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5856 results in Facet Publishing

Page 178 of 293

  • 2 - Supporting qualitative research in the humanities and social sciences: using the Mass Observation Archive

  • from Part 1 - Changing researcher behaviour
  • Edited by Deborah Shorley, Michael Jubb
  • Book:
    The Future of Scholarly Communication
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp 25-38

  • Summary

    ABSTRACT

    This chapter uses the Mass Observation Archive (MOA), a vast collection of qualitative data on many subject themes, as a case study to examine how the availability of new technologies and tools for research has changed the way in which information professionals can support the use of data of this nature in the humanities and social sciences. It explores the different ways in which research in these disciplines can be supported through digitization, and outlines how important it is to ensure that there is a ‘curatorial voice’ for the researcher in digital material, showing how this adds value to the resource. The chapter also details the various projects with which Mass Observation has been involved to open up and enhance the usability of the Archive. These include the JISC-funded Observing the 1980s Open Educational Resource project, which offers opportunities for the reuse of newly digitized material under a Creative Commons licence, and the SALDA project which produced sets of openly available Linked Data extracted from the records of the MOA Catalogue. By working closely with academics and information professionals on projects such as these, the authors of this chapter argue, they have been able to offer many new ways for researchers in the social sciences and the humanities and other disciplines to use and manipulate the collection.

    Introduction

    The availability of new technologies and tools for research in humanities and social sciences has changed the ways in which information professionals can support the use of qualitative data in humanities and social sciences. Recent years have seen a large increase in the number of digitization and metadata creation projects undertaken by libraries and archives across the world, underpinned by a firm acknowledgement from the research community that these resources are required in order to enhance and support work in various subject areas. Researchers are encouraged to use technologies to create cross-disciplinary and crossinstitutional collaborations in their work; and by easing accessibility to qualitative data resources, we can support these initiatives, as well as encourage the use of our unique and valuable resources.

  • 2 - Understanding archival materials and their characteristics

  • Helen Forde, Jonathan Rhys-Lewis
  • Book:
    Preserving Archives
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp 5-24

  • Summary

    Introduction

    Archival materials are complex in their manufacture and use, and some understanding of their history and different characteristics is important for successful preservation. The chemistry involved is largely the preserve of conservators undertaking pure and applied research, but some basic knowledge, particularly of modern materials, is necessary. Paper and parchment constitute the vast majority of carriers – excluding magnetic materials and electronic media – in most archives in the UK and many other countries. Other materials, such as palm leaves or bark, are found elsewhere in the world, but are rare in Europe and are not covered here. Understanding the problems of different materials is one thing; finding the solutions is quite another and these will depend upon the circumstances in each archive. There are, however, two exceptions; these relate to nitrate-based and cellulose acetate-based film, both of which may deteriorate quickly, or in the worst case, self-combust or explode, if action is not taken upon discovery of degradation.

    This chapter looks at the structure and manufacture of the materials most commonly found in UK and many other archives throughout the world, including:

  • • paper

  • • parchment

  • • inks

  • • photographic materials

  • • audiovisual materials

  • • optical materials

  • • tapes

  • • discs

  • • digital storage media.

    • Paper

    Paper is the material most widely used for archives and therefore merits particular attention. The materials from which it is made have varied over time, resulting in more or less stability; this ref lects the common perception of paper as a disposable product, but in practice it is a remarkably resilient writing medium.

    The development of paper

    The Chinese invention of paper in AD105, as an alternative writing medium to silk or cloth, has traditionally been associated with ’i Lun, of Hunan province, although some recent discoveries suggest that it was being used at least a century earlier. Wadding has also been discovered in a tomb in Shanxi province but the structure provides no evidence of fibre beating, an essential operation which forms the hydrogen bondings which distinguish sheet paper from wadding.

    In the Western world paper began to rival papyrus in the late eighth century AD, although Chinese paper makers are known to have been in Turkey as early as 648 and had passed on the art to the Arabs by the middle of the eighth century.

