Riding the wave of open access : providing library research support for scholarly publishing literacy

Researchers are experiencing intense pressures to publish and increase research outputs. Recently many research funders have introduced policies and mandates related to open access, which have contributed to the increasing popularity of open access journals. Dubbed gold open access, open access journals offer researchers another publishing option. However, some publishers with questionable practices and journals of dubious quality have emerged exploiting the ‘author pays’ open access model and researchers' need to publish. Hence an ability to publish research outputs through the most appropriate outlet for a particular field is crucial for researchers in order to maximise the impact of their research. Notwithstanding the proliferation of open access journals, the literature indicates that some researchers may not have a full understanding of the operations, implications and issues around open access and other publishing issues. This understanding is known as scholarly publishing literacy. With knowledge of scholarly publishing and access to resources and tools, academic libraries and librarians are well-positioned to play an active role in providing support to researchers. This paper argues that scholarly publishing literacy should be treated as an extension of information literacy delivered through a broader research support framework. This paper presents a research librarian's perspective, and draws on literature and the author's practice to illustrate key points. Issues for further investigation are identified.

Open access : just one item in a Pandora’s box

The scholarly publication model is discussed and the impact of the current technological change on knowledge and communication generally on the scholarly publication model is set out. The proposal is made that rather than open access being the cause of the apparent and impending collapse of the scholarly publication industry, it is but one driver of a far wider change in scholarly publication. That change will have effects that extend well beyond the simple decision of whether a publication should be available by subscription or by one of the forms of open access. A number of other changes to scholarly publication are also itemized. The change is inevitable but its extent is as yet unclear.

Open Access : How Open ? How Accessible? Symposium

Introduction: Anne Horn, University Librarian, Deakin University Library.

Presentations:
Economic impacts of open access implications from studies in Europe and the United States / John Houghton ;
Where is open access in the ARC's ERA? / John Lamp ;
Open access : an academic publisher's perspective / James Mercer.

Includes audio recording of whole Symposium : n21-Oct-Recording

Digital systems for open access to formal and informal learning

 Today, Digital Systems and Services for Technology Supported Learning and Education are recognized as the key drivers to transform the way that individuals, groups and organizations “learn” and the way to “assess learning” in 21st Century. These transformations influence: Objectives - moving from acquiring new “knowledge” to developing new and relevant “competences”; Methods – moving from “classroom” based teaching to “context-aware” personalized learning; and Assessment – moving from “life-long” degrees and certifications to “on-demand” and “in-context” accreditation of qualifications. Within this context, promoting Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning, is currently a key issue in the public discourse and the global dialogue on Education, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Flipped School Classrooms.

Transnational curriculum inquiry : building postcolonialist constituencies and solidarities

In this paper I explore some theoretical and practical possibilities for building new transnational and transcultural solidarities in postcolonial curriculum inquiry. I argue that building such solidarities requires a rethinking of the ways in which we perform and represent curriculum inquiry, so that curriculum work within a global knowledge economy does not merely assimilate national (local) curriculum discourses-practices into an imperial (global) archive. I draw on the initial stages of research on internationalisation, inclusivity, and innovative knowledge work conducted with colleagues at Deakin University, and elsewhere, which focuses on the possibilities of producing knowledge in transnational virtual spaces. This includes studies of the formation of new (and we hope more inclusive) transnational scholarly communities and constituencies, and of strategies to improve modes of intercultural communication that facilitate transnational knowledge work. I situate part of my discussion of these arguments and issues in the practicalities of establishing Transnational Curriculum Inquiry (TCI), an electronic open-access journal that is both a site for transnational scholarly conversations and a site for inquiry into the ways that electronic publishing procedures facilitate and/or constrain inclusive knowledge work and postcolonialist curriculum inquiry.

"You Tube and I Find" - personalizing multimedia content access

Recent growth in broadband access and proliferation of small personal devices that capture images and videos has led to explosive growth of multimedia content available everywhereVfrom personal disks to the Web. While digital media capture and upload has become nearly universal with newer device technology, there is still a need for better tools and technologies to search large collections of multimedia data and to find and deliver the right content to a user according to her current needs and preferences. A renewed focus on the subjective dimension in the multimedia lifecycle, fromcreation, distribution, to delivery and consumption, is required to address this need beyond what is feasible today. Integration of the subjective aspects of the media itselfVits affective, perceptual, and physiological potential (both intended and achieved), together with those of the users themselves will allow for personalizing the content access, beyond today’s facility. This integration, transforming the traditional multimedia information retrieval (MIR) indexes to more effectively answer specific user needs, will allow a richer degree of personalization predicated on user intention and mode of interaction, relationship to the producer, content of the media, and their history and lifestyle. In this paper, we identify the challenges in achieving this integration, current approaches to interpreting content creation processes, to user modelling and profiling, and to personalized content selection, and we detail future directions. The structure of the paper is as follows: In Section I, we introduce the problem and present some definitions. In Section II, we present a review of the aspects of personalized content and current approaches for the same. Section III discusses the problem of obtaining metadata that is required for personalized media creation and present eMediate as a case study of an integrated media capture environment. Section IV presents the MAGIC system as a case study of capturing effective descriptive data and putting users first in distributed learning delivery. The aspects of modelling the user are presented as a case study in using user’s personality as a way to personalize summaries in Section V. Finally, Section VI concludes the paper with a discussion on the emerging challenges and the open problems.

Bellwether procedures for monitoring and planning essential surgical care in low- and middle-income countries: caesarean delivery, laparotomy and treatment of open fractures

BACKGROUND: Surgical conditions represent a significant proportion of the global burden of disease, and therefore, surgery is an essential component of health systems. Achieving universal health coverage requires effective monitoring of access to surgery. However, there is no widely accepted standard for the required capabilities of a first-level hospital. We aimed to determine whether a group of operations could be used to describe the delivery of essential surgical care.

METHODS: We convened an expert panel to identify procedures that might indicate the presence of resources needed to treat an appropriate range of surgical conditions at first-level hospitals. Using data from the World Health Organization Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Global database, collected using the WHO Situational Analysis Tool (SAT), we analysed whether the ability to perform each of these procedures-which we term "bellwether procedures"-was associated with performing a full range of essential surgical procedures.

FINDINGS: The ability to perform caesarean delivery, laparotomy, and treatment of open fracture was closely associated with performing all obstetric, general, basic, emergency, and orthopaedic procedures (p < 0.001) in the population that responded to the WHO SAT Survey. Procedures including cleft lip, cataract, and neonatal surgery did not correlate with performing the bellwether procedures.

INTERPRETATION: Caesarean delivery, laparotomy, and treatment of open fractures should be standard procedures performed at first-level hospitals. With further validation in other populations, local managers and health ministries may find this useful as a benchmark for what first-level hospitals can and should be able to perform on a 24/7 basis in order to ensure delivery of emergency and essential surgical care to their population. Those procedures which did not correlate with the bellwether procedures can be referred to a specialized centre or collected for treatment by a visiting specialist team.