
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.

Examples of other specialty journals that have implemented open peer-review:
Electronic Transactions on Artificial Intelligence (http:www.ida.liu.se/ext/etai/)

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (http:www.copernicus.org/EGU/acp/)

The MEO (Medical Education Online) pilot project (http://www.med-ed-online.org/index.html)

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.

Preliminary results from MEO pilot
20 of 27 (74%) agreed to participate in the open peer-review
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
The biggest value is getting the information out there quickly and out to the public

Comments from the audience:
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?

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?

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.

Related commentary link: www.webcitation.org/5OC7DQBzQ

In Summary
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.

Perhaps it is as Max Planck once suggested, “opposition dies and the new generation accepts”.

Scholarly Publishing Initiatives at the International Rice Research Institute: Linking Users to Public Goods via Open Access

2007-07-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

Presented at

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference

11-13 July, 2007

Vancouver, BC

Canada

by:

Albert Borrero, Mila Ramos, Gene Hettel, Sylvia Katherine Lopez

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.

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.

Currently, some full-text publications are available via the IRRI website (www.irri.org), the library site (http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org), the Rice Knowledge Bank (www.knowledgebank.irri.org),and publications catalog (www.irri.org/publications/catalog).

The presenter has addressed some of the challenges such as funding, inadequate connectivity, and copyright restrictions.

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).

For additional information:

Abstract and full text: http://ocs.sfu.ca/pkp2007/viewabstract.php?id=39

Currently, some instruments for open access are already in place at IRRI, such as links to full-text publications posted on:

the institute’s Web site (www.irri.org),

especially via the Library branch site (http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org),

the Rice Knowledge Bank (www.knowledgebank.irri.org),

and publications catalog (www.irri.org/publications/catalog).

"A Professional Reading Environment, Modeled for a Renaissance English Knowledgebase"

2007-07-12T16:58:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Ray Siemens. English, University of Victoria.
Time: Thursday, July 12, 2007. Location: 1:45 PM - 2:45 PM in SFUHC Canfor Policy Room)

Ray Siemens is the Canada Research Chair in Humanities Computing and Associate Professor of English, as well as President [English] of the Consortium for Computers in the Humanities / Consortium pour ordinateurs en sciences humaines (COCH/COSH) at the University of Victoria. Abstract:

Ray Siemens reinforced the importance of scholarly reading environments in his discussion of how the Renaissance English Knowledgebase (REKn) – the collection of digital representations featuring primary literary and artistic works, as well as secondary materials - is by being accessed through the portal TAPoR. He makes the case that by extending beyond simple access and search functions, open access projects provide public and scholarly benefits.

Of great interest is the notion that the platforms encourage close, expert reading and we look forward to seeing how this will play out in the fields of future research inquiry and public readership.

Siemens provides some key thoughts and applications with respect to the formation of the project and the future of Digitized Humanities, representing the intersection of computational methods and humanities scholarship.

History: The REKn project is actually 20 years in the making and Seimens credits Ina Lancashire’s work around bilingual dictionaries as the starting point. He reminds us that as Humanities is enjoying a greater on-line presence, it is critical to maintain the momentum and serve professional needs. Siemens calls the REKn project the 'big bucket' approach, as it archives literature, acts as a text analysis tool, and looks for synergies of information. The idea of combining primary and secondary resources is that professional reading exists in the perusal and analysis of original work, as well as the responses and reviews of said material. Siemens believes that the digitized access enhances our experience in interacting with the representation of Renaissance work.

How REKn functions: REKn integrates advanced computing searches, conceptual and thematic, and fosters the users’ ability to identify and analyze the connections between the works, the reviews and the contexts. The system allows a hypertextual trail through the use of word-form, word, group of words, tag, or phrase search. What this means is that through open citation lists, anyone can trace the topic history, understand the meanings of words, and track the influences on the works and the writers. Another useful feature is being able to search both primary and secondary resources without having to rely on indexing features alone; the archived materials can be combined for accessed for research and research training. In terms of degree of openness, out of the 13,000 primary and 80,000 secondary sources, 1500 are available for public use, while the rest are privately accessed via institutions. Currently, REKn currently uses the hybrid model of pay per view and open access.

How it benefits: Naturally, scholars and students will benefit from this resource, as will the public. Digitized archived materials preserve collections and provide access in a model that speeds workflow, while providing a convenient, yet deeper handling of resources. Moving back to the notion that interactive reading through electronic access brings about a deeper, broader sense of the work and context, Siemens points to the ability to move between multiple databases and indexes. As the model evolves, new ways of representing and delivering information will emerge, keeping the model current and innovative. The goal is for digital humanties to bring the medium to the larger community while serving scholarly needs.

Key Points: There are 3 elements in the field of using computers to knowledge transfer that Siemens sees as being inseparable and interrelated.

Representation of archival materials
Analysis of critical inquiry generated from original materials
The communication or sharing of scholarly reflection and results

As Siemens looks at the practical issues and parameters as well as the theoretical possibilities. he outlines how reading environments can integrate the innovative products that groups, like the PublicKnowledge Project (PKP), the Text Analysis Portal for Research (TAPoR), Synergies, and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN), provide.

Future Focus: Plans to integrate further with the above groups will also feature in check-ins for feedback with the community and stakeholders, including publishers and amalgamators. Seimens also wants to see further development in interface data handling, underlying dataset, and scale. He also speaks to the importance of using the knowledge gained from taking down and rebuilding models.

Commentary:

Ray Sieman’s presentation resonates with the issues that sparked the open access movement, such as the principle of communicating knowledge and the values of scholarly committment with respect to inspiring and contributing to innovation. A novel, efficient model of researching and archiving, with a tiered access model for institutional and community users, REKn promises to balance the dissemination of public knowledge with the type of sustainable economic model that Paul David and Yochai Benkler recommend. The sense of a collective intent on disseminating previously exclusive materials through an electronic platform, speaks of the benefits in preserving and archiving historical scholarly data for current and future researchers, but also to provide public access for interested students and members of the community. As an interface for professional reading and scholarly research, REKn serves as a prototype and an inspiration for future ventures. As with most projects, collaboration and partnerships are vital, so it is important to recognize the funding, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, as well as the technical gateway partner, TAPoR, the support host, the University of Victoria, and of course, the dedicated team and the founder, Ray Siemens.

The role of Vietnamese governmental libraries in supporting and developing emerging or alternate forms of scholarly communication

2007-07-12T16:39:00.000-07:00

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
12 July 2007
2:55-3:55 SFUHC Canfor Policy Room

Presenters:
Hoang Kim Dung, NACESTI. Vietnam. (Unable to attend)

Le Thuy Duong, National Library of Vietnam. Vietnam

National Library of Vietnam

Abstract

Le Thuy Duong's presentation offered an overview of Vietnamese libraries and scholarly publishing. Most of Vietnam's libraries are limited to students and researchers working at the sponsoring institution. The major publishers of scholarly material in Vietnam: research institutes, universities, government agencies, professional organizations, and library and information centres produce approximately 15,000 titles annually with an estimated 200 of those titles being scholarly journals.

The move to on-line resources and the OJS means that Vietnamese research is available to individuals outside of the university and around the world. However, unresolved copyright issues mean that the number of full open access articles available are very small. The database of Vietnamese Doctoral Theses, full text of 12,000 digitized theses, are currently available only within the National Library of Vietnam. The National Library intends to ask these doctoral authors for permission to provide full and open access to these documents which will be available through their website: http://www.nlv.gov.vn

Duong himself is a major developer of Open Access in Vietnam with his work on the Vietnamese Journals Online (VJN Online) which is hosted by OJS and supported by INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications). This journal service brings Vietnamese research to the world primarily in Vietnamese. VJN Online currently has 16 journals, 20 table of contents, 216 articles, and of these 188 full text articles available.

Developing the VJN Online is only one aspect of Duong's professional portfolio. He is currently the:

Vice Head of International Relations Bureau at the National Library of Vietnam
Secretary-General of the Congress of SE Asian Libraries
Manager of the Vietnamese Dewey Decimal Classification Office

The future for Duong includes working with INASP to train editors to use the entire OJS system by starting with an introduction, moving to publishing back issues on-line, procuring content, and finally uploading new issues.

Question from audience:
How has printing in English contributed to Vietnamese journals reaching a wider audience?
- The limited English capabilities of earlier Vietnamese researchers, but the current generation of scholars is more confident in reaching and impacting audiences from different countries. In the past several Vietnamese journals were printed in Russian reflecting the scholarly training in the Soviet Union.

Commentary

While OA allows for a greater circulation and communication of knowledge, Duong’s presentation touched on two of the major challenges with moving to a totally OA format: copyright and language barriers. Despite these obstacles, the ability of one individual to make a marked difference in the circulation of information is shown to be possible with the work Duong does with INASP.