  • 13 - The library users’ view

  • from Part 2 - Other players: roles and responsibilities
  • Edited by Deborah Shorley, Michael Jubb
  • Book:
    The Future of Scholarly Communication
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp 169-178

  • Summary

    ABSTRACT

    This chapter focuses on scholars, rather than on all library users. In it I examine some of the key changes in scholarly practices and associated attitudes in recent years. What are some of the key aspects of the relationship between the academic library and those scholars who may make use of its collections and services? Against a shifting background of significant increases in the accessibility of a variety of information sources and services, how is that relationship changing? I will attempt to examine what it might mean to think of scholars as having the identity of ‘library users’, ultimately arguing that there has been a structural readjustment in the nature of the user's relationship with information services providers, including the library. The perspective presented in this chapter is rooted to some degree in the US higher education community. There, it has become clear in recent years that the principal differentiator among faculty members’ attitudes and practices is discipline, far more than institutional type, years in the field or other characteristics. In 2012, Ithaka S+R is conducting research programmes with components in both the USA and the UK. So far, these have identified no evidence of any essential differences in the views of academics in the UK and the USA that would bear substantively on the issues covered in this chapter.

    Introduction

    As previous chapters have made clear, scholars today have a vastly increased number of options available to them to meet their information services needs. The academic library has responded with a variety of new infrastructures, services and strategies. An understanding of the users’ views is ultimately vital for any information services organization that wishes to serve them.

    Background

    The nature of the scholar's relationship with information services organizations is, and always has been, multi-faceted. This relationship incorporates functions such as discovery of information, access to collections and the range of services necessary both to enable their use and to enable original research.

    Traditionally, these functions were best, if not exclusively, provided in person. Discovery involved such tools as the card catalogue and reference collections. Collections of books, journals and other materials were usually developed for the ideal of locally maintained, on-site stacks. Services included the staffed reference desk, bibliographers with research expertise dedicated to individual fields and other advanced reference services.

  • 8 - Creating and using surrogates

  • Helen Forde, Jonathan Rhys-Lewis
  • Book:
    Preserving Archives
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp 123-138

  • Summary

    Introduction

    Surrogates – the production of a user copy of the original – have a major role in preservation management, as they reduce the wear and tear on originals and in many cases enhance access. Developing a programme should therefore be an option for all archives, but it must be recognized that all interests, including those of the readers, should be taken into account. Policy decisions will have to be considered if surrogates are to be offered to readers; will it be obligatory to use them and are there copyright issues, especially if they are available online? These issues need to be debated and agreed by the archive, since they will undoubtedly be raised at some point by readers.

    Debates about different methods, the reasons for copying, and the associated costs of creation and upkeep have ranged widely over the past 50 years. Until recently such discussions have been centred largely on copying for the purposes of preservation. Access issues, however, have always crept in, emphasizing the difficulty of isolating one from the other. The development of digital methods of copying information has given increasing prominence to access issues, leading to change and enlargement of archive and library access policies, plans and costs. These are issues which are likely to loom larger in the future. Preservation is no longer the main focus.

    This chapter looks at:

  • • the different types of copies

  • • the preservation issues surrounding the creation of surrogates

  • • the changing policies of archives on copying

  • • the actions needed to ensure that original materials are treated appropriately if they are copied.

    • It does not describe the technical requirements or standards for equipment, which can be found in the appropriate manuals.

    Copying archive material

    Reformatting for preservation whether utilizing analog or digital technologies is a series of choices all affected by economics, legal or social conventions, and decisions about risk management.

    (Bellinger, 2003)

    Decisions to copy, as Bellinger states, involve a host of choices, all of which require judgement about condition and access, and some of which may be controversial. Nevertheless, they must be made and priorities established; the alternative could be the total loss of information and therefore access to it. Risk management looms large in debates about copying.

  • 5 - Information rich and information poor

  • from Part 3 - The political dimension
  • John Feather
  • Book:
    The Information Society
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp 111-134

  • Summary

    It has been argued in Chapters 3 and 4 that information technology has both facilitated and inhibited access to information. On the one hand, it has greatly increased the ease of storing, sorting and retrieving data; on the other, it has increased the cost of doing so and made that cost more easily quantifiable. By putting a complex technology with an expensive infrastructure between information and its potential users, it has introduced a new obstacle in the chain of supply. In a later section of this chapter, we shall explore this at the level of information supply to individuals, but it is perhaps most starkly illustrated by considering these issues in the context of states, and, in particular, the nations of the Third World and central and eastern Europe. This exploration must, however, begin with some more general considerations, for in Chapters 3 and 4 we have assumed that information has an economic or fiscal value. The time has now come to attempt a closer definition of that concept.

    The value of information

    Information is a commodity which is bought and sold. However difficult it may be to define how it acquires value, the fact of the commodification of information cannot be denied. So far, however, we have largely dealt with the financial aspects of the supply of information rather than the value of the information itself. Books, journals and computer software have a price attached to them at which they are bought and sold. We can assign costs to the construction and maintenance of telecommunications networks, computer hardware, and so on. We can calculate the cost of processing information, in terms of the time involved in obtaining, recording and retrieving it, a cost which would normally be a combination of paying for the time of those involved and the cost of the materials, equipment and consumables they use. None of this, however, really addresses the question of the value – if any – which can be assigned to information.

