Video of “Protests, Petitions and Publishing” event now available
Video is now available of our February 28 event "Protests, Petitions and Publishing." The intense discussion covered recent developments in the debate over access to scholarly literature. See Allan Adler of the Association of American Publishers (AAP)–often quoted in the press defending the Research Works Act–explaining the AAP's position. Hear the American Anthropological Association's Oona Schmid lay out the challenges facing scholarly societies and their publishing programs. Listen to Columbia University's Peter Woit explain why mathematicians would not be terribly sad if Elsevier disappeared; Woit has a more complicated view of the publishing house Springer and of Google, however. Gail Drakes of New York University sees the academic commons as an important component of a larger cultural commons, a space not defined by copyright law in which information and ideas are exchanged. Anthropologist Alex Golub of the University of Hawaii argues that anthropologists have always wanted to create broad access to scholarship, but he asserts that current scholarly communication models in anthropology are unsustainable and innovation is crucial.
"Protests, Petitions and Publishing: Widening Access to Research in 2012" is part of the Research Without Borders (RWB) speaker series. On April 5 our next event will feature George Mason University Center for History and New Media Managing Director Tom Scheinfeldt speaking on "Invisible College: THATCamp as Scholarly Society." For past events, search for the #rwob hashtag on Twitter or view the full RWB video playlist on YouTube.
Columbia Libraries Responds to White House OSTP
The Columbia University Libraries/Information Services (CUL/IS) has responded to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP) requests for information (RFI) on public access to scientific publications and data resulting from federally funded research.
Columbia is one of many universities and other groups representing researchers and research institutions that have submitted responses to the RFIs. Many publishers of scholarly journals are also expected to comment.
Read the CUL/IS response to the publications RFI and its response to the data RFI.
Answering these RFIs has been especially crucial in light of the recent introduction of the Research Works Act (RWA) in the House of Representatives. The RWA (HR 3699, co-sponsored by Congressman Darrell Issa and New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney), would prevent Federal agencies from adopting policies requiring that peer-reviewed journal articles reporting the results of Federally funded research be made publicly accessible without the prior consent of both the author and publisher of the article. The RWA would mean the end of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy and would prohibit other Federal agencies from adopting similar policies. The bill has been broadly criticized by researchers, librarians, and advocates of open access, open government, and open source software. Though the Association for American Publishers supports the bill, AAP members including MIT Press, ITHAKA, and Pennsylvania State University Press have denounced it.
Answers to Your Questions About Copyright and Electronic Filing
Tuesday, March 6, 1:00 to 2:30 PM
Butler Library, Room 523
Ask your questions about copyright, using copyrighted materials in your dissertation or thesis, and depositing your work in Academic Commons. Copyright Advisory Office director Kenneth Crews and Academic Commons manager Robert Hilliker will offer advice to Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) students preparing their dissertations or theses for electronic filing. Bring specific questions!
Though the focus of this discussion will be on GSAS dissertations, all members of the Columbia community are welcome.
New Video: “Harnessing the Semantic Web for Scholarship”
Watch three great presentations on the Semantic Web in the video of our November 2 Research Without Borders event "Harnessing the Semantic Web For Scholarship." Benno Blumenthal, Data Library Manager at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), offers an introduction to semantic technologies, using the IRI Data Library as an example. Cristina Pattuelli of the Pratt School of Information and Library Science outlines how she is using semantic technologies to work with cultural heritage collections. And Fordham University assistant professor Micki McGee describes her work with semantic technologies on the Yaddo Circles Project and the Compatible Data Initiative.
The speakers illuminate the potential of the Semantic Web as a productive tool for scholarship and research while illustrating how semantic technologies are still in the beginning stages of development.
Check out this and other videos of events on the Past Events page.
Learn About the Semantic Web and Scholarship
On Wednesday, November 2 at noon, join us in the Faculty House of Columbia University's Morningside Campus for an exploration of the uses of semantic technologies in scholarly research. The discussion, "Harnessing the Semantic Web for Scholarship," will introduce the Semantic Web and look at scholarly projects employing semantic technologies.