Vietnam possesses the capability to provide free user access to scholarly information as the journal published by the Communist Party of Vietnam, “Journal of Communism”, is provided by the government agency. Asking permission to publish doctoral theses opens up past and emerging scholarship to the world and illustrates Vietnam’s established scholarly tradition. As the OA movement continues to grow in Vietnam, building on this history of academic study and communication expresses a continuity with a rich social, cultural, lingual, and scholarly past.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

When the ability to access knowledge is limited due to government control or institutional affiliation, individuals are deprived the right to know information that they, their families, and their communities can benefit from.The use of OJS journals and software in Vietnam suggests that global technological advances can be employed to make a difference through locally developed and locally relevant solutions to the problem of access. Universities and institutions can move and are moving from a position of restricting access to documents and information to opening the circulation of knowledge across scholarly interests and geographical divides.

Links to:
The National Library of Vietnam

NACESTI (National Center for Scientific and Technological Information)
The depository library of government sponsored reports dating from the 1970s

ASEAN Infonet
Congress of the SE Asian Libraries: Open Access to ebooks on SE Asian culture. The goal of ASEAN is to digitize collections of member institutions with nearly 500 Vietnamese monographs completed. However, the copy and print functions from this site are disabled.

Vietnamese Medical Journals
Published by CIMSI
Delayed open access to full text publications between 2002 and 2005.

Science and Technology Journals
Published by VAST
Delayed open access, currently being loaded onto VJN Online

Ho Chi Minh University of National Sciences
Full access to conference proceedings and open journals.

Automated XML pagination workflows in the big league

2007-07-12T16:17:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Adrian Stanley, CEO, The Charlesworth Group (USA)
Thursday, July 12, 2007
2:55 PM - 3:55 PM in SFUHC Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room

Abstract

Presentation

PRELIMINARY NOTES

The Charlesworth Group has been in the printing/publishing for nearly 20 years and has been working with SGML/XML/3B2 for 15 years.

from raw Word document (from author/peer review) to pdf document - a step by step walkthrough along the workflow

workflow diagram of documents processing (copy editor, production editor, the charlesworth group, charlesworth china via the Internet)

Styled Word RTF file --> XML, energy data

Advent 3b2 does the auto-pagination

The use of templates that can be selected to create certain style as required by the type of article

Online tracking systems - using e-mails for notification to different people at different stages involved

Compare workflow:
autoproof workflow is faster than conventional workflow

summary:
benefits of structured xml driving workflow
improvements in editing function, core competences
users: BMJ, Nature, PLoS, RSC, Allen Press
flexible workflow, adaptable, tested and trusted
standards of auto-proofs
time and cost saving
quality and flexibility

operation is worldwide (usa and china) - relation with xml based workflow

Interoperable epublishing software components

2007-07-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Robert Forkel, Max Planck Digital Library (in the Max Planck Society)
Thursday, July 12, 2007
2:55 PM - 3:55 PM in SFUHC Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room

Abstract

Presentation

Robert Forkel is a programmer at the Max Planck Digital Library and is responsible for technical stuff in the ePubTk/livingreviews project.

Living Reviews project is part of the Max Planck digital library. Living Reviews publishes four different online open access journals, which cover different disciplines. They are a small scale publisher considering the number of journals published, but they have their own research and development team.

Robert Forkel asked the audience to take this session as a chance to have a discussion regarding issues or obstacles faced by developers of electronic publishing software. His case was interoperability problem when the software has to support different publication types. For example, humanities have a specific type of journal articles that is different from physics. With their first journal started in 1998, they have learned some lessons along the way.

He touched on how he approached the interoperability problem on component level, during the design and implementation process:

determine the resources (data, metadata, publication process data, etc)
describe the components (define them as functional entities)
specify interfaces

He also pointed out that the building blocks are there (OAI-PMH, unAPI, APP) and that projects such as APSR and DiPP are facing similar problems. He then asked the audience to think of collecting best practices as a starting point to tackle the interoperability problem. The audience responded to his presentation with some discussions afterward.

Links:
Living Reviews project presentations
Livng Reviews project wiki for developers

Commentary:

ePublishing Toolkit, the software developed by the Living Reviews project, is an open source software licensed under GNU General Public License 2.0 – one of the commons-based, peer-production solutions for human development that Yochai Benkler proposed.

During the presentation, Robert was calling developers of electronic publishing software community to work together in solving the interoperability problem – as is the norm in a peer-production solution. He is asking the community to contribute to the advancement of electronic publishing software, the “tool” that enables creation of the public good (as declared in the Budapest Open Access Initiative):

the world-wide electronic distribution of the peer-reviewed journal literature and completely free and unrestricted access to it by all scientists, scholars, teachers, students, and other curious minds

A content management strategy – implementing OJS and OCS at Swinburne University library

2007-07-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

Teula Morgan, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia

Presented on: July 12, 2007, at 1:45pm in SFUHC Fletcher Challenge Theatre

~Click for Abstract~

~Blogger’s Commentary~

From theory to practice there can often be big gaps, when we suddenly find ourselves face to face with unexpected obstacles and unforeseen delays. It is therefore very comforting when others can share their experience and insights to provide inspiration for the rest of the world. In this case, the experience of Swinburne University in their implementation of OJS and OCS may be one in many, but in terms of the bigger picture, once again, we are presented with the immense potential and endless possibilities of open access. Once again we find ourselves wondering, “If this university is doing it and doing well, why is the rest of the world not doing it too?”

Swinburne’s approach of having a practical, visible, adaptable and usable content management strategy can easily be adopted by any university library wishing to join the Open Access movement. The strategy is practical in the sense that instead of wasting time trying to define things or hoping to solve every single problem, Swinburne simply jumps into action by identifying what is missing in the current system and then deciding how these issues can be resolved given presently available resources. In both examples that Teula Morgan discussed about the implementation of OJS and OCS, the motivation stemmed from the fact that something was wrong with the current picture: researchers had legitimate needs but appropriate publication venues or conference management was unavailable. From Teula Morgan’s presentation, it is apparent that Swinburne realizes the importance of making trade-offs – not only in terms of balancing user needs with feasibility, but also being able to make choices in favour of maximizing benefits for as many people as possible. Swinburne clearly sees the advantages of Open Access, and not solely for the university’s own reputation. By being one of the numerous universities now using OJS, Swinburne is making a great contribution to increasing the openness and quality of knowledge in today’s information-driven society by successfully exploiting new technologies (such as open-source software like the OJS). Moreover, Swinburne’s project strengthens global and academic connectivity – not only are scholars of similar interests more connected, but knowledge is also linked more closely from one place of the world to another.

Swinburne University’s participation in the Open Access movement is undoubtedly a source of inspiration for the rest of us. Certainly, educational institutions have a moral responsibility to assert, on behalf of individuals, the right to knowledge. Swinburne’s project is a declaration against privatization of knowledge, and with all things considered, Swinburne has adopted a very optimistic approach towards seeking a balance between the commons and the anti-commons.

~Summary of Presentation~

Teula Morgan discusses the Why’s and How’s in the implementation of Swinburne Online Journals and Swinburne Online Conferences.

Why? – Supporting open access (OA)
-partners in ARROW project to support digital repositories
-promoting OA publishing & OA research repositories

Why? – Promoting Swinburne research
-increase recognition and prestige of Swinburne
-enhance exposure and discoverability of content
-making content more visible through OA
-RQF (Research Quality Framework) impact factor

Why? – Supporting content management
-library playing a role

How? – Content Management Strategy
-distinguish between data management and content management
-distinguish between storage and publishing
-adopt a ‘use’ perspective rather than management or compliance perspective

Swinburne’s approach – ensuring that the strategy is:
1) practical
-no definition discussions
-acknowledge that resources are limited
-not tackling the impossible
-developing a Swinburne university-wide content management strategy by starting to do it (the library being a leader in managing information content, as it always has been)

2) visible
-to consider: why this content? who will be interested?
-supporting the creation and dissemination of quality Swinburne content, improving the impact and profile of Swinburne outputs

3) adaptable
-not attempting to solve everything at once & not waiting for the ultimate solution
-be prepared to respond to the community & change if necessary

4) usable
-adopting a multi-software approach to managing content
-emphasizing what is practical

Project identification
-go for projects that will give maximum benefits
-examples for implementing OJS & OCS:

Example: Journals
-Research groups interested in dissemination of their work identified gaps in current publication avenues or a gap in audience. OJS was seen as an appropriate and accessible place to publish.
-OJS was beneficial for promoting Swinburne research, contributing to the institutional repository and providing effective research tools.
-The first journal title went live in 2005. The journal is still going, and this sustainability means minimal continuing work. This enables researchers to manage their own content.