    The problem lies in part in the definition of information itself. Dictionary definitions typically suggest that it is a subset of knowledge acquired, deliberately or accidentally, by study or experience. For some purposes, this is adequate: information is simply a part of the total stock of human knowledge. We can, however, take the matter a little further.

  • 2 - A conservation workshop

  • from Appendices
  • Helen Forde, Jonathan Rhys-Lewis
  • Book:
    Preserving Archives
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp 231-236

  • Summary

    Establishing an in-house conservation workshop is a choice to be made by each archive, weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing the work against the capital cost, employment costs and ongoing commitment of an in-house resource. Either way it will be a senior management decision, with the appropriate need for support. Quantifying the need for conservation work, following an appraisal of the general condition of the material (see Chapter 14) is essential before making any decisions.

    If the decision is to establish a new workshop in-house an expert will be required to install and manage it. This is likely to be a senior conservator and appointing someone initially with the appropriate accreditation and skills will have major benefits for the project; planning a building programme and a conservation programme will be part of the job specification. Additional staff will be needed but the number will depend on the amount of work to be undertaken and the skills required; resources to meet these needs may only be possible when specified as part of an externally funded project. Conservators will contribute to preservation activities such as monitoring the conditions in the strongrooms and assisting with disaster control and can also run volunteer programmes for basic preservation work such as cleaning and dusting volumes or flattening large documents for protective boxing. Administrative assistance will be needed in large workshops as treatment records (including digital photographs) need to be kept; documents need to be checked in and out of the workshop and materials and equipment ordered and maintained. In smaller workshops, conservation staff will undertake these tasks.

    Planning

    Planning the installation project is a shared activity between the archivist, the conservator, the architect and the engineer; clearly it must fit within the overall business plan of the archive and adequate time must be allowed to plan the project properly. Visits to other institutions to view any new, or benchmark facilities are vital. Robust specifications, rigorously drawn up, tested and scrutinized are the basis of a successful project. The location of the workshop will depend on whether the facility is to be part of a new build for the whole organization or is to be an adaptation of a part of an existing building.

  • 8 - The changing role of the publisher in the scholarly communications process

  • from Part 1 - Changing researcher behaviour
  • Edited by Deborah Shorley, Michael Jubb
  • Book:
    The Future of Scholarly Communication
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp 103-114

  • Summary

    ABSTRACT

    The advent of digital communication has created challenges for publishers of scholarly materials; it has threatened to revolutionize the process of scholarly communication and change the fundamentals of the publishing process forever. But has it? This chapter investigates to what extent scholarly publishing has been affected by the transition to digital communication, what opportunities have been created and how the transition is shaping the future of the industry. It breaks down the publishing process into three stages – input, processing and output – to analyse how much each of these areas has been affected and if some areas of the publishing process have been affected more than others. It analyses the changing business models in the scholarly journals market and looks at the effect that the introduction of Open Access (OA) publishing has had on both the subscription business model and the way that the communication of research is being financed. It finds that scholarly publishers have undergone a huge transition over the last 20 years, moving from a slow, print-based model to purely digital delivery in many cases; but for all that change, the process of scholarly publishing (peer review, editorial review and the structure of a scientific paper) has changed very little. What has changed is the way that users are using and accessing the information, and the business models that have now developed for digital media, such as the Big Deal and Gold OA. Many scholarly publishers are still in the middle of a transition to true digital publishing and the mechanisms involved in scholarly communication have yet to take full advantage of many of the technologies available today, and so this industry will have to continue to adapt and change to meet the needs of the next generation of researchers.

    Introduction

    The publishing side of the scholarly communication process has developed over hundreds of years, with many crediting the invention of the Gutenberg printing press in around 1440 as the starting-point. This invention led to the mechanization of book making and the start of mass reproduction of intellectual works, which over time grew into the modern publishing industry. Many of the scientific publishers still trading today can trace their roots back many centuries and have developed alongside the growth of science as an area of interest and research, playing a role in the communication of its discoveries.

