Category: Reports and White Papers

Future of Scholarly Publishing and Scholarly Communication: Report of the Expert Group to the European Commission

Jean-Claude Guédon et al. have self-archived Future of Scholarly Publishing and Scholarly Communication: Report of the Expert Group to the European Commission.

Here's an excerpt:

This report analyses the recent past and present states of scholarly communication and publishing. It proposes ten principles through which a vision for scholarly communication is shaped over the next 10-15 years. These principles also serve as a way to examine shortcomings of the current scholarly communication and publishing system. The report then offers recommendations to key actors in the scholarly communication system about the best ways to address these shortcomings. The discussion in the report focuses mainly on journals and articles, although books and monographs are also considered, as well as the significance of new and emerging forms of scholarly communication.

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Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and EU Copyright Law: Who Owns AI?

The UK Copyright and Creative Economy Centre, has released Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and EU Copyright Law: Who Owns AI?.

Here's an excerpt:

The question thus becomes the following: is the act of training a model for ML [Machine Learning] purposes a copyright relevant activity? . . . . In more precise terms, the research question of this short contribution will focus on the act of training a model for ML/NLP [Machine Learning/Natural Language Processing] purposes and attempts to answer the question of whether this act infringes copyright and in particular the right of reproduction. In addition to this, the contribution also intends to explore whether there are other rights that may be infringed, in particular the right of adaptation, and thus determine whether a ML trained model can be considered a creative adaptation of the original corpora.

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Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humans

The Pew Research Center has released Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humans.

Here's an excerpt:

The experts predicted networked artificial intelligence will amplify human effectiveness but also threaten human autonomy, agency and capabilities. They spoke of the wide-ranging possibilities; that computers might match or even exceed human intelligence and capabilities on tasks such as complex decision-making, reasoning and learning, sophisticated analytics and pattern recognition, visual acuity, speech recognition and language translation.

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WIPO: Report on Copyright Practices and Challenges of Museums

The World Intellectual Property Organization has released the Report on Copyright Practices and Challenges of Museums.

Here's an excerpt:

At the request of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), WIPO has carried out a research project with the objective of examining copyright practices and challenges of museums in fulfilling their missions and activities.. . .In this context, the author and the SCCR Secretariat interviewed 37 museums worldwide with different types of collections and activities, as well as other key stakeholders.

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"OCLC Research and euroCRIS Release Report on International Research Information Management Practices"

OCLC Research has released "OCLC Research and euroCRIS Release Report on International Research Information Management Practices."

Here's an excerpt:

OCLC Research and euroCRIS, the international organization for research information, have published a joint research report, Practices and Patterns in Research Information Management: Findings from a Global Survey, which examines how research institutions worldwide are applying research information management (RIM) practices.

The report, written by a working group comprised of experts from both organizations, details the complexity of research information management practices. It examines how commercial and open-source platforms are becoming widely implemented across regions, coexisting with many region-specific solutions as well as locally developed systems. It also considers the factors that have led to the need for complex, cross-stakeholder teams to support institutional RIM activities, which increasingly includes the library.

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Pew Research Center: Public Attitudes Toward Computer Algorithms

The Pew Research Center has released Public Attitudes Toward Computer Algorithms.

Here's an excerpt:

At a broad level, 58% of Americans feel that computer programs will always reflect some level of human bias—although 40% think these programs can be designed in a way that is bias-free. And in various contexts, the public worries that these tools might violate privacy, fail to capture the nuance of complex situations, or simply put the people they are evaluating in an unfair situation. Public perceptions of algorithmic decision-making are also often highly contextual. The survey shows that otherwise similar technologies can be viewed with support or suspicion depending on the circumstances or on the tasks they are assigned to do.

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"BISG Releases Draft White Paper on Open Access Ebook Usage"

The Book Industry Study Group has released Building a Trusted Framework for Coordinating OA Monograph Usage Data.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

This funded project is designed to identify the challenges in understanding the usage of OA ebooks, suggest some opportunities for resolving them, and create a framework for future action through community consultation. It focuses on the challenges of identifying and aggregating relevant information from different platforms, analyzing what has been gathered in ways that respect user privacy, and communicating relevant information about usage to stakeholders.

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The Potential of Global Identifiers to Support More Efficient Workflows for All Kinds of OA

Jisc has released The Potential of Global Identifiers to Support More Efficient Workflows for All Kinds of OA.

Here's an excerpt:

This document describes the potential of Persistent Identifier (PID) registries, in particularly for researchers and organisations, and how, if properly used, they can ease the administrative burden of any open access (OA) policy and improve workflows.