Example: Conference papers
-Conference papers were hard to be found. Copyright & peer reviewing status were unclear. Researchers were wasting time and no support was provided to manage conferences.
-OCS provided benefits for promoting & disseminating Swinburne research, supporting real needs of the community, enabling researchers to manage their own information, and dealing with OA material with clear copyright & self-archiving instructions.
-Swinburne is currently doing community consultations to identify needs.
-OCS was selected and implementation is in process.
-Swinburne is also planning the roll out of the 1^st conference with a pilot group.
*sustainability: OCS ties in with OJS work, and minimal additional work is expected once service is established.

Lessons learned
-important to engage with users: why are we doing this?
-be adaptable: priorities and activities change as we find out and understand more
-be flexible: prepared to understand differences and work in different ways
-maximise content visibility

Q&A Period
-There is a need for automatic extraction of metadata.
-Discussions about the Swinburne library’s search interfaces are currently going on. There probably will not be one place to search for everything, as there are different subject areas for different users.

~About the Presenter: ~
Teula Morgan is the Manager of Online Services Projects at Swinburne University library.

~Related Links~
Swinburne University of Technology, library website
Swinburne Online Journals
ARROW at Swinburne
ARROW – Australian Research Repositories Online to the World

PKP and its Digital Humanities "Readership"

2007-07-12T15:04:00.000-07:00

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
12 July 2007
1:45-2:45 SFUHC Canfor Policy Room

Presenters:

Speaker:

Cara Leitch, PhD Candidate, University of Victoria.
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Ray Siemens, University of Victoria.
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

John Willinsky, University of British Columbia.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Karin Armstrong, ETCL Administrator, University of Victoria.
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Abstract

"It May Change My Understanding of the Field" New Reading Tools for the Scholars

Caroline Leitch spoke on the outcomes of a project to evaluate reading tools for scholars in the humanities. Each participant in a study of scholars at the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia selected an article from an OJS source and answered a question set developed by Leitch and her colleagues. The reading tools available for scholars to make use of through OJS works are designed to:

Evaluate and place the author's work within a larger field
Gain a better understanding of that field through contextual material
Locate research material
Access material that readers already have

Reputation played an important role in respondents reaction to on-line reading tools. While some scholars were skeptical of on-line resources that were not peer-reviewed or traceable to an established institution, the peer-reviewed OJS sources were noted as providing:

Up-to-date information
An informal atmosphere
A sense of community and dialogue

The opportunity to read "cutting edge insight" of scholars involved in the discipline through OJS comments or forums allows for access this up-to-date information instead of relying on the scholars last formally published work.

A key aspect that participants in the study noted was the two-tiered access to information based on institutional and geographic location. The free databases available to academics at their universities or homes via proxy are not as complete as those databases available to non-academics or those researchers who are traveling. The development of a framework that enables readers to access their own reading tools from within whatever reading network they might be using would address some of the geographic disparity.

The benefits identified through the study include:

Supporting online research
Augmenting existing tools (providing greater context without replace existing tools)
Increasing the understanding and engagement in both experts and non-expert reader

The reading tools are a valuable resource for connecting ideas and people.

Commentary

One of the terms Leitch used in her was “folksonomy” – an individual’s ability to create his or her own tags and labels as a way of organizing data (see Adam Mathes essay for a discussion of folksonomies). Leitch revealed that users of the OJS articles wanted to be able to input their own search terms without being limited by the parameters of others.

The ability to create a reading environment that is particular to the individual must be balanced with the need to create a platform that multiple users can communicate across an established common ground. Participants in the study noted the importance of discipline-relevant search terms that can set helpful organizational boundaries when sorting through data.

Who sets the tags for an article then becomes an important aspect of on-line publishing. Authors and editors may select particular tags that classify an article a certain way, but these discipline-specific terms may be unknown or confusing for the reader who has an interest in the subject without having a scholarly background in common with the creator of categorizer of the work. The editor with the task of publishing past issues of print articles on-line may be a generation or more removed from the author and the terminology of the creator’s time.

Making scholarly work available via OA not only means increasing the circulation of knowledge, it also transmits information to an audience that might never have been imagined with a print publication. Tags should not be designed to “down-dumb” information for a lay reader, but include labels that open up the scholarly ground and invite people from a variety of backgrounds who can make use of and contribute to development of knowledge.

Links:

Learn more about the OJS Reading Tools.

Other sessions involving these presenters: Professional Reading Environments and Online and Print Journals through XML.

Read about the Electronic Textual Cultures Laboratory at the University of Victoria.

"Scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa in the twenty-first century: challenges and opportunities"

2007-07-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

was presented at the Public Knowledge Project conference on July 12, 2007 at the SFU Harbour Centre, Vancouver, Canada.

The presenter Mr. Ezra M. Ondari-Okemwa, from Moi University Eldoret, Kenya, shared his views and ideas on how to improve sub-Saharan Africa’s visibility in scholarly publishing. Bordering Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, Kenya is an important link and a positive stabilizing influence in the sub-Saharan region. In his recent study, Mr. Ondari-Okemwa examined scholarly publications produced in the sub-Saharan region from 1997 to 2007. The aims of this study were to examine the role that scholarly publishing plays in the generation and sharing of knowledge, describe the challenges in scholarly publishing, and discuss ways of enhancement in production and distribution of knowledge. The study found that the sub-Saharan region lags behind in scholarly publishing when compared to other parts of the world. For example, 6,661 publications were produced in Kenya in 1997-2007 as compared to 59,271 publications produced in Canada in 2006*. According to Mr. Ondari-Okemwa, the challenges in scholarly publishing that the sub-Saharan region is faced with include:

Low rate of scholarly publishing and dissemination of knowledge
Little generation of knowledge
Impaired access to digital scholarly resources (very low due to lack of Internet access)
Technological (information and communication technologies are still under-developed and the region cannot support electronic knowledge transfer)
Political challenges (limited freedom of expression, corruption, nepotism and tribal clashes)
Socio-economic challenges (scholars are not well supported financially, many research facilities are outdated, poorly-funded libraries, absence of organized library networking, inability to afford journal subscriptions, and dated books – all makes it difficult for scholars to make scientific progress.
Lack of incentives for scholars, non-attendance of academic conferences, migration of scholars to foreign countries, and language barriers
Invisibility of scholarly publications emanating from sub-Saharan Africa

Looking optimistically towards the future, Mr. Ondari-Okemwa believes that open access will greatly contribute to the quality and dissemination of research and possibly affect economic, environmental and social development issues, not only in sub-Saharan Africa region in twenty-first century, but globally.

Ezra M. Ondari-Okemwa at the PKP Conference in Vancouver, Canada

*According to Ondari-Okemwa’s study findings, see Table 2: Countries with 235 records plus between 1997 and 2007.

Related publications:

Arunachalam, Subbiah. Information for Research in Developing Countries: Information Technology – Friend or Foe? Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. June/July 2003. http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/832/01/Arun_01.pdf

Lessons learned from a decade of open access publishing: The Resilience Alliance’s experience

2007-07-12T13:45:00.001-07:00

*** preliminary notes ***

Presenter: Michelle Lee - Ecology and Society
Time: July 12 2007 at 1:45 – 2:45pm
Location: SFU Harbour Centre Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Abstract

Michelle Lee, managing editor of Ecology and Society and member of Resilience Alliance, has come to the Public Knowledge Project conference 2007 to present her experience with different journal management softwares.

The focus of this presentation will be around Ecology and Society. Through the hard work of ecology graduate students and professors, this journal came together in 1994. After 3 years of software development, the first issue appeared in 1997. The journal is now at an impact factor of 3.2 and has over 11,000 readers. The goals behind this online communication are:

1. accessibility for everyone
2. quick turn around time to (traditional) publishing
3. financially self-sustainability
4. high impact (not necessarily the impact factor)

In order to achieve the first 3 goals, they required reliable and customizable software, and for a high impact, a dedicated and passionate staff.

In 2004, the journal changed over to OJS v.1.1.5 as they thought it was the best suited for their journal’s workflow (and apparently the price was right too). However, to maintain their goals, a number of customizations were required to meet the needs and expectations of the journal. Ultimately, the costs of the customizations were too great, which lead to Ecology and Society breaking off from OJS as the plug-ins function did not work for them.

They returned to their own software, allowing for these customizations

- document conversion (rtf to HTML, HTML to PDF)
- a complex reminders routine
- logging of all correspondence and events to each manuscript
- creation and organization of special features (draws more readers, and more submissions(also available with newer versions OJS)
- author/special feature invoicing interface (also available with newer versions OJS)

Each of the customizations has its reasons.

Document conversion allows for easier and faster formatting of manuscripts and keeps reviewing processes online as much as possible.

This system handles tables, figures and appedixes slightly differently as they are uploaded separately from the rest of the manuscript. Also, a table of contents is automatically generated to help with the organization.

Automate reminders (106 auto emails, 24 reminders) are used to help manage and prompt users’ activities. All reminders and prompts are customizable, and allows for a better organization of the process. This ensures that each step is completed as reminders will continue until said step is completed.