  • 2 - Mass media and new technology

  • from Part 1 - The historical dimension
  • John Feather
  • Book:
    The Information Society
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp 21-38

  • Summary

    The pictorial image

    During the second half of the 19th century, there began a new stage in the evolution of the storage and communication of information. It can be seen as an attempt to overcome some of the inflexibility of print, tied as it was to the alphabetic representation of language and a few other sets of symbols such as those used by musicians or mathematicians. The earliest experiments were with processes that facilitated the reproduction of visual images in print. Such processes had existed since the 15th century, and indeed the simplest of them – the carved wooden block – had probably been invented in Europe before typographic printing and had certainly been in use in east Asia for centuries before the first book was printed in the West. Woodcuts were crude but could be effective; indeed the woodcuts that allegedly illustrated the martyrdom of English Protestants in the reign of Mary I (1553–1558) became one of the most common visual images of the past for millions of people in the following 200 years.

    At a more sophisticated and technically satisfying level, a printing process that made it possible to reproduce engravings made on metal (usually copper) plates was developed in the 16th century. This process was in use, with some modifications and refinements, for 200 years; engravers reached a high level of technical and artistic achievement. At the very end of the 18th century, another new printing process, lithography, made it possible for the artist to draw an image on a prepared block of stone (or later of metal) which could then be reproduced without any further intervention from an engraver or woodcutter. However, all of these processes, even woodcut, were expensive, and, except in the very best of hands, reproductions were little more than approximations to the subjects they allegedly portrayed.

    From the 1840s onwards, the invention of photography changed this forever. Although the early processes were expensive, cumbersome and unreliable, within 30 years a means had been found of reproducing photographs in print. By the end of the 19th century they were beginning to appear in some of the more popular newspapers.

  • 11 - Changing institutional research strategies

  • from Part 2 - Other players: roles and responsibilities
  • Edited by Deborah Shorley, Michael Jubb
  • Book:
    The Future of Scholarly Communication
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp 145-156

  • Summary

    ABSTRACT

    University research strategies make statements about research ambitions, but rarely speak directly about scholarly communications. At the same time, communication of all sorts has become central to a university, whether to support recruitment, present a public profile or respond to events. This chapter seeks to explore the relationship between institutional research strategies and scholarly communications and to see how each may have affected the other and how they might do so in the future. It describes the purpose and structure of an institutional research strategy, and how these are changing. It highlights the linkages between strategy, implementation plans and policies, where the latter encourage desired behaviours. In the context of scholarly communications, the research strategy is the public document in which an institution states its commitment to such forms of communication: that discovering new knowledge and sharing that discovery in meaningful ways are at the heart of the institution. The discussion then moves to the changing nature of scholarly communications, including the Open agenda, and questions how scholarly communications fits into the wider spectrum of institutional communications. The chapter concludes that there has probably been little direct connection between research strategies and approaches to scholarly communications, but that this is changing. Both institutions and individual researchers wish to demonstrate the quality, relevance and accessibility of their research, in order to be attractive to collaborators, funders and employers. Successful institutions will ensure that strategy and scholarly communications activities are mutually supportive, to the benefit of both their researchers and the organization.

    Introduction

    How have institutional research strategies affected scholarly communications, if at all?

    How have changes in scholarly communications affected institutional research strategies?

    This chapter addresses these two questions; and to that end it looks at the recent evolution of the institutional research strategy.

    University research strategies (and their parent institutional strategies) have tended not to consider scholarly communication directly. Rather, they have tended to be statements about undertaking high-quality, relevant research and translating it into practice or other beneficial outcomes. It is implicit that the results of research will be disseminated, but little attention is paid to how, why and through what media.

    At one level, this is neither surprising nor concerning. Indeed, the academic community might be more worried if their institutional strategy became too prescriptive.

  • Introduction: Scholarly communications – disruptions in a complex ecology

  • Edited by Deborah Shorley, Michael Jubb
  • Book:
    The Future of Scholarly Communication
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp xiii-xxxvi

  • Summary

    The scholarly communications system has undergone a series of profound changes in the last decade, and change continues apace. Indeed, this book comes at a time when governments, research funders, learned societies and universities, as well as researchers themselves, are showing unprecedented levels of interest in how researchers communicate their findings. In the UK, the Finch Report, the government's response to it and the policies announced by the Research Councils have signalled a sharp acceleration in moves toward Open Access (OA). In Europe, the EU Commission has announced that OA will be a requirement for all publications arising from research funded under the Horizon 2020 programme, and that it will introduce a pilot scheme on access to and reuse of research data. It has also recommended that governments of the member states should introduce policies for OA to both publications and data arising from publicly funded research. In the USA, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued in February 2013 a policy memorandum directing Federal agencies to develop plans to make the published results of federally funded research freely available to the public within one year of publication and requiring researchers to manage the digital data resulting from research.