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State Archiving in the Digital Era: A Playbook for the Preservation of Electronic Records

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers and the Council of State Archivists have released the State Archiving in the Digital Era: A Playbook for the Preservation of Electronic Records .

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Many states are finding that they are unprepared to deal with the unique management and preservation issues that are related to digital archives. NASCIO, along with CoSA created this playbook for the preservation of state electronic records. This document includes eleven plays that state officials should consider when working together toward the preservation of digital archives.

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STM Report: An Overview of Scientific and Scholarly Publishing

The International Association of STM Publishers has released the STM Report: An Overview of Scientific and Scholarly Publishing.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The report provides authoritative coverage of all aspects of journal publishing, including market size and statistics, peer review, Open Access and new technology and market developments.

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"A Mini Survey of Digital Humanities in European Research Libraries"

Lotte Wilms has published "A Mini Survey of Digital Humanities in European Research Libraries" in the LIBER Blog.

Here's an excerpt:

Of the 22 libraries who responded, eight have been running a DH activity for under a year. Half have been active between 1-5 years and only three libraries have had a DH activity for more than five year. Most (13 libraries) have a team of 2-5 people working on DH, with teams of 6-10 people (six libraries) following closely. A majority of the libraries (16) conduct the activity as part of a policy, while six libraries do it as an ad-hoc activity. Looking at budget, over half have dedicated funding for the activity. Nine libraries are doing this without any dedicated budget.

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European Commission: "Trends for Open Access to Publications"

The European Commission has released Trends for Open Access to Publications.

Here's an excerpt:

Data and case studies covering access to scientific publications. Bibliometric data as well as well as data on the policies of journals and funders are available. . . .

See also: Open Science Monitor Methodological Note.

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And I Thought All We Needed Was Amazon: "People Visited Public Libraries More Than a Billion Times in 2015"

The Institute of Museum and Library Services, has released "People Visited Public Libraries More Than a Billion Times in 2015."

Here's an excerpt:

The Public Libraries Survey report, released today by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, provides a snapshot of public library use, financial health, staffing, and resources in FY 2015. . . .

The 2015 report includes the following findings:

  • Nearly 311 million Americans lived within a public library service area in 2015, an increase from 306 million in 2014.
  • In 2015, there were 1.39 billion visits to public libraries, or 4.48 visits per person.
  • Public libraries offered 4.7 million programs in 2015, attended by nearly 107 million people, 5 million more attendees than the previous year.
  • Public libraries made 1.31 billion collection items available to patrons and provided access to over a quarter million internet computers.
  • The number of electronic materials available through public libraries, including audio, video and e-books, continued to grow. E-books, especially, have seen significant growth, increasing from 0.04 e-book per person in 2006 to just over one e-book per person in 2015. (See table below.)

Read the report: Public Libraries in the United States Survey: Fiscal Year 2015.

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Assessing The Open Access Effect for Hybrid Journals

Springer Nature has released Assessing The Open Access Effect for Hybrid Journals.

Here's an excerpt:

In partnership with Digital Science, we analysed a global sample of over 70,000 articles published in Springer Nature hybrid journals. Our new white paper, Assessing the open access effect for hybrid journals, examines the relationship between open access (OA) and impact, demonstrating the wider value hybrid journals bring to researchers, funders, institutions, and society more broadly.

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Social Media Use Continues to Rise in Developing Countries but Plateaus Across Developed Ones

The Pew Research Center has released Social Media Use Continues to Rise in Developing Countries but Plateaus Across Developed Ones.

Here's an excerpt:

Across the 39 countries, a median of 75% say they either use the internet occasionally or own a smartphone, our definition of internet use. In many advanced economies, nine-in-ten or more use the internet, led by South Korea (96%). . . .

Across 39 countries, a median of 53% say they use online social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. However, that figure conceals large differences around the world, and the relationship between social media use and national wealth is not as strong as it is for overall internet use and smartphone ownership.

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Creative Commons: State of the Commons 2017

The Creative Commons has released State of the Commons 2017.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

People, projects, and programs make up the bulk of this year’s report, but the data also supports our vision of a more creative, open world. 1.4 billion works is 200 million more than last year, and that growth has accelerated compared to the previous two years. To provide concrete examples: The Metropolitan Museum released 375,000 pieces of content under CC0 in February 2017. PLOS counts 7,000 editorial board members and 70,000+ volunteer peer reviewers to release 200,000 pieces of content. Wikipedia, one of our closest allies and partner in the “Big Open”, hosts 42 million freely licensed pieces of content. Our search tool has responded to 1,500,000 queries, and our website has been visited 50,000,000 times. And that’s only a part of our impact.

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