Log of correspondence and events for manuscript creates a record of all activities relating to one given manuscript.

Creation/organization of special features allows them to track the status of special features and of manuscripts.

Invoicing interface allows for automated and recording of invoices and payments. This way, multiple users are able to track payments and any outstanding payments are sent a reminder.

Conclusions

Ecology and Society has experienced first hand that customizations to the software correlates in achieving their goals. Though they were unable to use OJS for their journal, they have developed their own software that will continue to aid them fulfill their goals.

Is there a possibility to go back to the newer version (v.2) of OJS? It could be possibility.

Journal Publishing in China - Inside and Outside View:

2007-07-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

*** preliminary notes***

Presenter: Adrian Stanley - The Charlesworth Group (USA)
Time: July 12 2007 at 1:45 – 2:45pm
Location: SFU Harbour Centre Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Abstract

Adrian Stanley, CEO of the Charlesworth Group (USA), presented at the Public Knowledge Project Conference problems surrounding publishing in China.

The Charlesworth Group is a UK family firm dating back to 1928. As China emerges as a major player on the global field, many corporations have begun taking interest in them. For example, Bill Gates visits China for the first time in 1994 and since then has introduced several opportunities for Microsoft in Asia. The Charlesworth Group also noted the opportunities in this country and began working there in 1999, offering publishing services ranging from typesetting to printing and binding. Services are also provided through a subsidiary of the group, Maney Publishing.

Adrian has lived in China from 2000-2004, seen his group’s presence grow from a staff of 3 to over a hundred in that period. He and his group have worked with Chinese editors, government bodies (MOE, MOST, CAS), experts from areas such as Beijing, to promote and facilitate greater scholarly communication. With the world’s largest population, China has the potential to further the current available knowledge. William A. Wells has written a book, The Returning Tide, on this. The ISI web of science has already shown that China has taken large steps in their contribution to the scholarly community with approximately 70,000 journals (2005).

A further reason why China has become increasingly popular is that it is an untapped market. There is a large opportunity for sales and growth through subscriptions and readers. The copyright situation has greatly improved as the government has taken further steps to crack down on piracy, which the Charlesworth Group furthers by becoming a liaison to American copyright laws. There is also an increase in Chinese authors, the value of their work to various disciplines, notably the sciences. Ultimately, the arguments laid forth by the Charlesworth Group are to promote their mission: Scholarly communication is advanced if all scholars have access to the widest range of other scholars’ works.

To promote China’s presence on the global field, this organization has acted in some ways as a bridge. It has assisted locals in understanding how to take part in this global economy of scholarly publishing as well as ways to open their doors to their knowledge through e-publishing.

Some facts about publishing in China

In 2005, top three internal journal publishing contributers*

- Research institutes published 1399 journals (25.97%)
- Higher education institutes published 1347 journals (25%)
- Societies, associations published 1339 journals (24.86%)

Also, there are about 300 English language journals available in China.

* this data is from MOST

Currently, universities fund journals not for profit and they publish internal papers within the university community, restricting them locally. What the Charlesworth Group aims to do is to:

- make the universities more business-orientated to become self-sustainable.
- divide most general university journals into specialized ones.
- separate the duties editing and publishing of journals.
- help some high quality university journals expand internationally.
- establish international editorial board and peer-review system with journals that publish in English, keeping contributions from home but also allowing those from abroad, to ultimately increase the international impact.
- publish more OA papers/journals.
- increase co-operative training courses from internationally recognized organizations personnel

Already, some steps have been taken in that direction. In 2006, Springer and China’s Higher Education Press established a 5 year partnership to co-publish 27 journals

Conclusion

While China is still developing, it is undoubtedly a major untouched market. Like any venture, there will be challenges but with the right partners, and given the opportunities, China can reach its full potential as a global player.

Scientific Journal Publishing in India: Promoting electronic publishing of scholarly journals in India

2007-07-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Thomas Abraham, National Centre for Science Information, (NCSI) Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Time: 2:55 PM - 3:55 PM, 12 July 2007
Location: SFU Harbour Centre, Canfor Policy Room, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Abstract (full text of paper available in PDF through abstract link)

Background:
At the time the project began in October 2004, a large number of journals in India were not published electronically. Even those publishing online had open access but did not use e-publishing tools or adhere to publishing standards like OAI-PMH (simple html pages). The Scientific Journal Publishing in India (SJPI ) project aim was therefore to increase awareness of online publishing opportunities, freely available technology and standards for information sharing and to provide training on how to use this knowledge to publish scholarly literature.

Partners and Sponsors:
-Asian Media and Information Center (AMIC)
-Pan Asia ICT Grants Program (based in Singapore) of the IDRC
-Public Knowledge Project

Objectives:
-To improve the quality of scientific journals in India
-To set up prototype journal indexing and managing systems using OA for a sampling of Indian Journals
-To highlight the need for structured metadata and standards like OAI-PMH among Indian publishers to make scholarly content more effective in the electronic media
The SJPI educated journal editors but also looked at what features the editors were looking for in a journal management system like OJS.

Implementation:
Phase I: Studied OJS, installed and configured OJS for Journal of the India Institute of Science (JIISc) and SRELS JIM and for 11 IAS journals, customized Current Science, uploaded content of all journals (nearly 1,000 articles), performed demonstrations and and received feedback from editors, feedback on OJS then shared with the PKP.

Phase II: Enabled search engine friendly URLs, incorporated 13 journals within system, helped journals go online, created Hindi support to OJS system (Resonance, Journal of Science Education), added new features to OJS (latex support, classification), conducted workshops on journal publishing

Outcomes:
-Editor feedback:
a) Desire for classification system expressed
b) Desire for richer interface to aid editors in assigning reviewers
c) Desire for options to allow authors to select reviewers
d) Desire for co-authors to have access to see the status of the article
e) Desire to give reviewers choice of anonymous or signed
f) Desire to upload abstracts as files
-Previously print-only Journal of Tropical Agriculture set up online access using OJS
-Discovery by book author of plagiarized article when journal posted online highlighting to authors and publishers the importance of intellectual property rights and thereby enhancing journal quality
-OAJP mailing list created

Future Goals/Recommendations:
-Based on Hindi version, customize OJS into other Indian languages (Kannada, Tamil)
-Add new features into official OJS software
-Enhance OJS to support special characters
-Establish a centralized organization/support system for setting up online journals in India
-More intensive training of journal editors
-Assist interested journals in setting up their sites

Related conference presentations:
"Indian biomedical journals and Open Access: a case study at Indian Medlars Centre (IMC), New Delhi, India"

Further Reading:
Arunachalam, Subbiah (2003, June/July). Information for Research in Developing Countries: Information Technology–Friend or Foe? Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/832/01/Arun_01.pdf

“[i]n the 1920s, 30s and 40s,…there were very few journals. The journals, most of them published in the West, took a few months to arrive in India by sea, and to that extent Indian scientists were behind their Western counterparts in the matter of access to information. In contrast by the 1960s and 70s, there were approximately 50,00 research journals and many libraries in India could subscribe at best only to a few hundreds.” p.16

“Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, the best-funded library among all India institutions of higher education, has an annual library budget of approximately Rs 90 million (about $1.8 million). Only a handful of Indian libraries have a budget of around Rs 10 million (about $200,000) – peanuts compared to the acquisition budgets of even moderate university libraries in the United States.” pp.16-17

Blogger's Blurb:
As Arunachalum points out in his article’s introduction, Indian scholars have been responsible for scientific innovations even in the print-reliant first half of the twentieth-century when the information gap between Western and developing countries was much larger than it is today: “It was then that men of the caliber of Srinivasa Ramanujan (‘the man who knew infinity’…), C.V. Rama (India’s first Nobelist in science), Meghanad Saha (known for his work on thermal ionization) and Jagdish Chandra Bose (who many believe was ahead of Marconi in recognizing the existence of radio waves) performed their world class work.” The SJPI project, in striving to provide modern Indian researchers with increased access to information but also to provide the rest of the world with access to the knowledge being produced in India is of huge value. Abraham’s point that having customized OJS for Hindi facilitates further customization into other Indian languages also reveals the potential of online publishing to reach a broader audience. The ability of OJS to connect scholars within India as well as throughout the world would stimulate cooperation and idea sharing and result in an increase in the quality of work produced.

In focusing on editors, the SJPI project recognized software such as OJS only becomes valuable when it is put to use (just as research’s value comes with its communication). The impetus behind OJS software is to increase the distribution of knowledge and thereby increase the quality of information. The feedback gathered by the SJPI project offers means to improve the software so as to increase its appeal and use.

The Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore is, as Arunachalum indicates, the best-funded library in India. It should be commended for taking the lead in both educating and being educated in making scholarly content more effective in electronic media.

Rethinking Collections: Libraries and Librarians in an Open Age

2007-07-12T12:36:00.000-07:00

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
12 July 2007
9:40-10:40 SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room

Presenter:
Heather Morrison, BC Electronic Library Network, Simon Fraser University Library.

