Attention points in a written text help to focus readers’ attention on the key points of the research findings. While the inclusion of such points are generally recognised as vital, Patrick Dunleavy finds that in practice, many scholarly writers struggle with basic design strategies. He identifies four top-level design principles to consider when constructing tables, charts, graphs, or diagrams. Particularly in a digital era it […]
Author: Sierra Williams
“Re-purposing” data in the Digital Humanities: Data beg to be taken from one context and transferred to another.
While scientists may be well-versed in drawing on existing data sources for new research, humanists are not conditioned to chop up another scholar’s argument, isolate a detail and put it into an unrelated argument. Seth Long critically examines the practice of re-purposing data and finds data in the digital humanities beg to be re-purposed, taken from one context and transferred […]
HEFCE announces Open Access policy for the next REF in the UK: Why this Open Access policy will be a game-changer.
With the final consultation period now over, the Open Access policy for the next REF has been released. Alma Swan looks at the rollout which requires the deposit of articles into repositories and finds this is pragmatic but good policymaking. With that simple requirement, the culture in British universities can be shifted towards open access. Swan also notes areas where the […]
Four reasons to stop caring so much about the h-index.
The h-index attempts to measure the productivity and impact of the published work of scholar. But reducing scholarly work to a number in this way has significant limitations. Stacy Konkiel highlights four specific reasons the h-index fails to capture a complete picture of research impact. Furthermore, there are a variety of new altmetrics tools out there focusing on how to measure […]
Book Review: Punk Sociology by David Beer
This book explores the possibility of drawing upon a punk ethos to inspire sociology and to cultivate a vibrant future for the discipline. Aiming to fire the sociological imaginations of sociologists at any stage of their careers, from new students to established professors, it uses punk to think creatively about what sociology is and how it might be conducted. Dave O’Brien finds […]
Impact Round-Up 29th March: Citation types, commercialised knowledge, and boundary workers.
Managing Editor Sierra Williams presents a round-up of popular stories from around the web on higher education, academic impact, and trends in scholarly communication. We need different types of citation: Replicates, Falsifies, DependsOn, Acknowledges … by Mike Taylor at SV-POW argues for further metadata on citation type to be pulled in, which would add a richer and more useful layer to citation metrics. Over […]
Mind the gap in data reuse: Sharing data is necessary but not sufficient for future reuse.
The changing cultural norms about open science and government mandates encouraging open data have influenced the increasing availability of research data. Limor Peer reports back from a recent conference involving leading voices in the scholarly community involved with facilitating data sharing and grappling with the challenges of data reuse. Peer argues the first step is to acknowledge data reuse is a problem, but remains optimistic that with […]
How to stay on top of online education: Lessons from the New York Stock Exchange.
Daniel Beunza looks at how universities can continue to stay on top of technological change in the face of mounting start-up competition and debilitating institutional inertia. Drawing on his research on the transition to algorithmic trading at the New York Stock Exchange, Beunza argues that in order to have lasting success, online education and technology-mediated learning must be designed to complement […]
30 ways academic book publishers add value to the process of research communication.
What exactly do book publishers bring to the table when academics look to reach wider audiences? Francine O’Sullivan reflects on the shifting priorities of academic book publishers in the digital age and the need to ensure added value to the overall process. She provides a list of things an author or editor should expect a high quality academic book publisher […]
Opportunities for ‘data intensive’ social research are growing but funding for data management remains a challenge.
The Digital Curation Centre have been vigorously involved with identifying core components of an effective institutional policy to improve research data management. Angus Whyte runs through the opportunities and challenges in business planning for RDM. Funding and sustaining such services requires a clear vision of what better data management will do for the institution, its researchers, and the broader community. The key is […]