    Such developments indicate how important it is now to find ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of communications both between researchers themselves and between the research community and the many other people and organizations who are interested in their findings. Effective communication is essential if we are to reap the full benefits – in the form of tangible contributions to social welfare and economic growth, and also to the intellectual and cultural life of nations – that can and should arise from the substantial investments that governments, charities and others make in research.

    The development of effective channels of communication between researchers across the globe has underpinned the growth in our understanding of the world for at least 350 years. The communication of theoretical and empirical findings through scientific journals and other publications has been at the heart of the scientific and broader research enterprise since Henry Oldenburg, the first Secretary of the Royal Society, created its Philosophical Transactions in 1665, defining its core functions as:

  • • registering research findings, their timing, and the person(s) responsible

  • • reviewing and certifying the findings before publication

  • • disseminating the new knowledge

  • 7 - Social media and scholarly communications: the more they change, the more they stay the same?

  • from Part 1 - Changing researcher behaviour
  • Edited by Deborah Shorley, Michael Jubb
  • Book:
    The Future of Scholarly Communication
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp 89-102

  • Summary

    ABSTRACT

    Social media have been hailed as a significant opportunity for scholarly communications, offering researchers new and effective ways to discover and share knowledge. Tools such as blogs, wikis, Twitter and Facebook, as well as their underpinning principles such as crowdsourcing and the value of enhanced or networked data, have all been explored to varying extents by academics, librarians and publishers in their attempts to improve the efficiency of scholarly communications and to reach new or wider audiences. This chapter examines such use of social media and suggests that all of these groups use social media only where it mimics or reinforces their existing behaviours. For the most part, they adopt those elements of social media that make tasks easier or more efficient, but reshape tools or the way in which they are used in order to avoid challenging traditional cornerstones of scholarly communications, such as journal articles and peer review.

    Introduction

    Facebook was founded in 2004: by January 2009 it had 175 million active users; and by December 2011 it had 845 million – around 12% of the world's population. Twitter was launched in July 2006 and signed up its 100 millionth active user in September 2011. In September 2010, the five billionth photograph was added to Flickr's searchable database; the Tate group of four art galleries has a collection of just 65,000 works of art.4

    These statistics show how social media have rapidly become a routine part of many people's personal and professional lives. This chapter explores how these new tools, and the behaviours that underpin their use, are being adopted within scholarly communications, and whether they are changing the way in which researchers and others share information and knowledge.

    The social media landscape

    Social media tools and technologies build upon the principles and practices of Web 2.0. These stress the move from static, proprietary systems to applications which ‘get better the more people use them’.5Web 2.0 focuses on tools which treat the user as a co-developer and on business models which seek to generate revenue not from sales of a product but from services or enhanced data.

The Future of Scholarly Communication
  • Edited by Deborah Shorley, Michael Jubb
  • Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013
  • Global thought-leaders define the future of research communication. Governments and societies globally agree that a vibrant and productive research community underpins a successful knowledge economy but the context, mechanisms and channels of research communication are in flux. As the pace of change quickens there needs to be analysis of new trends and drivers, their implications and a future framework. The editors draw together the informed commentary of internationally-renowned experts from all sectors and backgrounds to define the future of research communication. A comprehensive introduction by Michael Jubb is followed by two sections examining changing research behaviour and the roles and responsibilities of other key actors including researchers, funders, universities, research institutes, publishers, libraries and users. Key topics include; changing ways of sharing research in chemistry, supporting qualitative research in the humanities and social sciences, creative communication in a 'publish or perish' culture, cybertaxonomy, coping with the data deluge, social media and scholarly communications, the changing role of the publisher in the scholarly communications process, researchers and scholarly communications, the changing role of the journal editor, the view of the research funder, changing institutional research strategies, the role of the research library and, the library users' view. This is essential reading for all concerned with the rapidly evolving scholarly communications landscape, including researchers, librarians, publishers, funders, academics and HE institutions.

  • 3 - Managing digital preservation

  • Helen Forde, Jonathan Rhys-Lewis
  • Book:
    Preserving Archives
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp 25-40

  • Summary

    Introduction

    To the archivist the need to preserve selected digital information of long-term value is fairly self-evident, but to many of those involved in the creation of data the importance of strategies for preservation is not so obvious. Assumptions are made about the longevity of digital information which are quite unfounded, even when the evidence of the potential fragility of the medium is there for all to see. Archivists and records managers have to develop new approaches and engage earlier to ensure that serious loss of information does not take place in the context of rapidly rising use of the technology. Digital preservation is a much more stable technique than it was even ten years ago, but the discussions and debates surrounding it need to be translated into active strategies, adopted by all organizations with a concern for the future of their documentation.