British Columbia, Canada
Personal blog

Abstract

Powerpoint Presentation via E-LIS

The key theme for Morrison's presentation was the transition and evolution of libraries in response to the Open Access (OA) movement. The current and future trends towards scholarly communication in an electronic format presents a challenge for libraries. With scholars like Peter Suber and Morrison herself using blogs to make their research public, members of the academic and library communities are no longer reliant on peer-reviewed print published journals -- in fact, waiting for publication of these journals slows down the effective circulation of information to a wide audience that is possible with web-based communication.

Moving towards full open access (corresponding to the Budapest Open Access Initiative), the ability to freely read, make copies, store, and print research means that the peer-review article of the near future can exist in multiple places at once: institutional repository, the author's own site, and the on-line journal allowing for, what Morrison termed "a series of overlapping collections, with links".

Libraries are then challenged by how they will collect and preserve these electronic texts. Will one copy, hosted by one institutional server be enough? Can there be a safe repository for all of the world's electronic knowledge?

Presenting in the same session as the University of Alberta's Pam Ryan and Denise Koufogiannkis, Morrison suggested that the U of A could provide a model for using OA resources. Staff transitions to further OA in the library setting means finding local solutions for new technologies. As there will be less need for hard copies of research material with OA systems, personnel responsible for interlibrary loans and reference liaison can move to support the field of scholarly communication that relies on web-based resources.

Morrison predicted the question asked of librarians will no longer be "where can I find information?" but "how do I know I am not missing something essential?". In turn the questions she urges librarians to ask of their academic institutions is not "why are we focusing on OA when we must pay for so many journal subscribtions?" by "why are we not putting OA at the forefront when it is the future of scholarly publishing?".

Commentary

For established members of the academic and scholarly community the options available for disseminating ideas through wikis, blogs, e-portfolios, preprints, and the author’s own homepage mean that the peer-reviewed journal is not the first, last, or only word on the scholarly subject in question.

However, keeping track of all of these options presenting one’s work means that librarians are pressed to imagine what the future might be like and take steps to ensure that current priorities reflect where scholarly communication is headed (OA, on-line journals and other web-based resources) and not rely entirely on where it has come from (peer reviewed print publications).

Morrison’s comments on transition are valid, but if we are to consider scholarly communication the transfer of information and the circulation of knowledge between individuals the transition required by web-based resources is not then a total revolution. The ability to transmit ideas through media so that they might reach a wider audience has been a key aspect of journal publication since the seventeenth-century and the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

The immediacy of web-based resources means that the audience and the author are brought closer together in real-time – commenting on a blog is far faster than waiting for the next quarterly edition. Enhancing, supporting, and facilitating this closer relationship will be important tasks for librarians to consider.

Links to:
BC Electronic Library Network Page

Morrison's publications in the SFU Institutional Repository

Librarians as campus OA leaders: the University of Alberta experience

2007-07-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
12 July 2007
9:40-10:40 SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room

Presenters:
Pam Ryan, University of Alberta Libraries.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
CV and Personal Website

Denise Koufogiannakis, University of Alberta Libraries.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
CV

Denise Koufogiannakis

Abstract

Denise Koufogiannkis and Pam Ryan provided an overview of their experience with Open Access (OA) at the University of Alberta (U of A). Making the transition from OA in theory to OA in practice in the university and public settings were key issues discussed in this presentation. Koufogiannkis noted that the U of A library is working to raise awareness of OA not only on campus, but to library users in other settings including the public education and public library system. To this end, Koufogiannkis developed a OA mandate for the U of A library that stresses the importance of including OA products in the library collection and providing support for the U of A community who have an interest in OA formats.

Building on discussions that began in 2006 and working with faculty via liaison librarians to explain the benefits of OA has seen the U of A librarians take a proactive approach. As editors of Evidence Based Library Information Practice Koufogiannkis and Ryan can provide insight into the practice of managing and using an OA journal. With regular meetings between faculty and librarians and promoting high profile events on campus (including the March 2007 lecture by Dr. John Willinsky on OA Principles) keeping OA in the campus and public eye has been an important part of moving OA forward.

Looking to the future, the recent hiring of a digital repository librarian and the commitment to further developing the presentation options of OA resources is further solidifying the importance of OA to the campus community and the academic library at the U of A. To continue to meet the needs of OA users, Ryan noted that librarians can be leaders by working with faculty to determine their needs by developing locally based solutions.

While neither Koufogiannkis or Ryan have "OA facilitator" in their job descriptions, both librarians look at OA as the future of libraries and have committed to serving the U of A community; students, faculty, staff, and members of public who have an interest in OA products, research, and information.

Connecting to and communicating with other librarians as OA becomes more popular has also lead to the creation of the Facebook group: Librarians who support open access.

Question from audience:
Could the presenters comment on the relationship between librarians and faculty?
-Faculty and librarians come from different perspectives, but value each other in research and knowledge. Librarians can inform and assist faculty with the advances of the OA process, but Ryan noted that having a high profile member of the academic community -- like John Willinsky -- talk about OA and its advantages to U of A faculty was of great benefit.

Commentary

Pam Ryan noted that discussing OA products is like being on a “carousel of progress”. Librarians find themselves explaining all aspects of OA to interested parties and informing faculty members of the public benefit – going around the same issues over and again until there is an understanding amongst the campus community. With the U of A’s enthusiasm for OA and OJS, the possibilities appear great. However, Ryan also explained that while librarians are excited to work with journals in the start-up phase and can offer support through the initial set-up, the software support is not available locally.

Will on-line journals develop faster and require more elements than the current software allows? As OJS develops new reading tools and seeks to provide the most effective access to information, improvements in the system are bound to occur. However, in his keynote address at the PKP Conference, John Willinsky reported that of 1000 journals using OJS since 2002, 46% are still using the original system. The software itself is clearly not holding back the transmission of ideas to an ever increasing audience.

Once enough members of an academic community support OA products there can be a movement from a “carousel of progress” where a network of people focuses on the journal service to the transmission of scholarly ideas across that group that includes scientists, doctors, social scientists, and researchers in the humanities.

Links to:

University of Alberta Library Homepage

Open Access Publishing Information for the U of A

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's Publishing and Funding Model: What it Means for Open Access and the Library Community

2007-07-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Edward Zalta, CSLI/Stanford University
Time: 9:40 AM - 10:40 AM, 12 July 2007
Location: SFU Harbour Centre, Fletcher Challenge Theatre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Bio: Edward Zalta is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for the Study of Language and Information (CLSI) at Stanford University and principal editor of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

History:
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) began in 1995 as a new model of academic publishing. The SEP was designed, by Zalta, as a dynamic, up-to-date reference work and online encyclopedia responsive to new research for philosophy students and professors.

Current Numbers:
Editorial Board: 106
Authors: 1,186
Entries: 911
Average Length of Entry in Words: 10,100
Commissioned Entries: 1,308
- But remember, this is a process not a product and the numbers are always in state of flux

Results:
-Accessed up to 700,000 times a week
-Entries showing up in course syllabi
-Entries read by students and scholars in other disciplines
-Can be top hit on Google (voluntary euthanasia, Gottlob Frege, animal consciousness, feminist ethics)
-Unexpected readers: Vatican computers looking at “paraconsistent logic”, CNN looking at “holes” and interviewed author)

Publishing Model:
-A password-protected web interface for authors: can download entry templates, submit private drafts for review, remotely edit/update their entries and compare version
-A password-protected web interface for the subject editors: can add new topics, commission new entries, referee unpublished entries and updates (Every entry and revision is refereed and approved before publication)
-Conversion from HTML from Word/LaTeX - SEP produces valid XHTML
-A secure web server for the principal editor
-A tracking/reminder system (logs the actions on web interfaces, monitors entries, determines who owes work and when, automatically sends email reminders, and provides a summary to the principal editor)
-Software which cross-references the SEP when new entries are published, and checks for broken links
-Software which automatically creates an archive every quarter (creates basis for citation)
-Mirror sites at universities in other parts of the world (faster access worldwide, access when the Stanford server is down for maintenance, and safeguards the digital content as extra backups: Australia Mirror, Netherlands Mirror, UK Mirror)
-The model operates on a budget of $200,000/year with 1.7persons (2@75%, 2 @10%)

So how is all this paid for (the SEP’s annual budget in $200,000) and yet, open access maintained?

