Issue 62 of Ariadne is now available with its usual mix of main articles, event reports and reviews on a wide range of topics. LMS users may be interested to read of the implementation of Xerxes at Royal Holloway while researchers have notice of activity JISC is planning to carry out on Research 3.0. There are also articles, among others, on Web preservation and reference management, an information model of digital identifiers, a user-driven methodology for the iterative development, testing and implementation of Dublin Core Application Profiles in diverse repository software environments, the current situation in ebook readers, some recent developments in democratising the archive, the value of intranets as a strategic asset and a tool designed to display information about researchers and their activities.
Archive for the ‘Publications’ Category
Issue 62 of Ariadne Now Available
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010UKOLN Response to Empower, Inform, Enrich Report
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010UKOLN has submitted a response (by Dr Liz Lyon and Ann Chapman) to the DCMS regarding the consultation report on the future of public libraries entitled Empower, Inform, Enrich.
Museums in a Digital Age
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010Brian Kelly has contributed to a book entitled Museums in a Digital Age
. This work, edited by Ross Parry and published by Routledge in December 2009, provides advice on best practice related to use of digital media in the cultural heritage sector. Together with Lawrie Phipps and Caro Howell, Brian contributed on the topic Implementing a holistic approach to e-learning accessibility which appears in Part 3: Access: ability, usability and connectivity.
Times Higher Highlights Web 2.0 Tools for Research
Monday, January 18th, 2010A recent item from the Times Higher Education covers the emergence of the Web 2.0 tools Mendeley and Zotero and their level of support and deployment in the management of research papers online. Cameron Neylon, University of Southampton, advocated their use: “You can use them to deal with the quantity of information scientists need to keep track of and identify collaborators with complementary interests.”
The author also turned to other organisations for their views, pointing to the study conducted by JISC and the Research Information Network (RIN) entitled Communicating knowledge: how and why researchers publish and disseminate their findings which stated that take-up by academics was lower than anticipated. Neil Jacobs of JISC indicated there were interesting examples of usage by researchers of such technologies but that, “what is appropriate in one field of research may not be appropriate in another”. Liz Lyon of UKOLN advised that a further obstacle to adoption lay in the area of trust: “Academics can be concerned that they will be ‘scooped’ and so there is a reluctance to share. You may find people will share information with known contacts, but are wary about opening themselves up on the Internet.” Branwen Hide, RIN, remarked that “academics like things to be quick and simple and if a product isn’t, they won’t use it”.
Cameron Neylon summarised the benefits of Mendeley and Zotero by adding, “.. Essentially, you’re doing the same things you would have done previously but much more quickly and with access to many more people and items.”
Paper on Exploiting the Potential of the Social Web
Thursday, January 14th, 2010Shortly before Christmas 2009 Brian Kelly presented a paper Empowering Users and their Institutions: A Risks and Opportunities Framework for Exploiting the Potential of the Social Web at the CULTURAL HERITAGE on line Conference which was held in Florence. This paper is now available from the UKOLN Web site.
New Issue of Focus on UKOLN Available
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010Issue 21 of Focus on UKOLN, the electronic newsletter which provides news, opinion and information on the wide range of activities undertaken by UKOLN, was published recently.
New JISC-funded Shared Infrastructure Services Landscape Study Completed by UKOLN
Friday, January 8th, 2010Rosemary Russell and Ann Chapman of UKOLN were the authors of a JISC-funded Shared Infrastructure Services (SIS) Landscape study on the use of Web 2.0 tools and services in UK Higher Education. This 33-page report, which is now available on the JISC Information Environment (IE) Repository Web site, is based on a survey across the UK HE community on the diverse ways in which Web 2.0 technologies are being used to support teaching and learning, research and administrative activities.
International Journal of Digital Curation, Issue 3, Volume 4
Monday, December 7th, 2009UKOLN has just published – on behalf of the Digital Curation Centre – Issue 3, Volume 4 of the International Journal of Digital Curation. This issue features nine peer-reviewed papers and three general articles.
Research 3.0 and the Data Revolution
Thursday, November 26th, 2009Today the JISC has launched a year-long campaign called ‘Research 3.0 – driving the knowledge economy’ , to debate how digital technologies are changing not only what research we do, but how it can be carried out. The UKOLN ‘Open Science at Web-Scale Report’ is a cornerstone of this campaign. In addition, the Times Higher has published a supplement: ‘The Data Revolution’ which highlights how JISC is supporting universities and the Research Councils to advance in the ever-changing technology landscape, and includes quotes from Dr Liz Lyon, Director, UKOLN.
Open Science – the future for research?
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Liz Lyon, Director of UKOLN and Associate Director of the Digital Curation Centre, has written a new report on Open Science as part of JISC’s ‘Research 3.0 – driving the knowledge economy’ activity which launches at the end of November. The consultative report, entitled Open Science at Web-Scale: Optimising Participation and Predictive Potential identifies open-ness, predictive science based on massive data volumes, and citizen involvement as being important features of tomorrow’s research practice.