    This chapter looks at:

  • • why digital preservation is important

  • • why it is perceived as difficult

  • • what decisions are needed to ensure that the appropriate digital material is preserved over time

  • • who should be involved

  • • how to start and maintain the process.

    • This chapter does not deal with the technical aspects of digital preservation; advice on this is best sought from the national archives of the relevant country, such as The National Archives (TNA) or organizations such as Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) in the UK, and in the USA, the National Digital Stewardship Alliance or the impressive guidance and developmental work carried out by the Library of Congress. The DPC is a consortium of library, archive and research organizations, brought together to pool ideas, promote best practice and publish research on digital preservation issues.

    Why is digital preservation management important?

    Digital preservation (the act of ensuring enduring access to electronic material) is rarely undertaken by the same person who deals with the more traditional forms of archive preservation. Increasingly, however, it is essential for all archivists to understand some of the management principles and strategies adopted to achieve it and the contribution that different professions can make to this. The most important point is that building preservation into any digital project at the outset is much easier, more efficient and vastly cheaper than attempting to preserve, or re-create the material at a later stage.

The Information Society
  • A Study of Continuity and Change
  • John Feather
  • Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013
  • What is information? Who are the information rich and who are the information poor? How can there be equality of access for users in the light of the political, economic and cultural pressures that are placed upon information creators, gatherers and keepers? Set against a broad historical backdrop, The Information Society explores the information revolution that continues to gather pace, as the understanding and management of information becomes even more important in a world where data can be transmitted in a split second. This latest edition of this standard work has been fully updated to take account of the changing landscape and technological developments since 2008. The social Web, or Web 2.0, is now embedded in daily life, and some of its applications have become the most popular forms of communication system. Even the predominance of email – one of the most familiar manifestations of the information revolution – is now threatened by texting and the use of such applications as Twitter. The ways in which we expect to interact with information – and how much we are willing to pay for access to it – are throwing up new opportunities and debates.

  • 4 - Creative communication in a ‘publish or perish’ culture: can postdocs lead the way?

  • from Part 1 - Changing researcher behaviour
  • Edited by Deborah Shorley, Michael Jubb
  • Book:
    The Future of Scholarly Communication
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 March 2013, pp 51-62

  • Summary

    ABSTRACT

    Technological advancement has transformed research across the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines, leading to the development of new fields of enquiry, as well as novel research tools and methodologies. It has also generated a variety of original media for communicating scholarly research. Yet, despite this, articles in highly ranked, peer-reviewed journals remain – for better or worse – the panacea. Postdocs working at research-intensive universities are required to demonstrate innovation to further their careers. However, the pressure to publish in order to secure a permanent academic post means that the gap for creative research communication is narrow. Most postdocs are accordingly conservative in the way that they report and disseminate their research. This chapter looks at how the ‘publish or perish’ culture affects the ways postdocs understand and make choices about communicating their research. Using a recent public outreach project as a case study, it explores the benefits of participating in creative dissemination projects and discusses the broader value of creative forms of science communication.

    Introduction

    This chapter looks at the ways in which the ‘publish or perish’ culture which exists within STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines influences the choices postdoctoral researchers (postdocs) make about how to conduct research and communicate their findings. Drawing on data examining the role of creativity in STEM research, it explores the scope for creative forms of research dissemination and suggests that while developing a strong portfolio of peer-reviewed publication is critical, more creative forms of scholarly communication are also of increasing value to postdocs’ career progression.

    Publishing in the digital age

    Technological advancement has transformed research across the STEM disciplines, leading to the creation of new fields of enquiry and the growth of novel methodologies and research tools. It has also generated a variety of original media for sharing data and communicating findings. Yet despite this, articles in highly ranked, peer-reviewed journals remain – for better or worse – the panacea of scholarly communication.

    Rather than transforming the way in which research is disseminated, the advent of digital technology seems, somewhat ironically, to have reinforced traditional modes of scholarly communication. Debate concerning the accessibility (or lack thereof) of online publications has led to the development of alternative communication strategies. These include Open Access journals, institutional repositories, pre-print servers, social networking sites and personal blogs.

Page 178 of 293