Funding Model:
-Stanford University and the world-wide library community partnered to raise $4,125,000 endowment
-Stanford University agreed to raise $1.125 million from private donors
-The library community (under the auspices of
ICOLC, SPARC, SOLINET and others) agreed to raise $3 million via one-time membership dues to the Stanford -Encyclopedia of Philosophy International Association (SEPIA), which has SOLINET as its fiscal agent
-Money collected by SOLINET is transferred to a special escrow account in Stanford University's endowment under a contract vetted by the NEH, which stipulates that -Stanford shall manage the money and use the annual payout only for the support of the SEP
-Stanford provides free money management services, and since it typically earns 8-10% on its endowment and pays out 5% to the project, the library money is not only being protected but is also growing as an investment
-Stanford agrees to return library money if project terminates

Funding Success!
-Grants received from NEH/P&A, NSF/DLI, Mellon Foundation, Hewlett Foundation (total $1,344,128)
-NEH endorsed with $500,000 challenge/matching grant
-Stanford raised its share
-Libraries worldwide have pledged $1,650,000 in membership dues to SEPIA (collected 2/3)
-Adding to $500,000 from NEH, libraries need only $850,000 more to reach their goal

Advantages of SEP Model:
-Broad access
-Reduced distribution costs
-Quality assurance through peer review
-Gives scholars and library community control rather than publishers
-Preservation through back-up and mirror sights for long-term future use plus library downloaded archives
-Fair use copyright for authors
-Gives libraries a means to help bring about change
-Serves as example to other professions by fair and reasonable costs for benefits of membership
-Gives libraries a method to address budget crisis through 1 time payment that is protected and return on money – (invested and doesn’t disappear annually, don’t need to continually reassess membership)

Problems:
-Foundations don’t like to contribute to endowments but will give grants for expenditures and fund-raising
-Some libraries remain free-riders using SEP without becoming members
-Some librarians complain the model is forcing them to operate outside their mission by assessing business models and become venture capitalists (the counter to this is to rely on the judgment of their consortial leaders)
-Issue of setting membership dues: Currently Canadian universities are required to pay the same dues as American universities whereas the dues are reduced in Australia and the UK. Only 5 Canadian universities offering doctoral degrees in philosophy (1/4) currently hold full membership (University of Toronto, Dalhousie, York, the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta) whereas over half of the equivalent university institutions in the U.S. have full membership. Zalta mentioned this discrepancy as a point of re-assessment.

Can Model Generalize?
Generalization requires:
-A well-established resource with a good reputation, high academic standards and measurable impact
-The interest of large library umbrella organizations to help get top down access to librarians
-A sizeable volunteer workforce of authors and editors to support plan and advocate to librarians
-Location at a well-established university
-Moderate and attainable fundraising goals

Related conference presentations:
"A Professional Reading Environment, Modeled for a Renaissance English Knowledgebase", "PKP and its Digital Humanities 'Readership'"

Blogger’s Blurb:
Wow! Philosophers designing their own software and beating out Wikipedia on Google searches! An encyclopedia being read not only by students in multiple disciplines but by CNN and the Vatican! Pretty impressive. The SEP model shows the power of online publishing to reach a broad and diverse audience. The SEP’s funding model is also adaptable to other disciplines as Zalta explained with a university’s support and library cooperation. The SEP model puts power in the hands of scholars and libraries, as opposed to publishers, and brings these two groups together in a way that seems so natural and yet is all too rare. The SEP model highlights the power and potential of the Internet. It has transformed philosophers into computer programmers and economists and moved their scholarly work from dusty library shelves to a forum available to anyone simply curious enough to do a simple Google search.

"The Impact of Open Journal Systems on a Mexican Journal"

2007-07-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

was presented at the Public Knowledge Project conference on July 12, 2007 at the SFU Harbour Centre, Vancouver, Canada by Dr. Alejandro Cabello-Pasini, who is an editor of Ciencias Marinas, a bilingual (English and Spanish) peer-reviewed journal of marine sciences.

The journal has been published since 1974 by the University of Baja California, Mexico, and the printed version is distributed to 59 countries under a subscription and/or exchange basis.

In 2006 Ciencias Marinas launched an open-access electronic version using the Open Journal System software, and this has greatly increased the number of users. According to Dr. Cabello-Pasini, the number of users is currently increasing at a rate of approximately five per day and the number of manuscripts received has doubled since the electronic system was established.

The National Library of Australia: open access to Open Publish

2007-07-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Slobodanka (Bobby) Graham, The National Library of Australia
Time: 1:45 PM - July 12th 2007
Location: SFU Harbour Center - Fletcher Challenge Theatre
Links: Abstract , Open Publish

Background:
The National Library of Australia endevoured to establish a new model for scholarly publishing in October 2005. The goal of this project was to make journal articles accessible to a wider readership. The library has a history of championing for best practice and has recently devoted much attention to web design and open access publishing. With the thousands of current users who access books and journals, it is recognized that journals are the lifeblood of the academic community. Unfortunately, they are produced in very small numbers due in part to limited funds. The newfound opportunities for web publishing which supports free, digital and open access to literature has the potential to develop a web of connectivity between wide audiences which would otherwise be impossible. One of the aims of the working group at the National Library of Australia is to enable global access to literature in the form of open access journals that are: in digital format, available online, free of charge, and free of copyright issues.

Open Publish – a new service trial:
Open Publish is the National Library of Australia’s open access journal service trial. The process begain in Oct. 2005 with a meeting between the library and an association promoting Australian writing. It was established that the traditional publishing model was not sustainable. Essays and reviews, commonly published annually in journals, were reproduced into only 350 copies. The process of print publication was also very lengthy, thus delaying the timeliness of communicating new information.

Using the Open Journal Systems (OJS) digital publishing software to manage, host and also to deliver the online open access service, costs were much lower and time was saved. The first journal published in this trial was Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (JASAL). The goal was to publish 1 issue by February 2006. Members of the association were invited to be involved and 4 back issues were uploaded by the projected date. In addition to JASAL, other journals include: Australian Journal of Victorian Studies; Reviews in Australian Studies, which has produced 10 issues online already.

From the library’s point of view, the new publication process is very easy to manage. Upon reflection, the journal team had faced many challenges in up- and downloading, but there were also multiple benefits noted (eg. no need to find papers consisting of referee reports, avoidance of confusion and debates over missed deadlines). A designer has been commissioned to maintain the site and to keep it clean and streamlined, thus making it as simple as possible for incoming journal editors. In addition, if a pay-per-view is required for a certain article, a clear statement is made to the reader.

Work in progress:
- A revision of the search tools would significantly improve the system.
- What type of policy is required?
- What is the role of the National Library of Australia? Since they are not official publishers, their role may sometimes be ambiguous.
- A set of criteria need to be established to determine if a journal is suitable for publishing in the system.

Currently, hosting is made on the following criteria:
- It is an open-access journal
- Journal has distinctly Australian content
- Journal is not linked to any particular institution

Results:
The presenter expressed that the most gratifying aspect of this project is the accessing of their work. It has been documented that for a particular issue within a period of 3 months, there was an average of 516 downloads per article.

For the Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (JASAL), 12 articles averaged 541 downloads per article within a 2-month period. This is extremely encouraging when compared to the 350 prints per year that was previously made. New members have already signed up to be a part of the association.

Through this experience, the library gained what it means to host an online journal system. Staff had to work both collaboratively and remotely at times. There is little expense required and new goals have been made while old ones were exceeded.

Feedback from the audience:
QUESTION:
Would Open Publish consider publishing articles as they come, rather than sticking to the traditional format of publishing in volumes?
RESPONSE:
That depends on the editorial board of each journal.

QUESTION:
Are there more journals in the pipeline?
RESPONSE:
Not yet. It has been recognized that there is a great need for more promotion. Currently, the website is being rebuilt to address some of these issues.

Other open-access initiatives: Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.soros.org/openaccess/)

Web access to social science journals in Latin America and the Spanish Caribbean - the case of CLACSO’s network

2007-07-12T11:28:00.001-07:00

Presenter: Dominique Babini, CLACSO-Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales

Time: 11:00AM - Thursday July 12th, 2007

Location: SFU Harbour Center, Fletcher Challenge Theatre, Vancouver, BC

Link to Abstract

Background
The presenter, Dominique Babini, began by illustrating the limits of traditional methods for circulation of research results in Latin America and the Spanish Caribbean. On average, 500 copies of books and 300 copies of journals are made and distribution is limited due to the extremely high costs of postage.
Printed forms of research material are typically kept in repositories with limited accessibility by the public. A particular network, CLACSO (Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales), was featured in this presentation. CLACSO is an academic network consisting of over 180 university and ngo (non-governmental organization) social science research centers and graduate programs in 21 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. The objectives of the Council are the promotion and the development of investigation and education in social sciences; the fostering of the exchange and the partnership between institutions and investigators both inside and outside the region; and the effective dissemination of the knowledge produced by the social scientists between the social forces, research organizations and society.

Innovation
With the introduction of electronic publishing, it has been possible to breakthrough the boundaries surrounding print distribution, increasing the ease of widespread dissemination of research material. Through e-publishing, web access to full-text articles have been made available through institutional websites and portals such as CLACSO.

Regional portals:
CLACSO (social sciences: 400 downloads/month)
Redalyc (social science: 2 million downloads/month) http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/
Scielo (all disciplines: 3 million downloads/month) http://www.scielo.org/index.php?lang=en

Others: Doaj http://www.doaj.org/, Unesco http://portal.unesco.org/en/

Using an open source virtual library software by Unesco, CLACSO now has links to 71 journals in 17 countries.
Content: 62% of published documents are university journals
Journal format: 88% are in print and digital form while 12% are digital-only
Access: 97% are pure open access with no restrictions, while 3% are restricted (of which 2% simply requires an input of name & mailing address; 1% requires a subscription)

Due to the fact that many users do not have high-speed web access, files in .pdf format are very slow to load. To address this issue, an HTML version can be seen for the majority of papers in addition to the pdf version. It was also emphasized that the appropriate citation for each paper is provided to ensure that authors receive due credit.

In addition, through establishing a working group of journal editors, librarians, and text programmers, a network in which to share monthly news and announcements have been made possible.

Ongoing developments and pending issues
- issues of sustainability were discussed, with a need for ideas on “HOW” to sell. Currently, of all the sales online, 95% are still traditional sales while only 5% are true online sales. Although open acces has been established for 10 years, last year alone $3 million was spent on purchasing journals from european countries. Support for these expenses are needed.
- the process of decentralization has begun.
- digitizing old volumes and articles
- increasing the clarity on proper citation for each article
- improving the ‘Search’ function. It was noted that very few journals in the network have a search facility. Also, searching by subject is not available. Instead, searching must be conducted by the citation’s reference number, which is much less efficient.

Support

This program receives support from CLACSO member institutes, the Swedish government (SIDA) and the Norwegian government (NORAD).

In summary, there was great emphasis on the idea that the public needs to have access to the research conducted in their country. One of the primary goals of CLACSO is to promote and support this notion. This touches on the moral and ethical issue of individuals having "The Right to Know". In addition, unnecessarily restricting access to information creates the notion of artificial scarcity. This may potentially result in lost opportunites for fostering the incentive to produce new knowledge as a global society.

Dominique Babini can be reached at the following email address: dbabini@campus.clacso.edu.ar

A Multi-dimensional Approach to the Study of Online Annotation

2007-07-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Presenters:
Rick Kopak, Assistant Professor, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, UBC
Chia-Ning Chiang, PhD Candidate, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, UBC
Thursday, July 12, 2007
9:40 AM - 10:40 AM in SFUHC, Canfor Policy Room

Abstract

Presentation (Powerpoint/PPS file)

Rick Kopak’s major research interest is in human information interaction focusing on how semantic or meaning cues derived from the use of information can be used to improve navigation in distributed information environments. He is currently investigating the role of annotation and typed linking in providing useful navigational aids in discursive digital texts.

Chia-Ning Chiang's research focus is on mediated user-interface design in human-computer interaction.

A Field Study of Online Annotation

Rick Kopak and Chia-Ning Chiang study online annotation using a multi-dimensional approach. They carried out a field study and analyzed the resulting data to improve system design.

Their study seeks to increase critical engagement of the users in the online reading environment. Using the Open Journal System (OJS) as the reading environment, they have a prototype of reading tools built on the platform. With the tools, they are aiming for the users to perform active reading, in which they are not only reading but also writing. Readers of printed books or papers have been doing this naturally, for example when they annotate on the margin of the books.

Annotation and Linking

Aim: to explore behavior, cognition, and social dimensions
Multi-dimensional: form, function, and role (audience)
Context: to create a digital annotation environment to investigate the dimensions

Prototype of Annotation and Linking in OJS

The audience had a chance to see some screen captures of the prototype. The annotation area, where users type in their annotations, is on the right side of the article’s text (the margin). The audience also saw a demonstration on how it works. A user can highlight an area of the text, select from a drop down menu the type of link to create (called a link type), and then typing a note on the margin. A user can also create a link between two articles in OJS, which points exactly to the text of interest.

Evaluation of the Study

The 15 participants of the study, comprising of graduate students and faculty members, were asked to do general (go through each article and see what they are about) and directed reading task (looking for a specific aspect/meaning from the article).

The study uses multi-dimensional approach to investigate online annotation:

the relative value (combining frequency of use and user rating) of online annotation according to combinations of form (behaviour) and function (cognitive state) in relation to the prospective audience for the annotations (i.e. private, work group, and larger public)
the patterns of behavior and cognitive states of readers while annotating

Results

The study looks at a number of aspects:

Happy highlighters or meager markers - result is all over the map, no pattern of distribution
Text annotation by task (do people create notes more or less when the tasks are different) - no pattern discovered when comparing results of general vs directed reading
What was highlighted - general reading vs directed reading
Links and link typing - general reading vs directed reading

Feedback and Wish List from the Study Participants

About difficulties encountered when using the tools:

highlighting is easy but the next step is not too obvious
note-writing widgets wanted

About links and link typing:

need more obvious link creation and representation
need to maintain coherence when linking back and forth between articles
not clear what the link type means

About sharing annotations:

selectively share (when it is meaningful or helpful to others, they want to share the annotation)
enable revision
enable others to comment (to encourage dialogue and give information via linking)
search capability (search public annotations by topics/functions or by section of the article)

Wish list:

Toggle between viewing a clean copy or an annotated copy
Turn on/off annotation easily
Distinguish own annotations from other people's annotation when in public view mode
Highlight (icons to mark the text)
Note-writing (a place for writing long notes, drag and drop text, content description)
Linking (one to many links, live link to non-OJS Internet resources)

Future Directions

Separate workspace: personal and shared
Support reading tasks: skip complex function for general reading, more complex ones for directed reading
Integration with reading tools: look-up terms, check Internet sources

Discussion

Among the questions asked by the audience, one person put forward an interesting idea of adding a feature to the system so that users can look at and follow one person’s annotations on all articles that the person have read (a la del.icio.us).

Commentary

Online annotation and linking enable scholarly communications to take the most advantage of the online format. With this kind of reading tools available, readers of online scholarly journals can find out what other readers think of a particular journal article and can even follow the discourse around a certain scholarly enquiry in a new way made possible by the online reading environment. They become actively engaged with their readings as the tools allow them to "write on the margins" and link the reading materials in ways that make sense to them.

In the spirit of increasing the circulation of knowledge, the result of the study would continue the tradition of scholarly publishing that Henry Oldenburg has started with his journal the Philosophical Transactions.

Establishing an on-line editorial and publishing system: One year experience with Journal of Research in Medical Sciences

2007-07-12T11:00:00.002-07:00

*** preliminary notes ***

Presenter: Mahmoud Saghaei - Isfahan University of Medical Sciences
Time: July 12 2007 at 11:00 – 12:00pm
Location: SFU Harbour Centre Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Abstract

Mahmoud Saghai, professor of Anesthesiology at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Research in Medical Sciences (JRMS) presented at the Public Knowledge Project 2007 journal an overview of publishing practices in Iran as well as JRMS' transition from print to an online system.

Scholarly communication in Iran is rather limited in its readership as it remains mostly within the country. Journal publishing is mostly funded by the government and universities, in which contributions can be taken into consideration for academic promotion. As the government lends a hand in publishing, it has developed councils to regulate the credibility of journals, such as Medical sciences journal commission (MSJC) and Higher education journals commission (HEJC).

The following are some of the criteria set out by these councils:

- Only approved journals are creditable for academic use
- Title must relate to only one subspecialty within the MSJC
- Only one English journal per subspecialty allowed

If the journal does not meet any one of the criteria, then it is not credible, unless indexed (Medline, ISI, CAS, etc…) Also, interesting about journal publishing in Iran is that no journals from any other cities or universities can compete with one another, unless it is recognized internationally.

One reason for the low visibility of Iranian journals is that few of them are online. Those that are available online rely on editorial management software that is locally developed, as international commercial web services are expensive.

Journal of Research in Medical Sciences (JRMS)

Background information

This journal is published bimonthly from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences electronically and traditionally in print, with an international editorial board from all clinical disciplines. Between 1996-2003, it was published in Persian, then English. Another important year is 2005 where they were indexed in CAS, EMBASE and EMRO.

The workflow of this journal

During an editorial meeting, submissions are subjected to an initial evaluation, and possible subsequent early rejection. However, if at least 2 internal and external referees from the editorial meeting nominate the manuscript, it will go through to peer-review which lead to further revisions with the editorial meeting members. Upon acceptance, papers archived until there are enough submissions for an issue. Finally the paper will be published, but without any author proofs.

Every task listed above is conducted in the editorial meeting, as there are no section editors. With this process, it is difficult to track the papers, detect inadvertent articles interference, find missing articles or reviews, restricts reviewing to local resources and also blinds the reviewer as it is limited.

This process has since been revised. Before the discovery of OJS’ existence in late 2005, the journal went through a software trial and error period for about 2 years where local engineers produced software without being familiar with journal system management. In other words, editors also needed to be a programmer in order to understand the technology, which subsequently persisted in traditional practices of printing journals.

However, through the accidental encounter of OJS, the whole workflow changed such that section editors were selected among the editorial members capable of working with the software. This eliminated the process of presenting papers during editorial meetings since they could decide themselves which papers to select. Editorial meetings were now to designed to overlook insufficient reviews after 3 months of accepting manuscripts. This process, with modifications, was practices for 4 months before they decided to go online, noting there was a 2 months period of hybrid system (both print and online was available). To facilitate this transition, editorial members, staff, reviewers and authors could attend workshops, information was also changed to the native language for better comprehension and literature (pamphlets) is locally available in English.

With the advent of the OJS, processing time was decreased. Manuscript submission is now processed online, with 2 editorial staff, one for print and one for the online system. However, the option for print is left up to the author.

In February 2006, the first issue came out with real users being first the section editors then the authors, and subsequently reviewers being granted access to the online system

Conclusions

From JRMS’ experience, migration from print to an online system should be made step by step. The use of a temporary hybrid system should also be considered. Also noting that migration would be difficulty without professional software, which also helps editors become professionals themselves.

The Library as a mediator for e-publishing.

2007-07-12T11:00:00.001-07:00

*** preliminary notes ***

"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"

Presenters: Mikael K. Elbæk - Copenhagen Business School Library
Time: July 12 2007 at 11:00 – 12:00pm
Location: SFU Harbour Centre Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Abstract

Mikael K. Elbæk, initially part of the Copenhagen Business School Library, now works with the Danish National Research Database and with the Technical Knowledge Centre of Denmark, at the Technical University of Denmark.

During the Public Knowledge Project conference 2007, Mikael presented the current situation of journal publishing in Denmark as well as two case studies: a traditional paper-based journal moving towards OA online and one that is already published online.

To understand the journal publishing in Denmark, the following facts were given:

- of 623 journals, 162 of them are available online in some form.
- 70% are published in English, 30% in Danish and other languages (namely French)
- There are more than 500 research societies
- Approximately 7100 people are involved in editorial work, as either editors or reviewers, and almost all based on volunteer work.

Online journal systems (OJS) in Denmark, began in 2004-2005 when the government agency Denmark’s Electronic Research Library (DEFF), similar to our Synergies, funded an electronic journal project. From that, the ejournals@cbs was founded. Since then, several university libraries throughout the country have started to adopt their own forms of online journals.

The ejournals@cbs offers their faculty the following services:

- Assistance in publishing and/or archiving their journal online
- Initial set-up in OJS, each having their own URL, style and design
- Training to make them self-sustainable
- Encouragement to publish OA, though it is not a requirement as the importance lies in having access to journals that were previously unavailable
- Hotline and support service
- Administration help, and daily back ups and updates relating to OJS.

Some of the successes noted was the increase in downloads of available journals. In May and June 2007, there were 19938 and 22919 respectively. Interesting to note is that most of the articles downloaded were Danish. It is possible that this is due to a large interest in available material in the language. Some of the motivation behind this venture is that it is a win-win situation for libraries as they now have access to materials previously unavailable, and that no one else is doing this in Denmark at this time.

Case study 1: Copenhagen journal of Asian Studies

This journal has been paper based since 1987, publishing 2 volumes per year of approximately 150 pages in English with international readers and authors. As it has very limited resources, it is heavily dependent on volunteer work. Breakthroughs with this journal occurred with electronic archiving, with a 1 year embargo. Persuading the editor of the journal was very difficult as there was attachment to the traditional method of publishing. Fears of losing subscribers, for economic reasons, held the journal back from becoming open access. However, they did see the benefits for e-publishing but lacked the means to transform their journal. With the aid of OJS and Mikael, issues from about 1997-2006 are now available online.

Case study 2: Foucault Studies

This journal has been online and has open access since 2004, publishing 2 volumes per year in English with international authors, editorial board, and readers. This initiative is funded by a government research fund and hosted at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia on their own developed html platform by one person. Now, with the new editor-in-chief Dr. Sverre Raffnsoe from CBS, they are moving towards ejournals@cbs. The only difficulty encountered was the changing of platform.

Conclusions from these two studies show that smaller older journals (traditionally in print) were very reluctant to OA, but still open to the idea of going online. The troubles lie in the process of making it OA, as well as maintaining the tradition of the print, all the while not losing subscribers. Ejournals@cbs offered a solution to the methods of transferring their materials online; however, they were only responsive when OA publishing is an option, but not a requirement.

Reading Research Online: Ways of Enhancing Scholarly Reading Environments

2007-07-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Peter Arthur, University of British Columbia
Thursday, July 12, 2007
9:40 AM - 10:40 AM in SFUHC, Canfor Policy Room

Abstract

Peter Arthur is Director, Centre for Teaching & Learning, UBC Okanagan and currently pursuing his doctorate with John Willinsky at UBC. His research is assessing what contextual elements of an online “Reading Tool” support the quality of reading for readers of online research.

Review of the Literature

Peter Arthur presented a review of the literature on online scholarly reading, ranging from 1987 to 2007. His aim was to come up with recommendations to create an online reading environment that is conducive to maximum knowledge acquisition.

During the time, technology has progressed, but some problems still exist with reading online. Some people would have no problem with reading on screen and even prefer this way of reading, but some people would prefer to print the online reading material first and then read it on paper.

Hypertext and System Experience

As online reading materials are hypertext, he presented the advantages and disadvantages of hypertext. Users of hypertext have the advantage of having greater control over the reading materials compared to users of print materials. However, users of hypertext can experience disorientation (lost in hyperspace, navigation problem, etc). They are also faced with cognitive load because they have to make decisions as they read through, such as whether or not to search online for further information on the reading specifics.

Online reading presents challenges for novices, or readers with low domain knowledge. On the other hand, expert online readers (high domain knowledge) are better able to acquire knowledge. System experience is a factor causing the difference.

Reading can be linear or nonlinear. In the print environment, reading is linear as users read from start to finish. It is different in the online environment, where reading hypermedia and hypertext is nonlinear as users encounter many potential pathways and have greater user control.

What the Research Says

Research about navigational aids has been trying to enhance the online reading environment by the following means:

Hierarchical map – helps readers understanding the structure of the online material
Preview links – shows a snapshot of the destination website (pop-ups) menu when you hover over the link
Searching tools – helps readers looking for more details on the reading

Research has also shown useful features for readers in the online reading environment:

Consistency - for example, links are always underscored and blue, so reader can intuitively tell the links apart from the text
Breadcrumbs - showing reader where they are
Visited links – on the browser, links will change colour after they are clicked (or visited)

Design Considerations

Peter then brought up some design considerations for the online reading environment:

Who is the target audience? Who are going to be the readers?

It matters because the way novices read online would be different from the way expert readers do. Novices require different tools or support than experts do.

Experts (high domain knowledge) would want:

greater level of control
finding specific information rather than general or basic information

Novice (low domain knowledge) would want:

hierarchical maps
hierarchical topology
not too much linearity (this is causing too much cognitive load and disorientation)

Discussions

Peter’s presentation was followed by some interesting discussions with the audience. Asked about usability testing on the reading tools in the Open Journal System (OJS), he mentioned Mia Quint’s study with students as participants, in which half of them are given access to reading tools and the other half are not. The study is still in progress, so the result is not available yet.

Another person asked about research regarding orientation for novice readers, but Peter did not recall any study on teaching novices how to navigate or orient themselves. He mentioned that in Mia Quint’s study, the students are not taught about how to navigate the online reading environment they are using.

A question about deep reading versus scanning when people read online also came up. However, Peter did not recall any empirical study on this matter, but acknowledged existing discourse on it.

Finally, someone in the audience from Australia put forward a comment that some users do not even know what reading tools are, so customization of the reading tools are necessary. To this end, Peter was in agreement with the suggestion.

Commentary

Designing an online reading environment that works well for its users is complicated. Design considerations vary from one type of reading materials to another. Reading novels online for pleasure would definitely be different from reading scholarly papers online. Peter Arthur focuses his study on the scholarly reading environment and attempts to produce research-based recommendations for designing systems that allow maximum knowledge acquisition.

As stated in the Budapest Open Access Initiative, the Internet has allowed electronic distribution of scholarly journals and the open access initiative is making them freely available online. Thus, readers of these journals are likely to read research online. Peter’s study contributes to making the online reading experience better for them.

His distinction of novice and expert readers with regards to design requirements takes into account that opening access to research and scholarship means widening the readership to include not only scholars but also readers with little or no prior knowledge of the reading materials, as suggested by John Willinsky.

Understanding both types of readership and accommodating their needs into the system design would create a better system experience, which will retain and increase readership. In turn, this will increase the circulation of knowledge, continuing the spirit of scholarly publishing that Henry Oldenburg has started with his journal the Philosophical Transactions.