Our speakers are all involved in innovative initiatives using the Semantic Web. Micki McGee is an assistant professor of Sociology at Fordham University and is project director of the National Endowment for the Humanities-funded Compatible Data Initiative, a project aiming to generate standards for shared, interoperable data sets for humanities‑based network analysis projects. Benno Blumenthal is Data Library Manager at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) at Columbia University. He is currently interested in using semantic technologies to facilitate the distribution of Earth science data for public use, and he is the author of the IRI/Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Climate Data Library, which offers freely accessible climate data via the Web. Cristina Pattuelli is an assistant professor at the Pratt School of Library and Information Science. Her research focuses on information organization and the knowledge representation methods and tools applied to information systems, with a current emphasis on using semantic technologies in cultural heritage resources. The discussion will be moderated by Columbia Department of English and Comparative Literature doctoral candidate Graham Sack.
If you can't attend the discussion, follow it on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/ScholarlyComm/. See the Past Events page for videos of other Research Without Borders events.
Join Us For an Academic Commons Deposit Party
On Thursday, October 27, Academic Commons, the digital research repository of Columbia and its affiliates, will be co-sponsoring two deposit parties. These are events where students, faculty, and staff can bring their work and, with the assistance of repository staff, add it to the burgeoning collections of Academic Commons. These deposit parties are part of Open Access Week 2011 at Columbia.
The first deposit party will be hosted by the Digital Humanities Center (Room 305 in Butler Library), and will run from 3:30 to 5:00 PM. The target audience is graduate and undergraduate students, particularly those who take part in the previous day’s workshop on copyright and other issues in filing electronic theses and dissertations. Refreshments will be served.
The second, which begins at 5:00 PM, is being hosted by the Monell Engineering Library as part of the monthly “Cordial," an event where librarians mingle with faculty and enjoy wine, cheese, and other refreshments.
Participants in either event should come prepared: whether you bring a flash drive crammed to the gills with your articles, presentation slides, and other work, or simply a copy of your CV that can be used to track down digital copies of your work on the Web, you will need to have your files to hand in order to deposit them.
If you have any questions about Academic Commons in general, or the deposit parties in particular, please direct them to Robert Hilliker, the Digital Repository Manager, at rhilliker [at] columbia.edu.
Open Access Policy Template Now Available
If your department or school is considering adopting an open access policy, visit the Open Access Policy Template page. You can now download the policy language that both the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the Columbia Libraries/Information Services use for their open access policies. This language can be applied to any unit of Columbia University and can be adopted for use at other institutions.
Along with the template, on this page you will find links to:
- frequently asked questions about the policy and about open access;
- information about open access policies at peer institutions;
- related resources.
And if your Columbia department or school approves an open access policy, be sure to let us know! The Libraries/Information Services will support implementation of your policy and help make complying with the policy easy for faculty and staff. We will also introduce you to Columbia's digital repository, Academic Commons, and the services it provides to scholars and researchers at Columbia.
Open Access Week 2011
The week of October 24, events marking the growth of open access as a new norm of scholarship and research will take place at Columbia and on campuses all over the globe. Now in its fifth year, Open Access Week is an opportunity to learn about open access developments at Columbia and other institutions, and to participate in the continuing conversation about best practices in scholarly communication.
Columbia Events
Your Dissertation: What You Need to Know About Copyright and Electronic Filing
October 26 at noon
Alfred Lerner Hall Room 555
For Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) students, but open to all Columbia students. Find out how to make filing your dissertation a breeze. Learn about copyright issues and the opportunities presented by depositing your dissertation in Columbia's digital repository. View details
Beyond the Copyright Wars: Fair Use, Free Speech, and Reframing the Policy Debate
October 27 at 2:00 PM
Journalism 607B
American University Professor Patricia Aufderheide discusses her new book with Peter Jaszi, Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright. View details
Introduction to New Digital Humanities Center & Academic Commons Deposit Party
Thursday, October 27 from 3:30 to 5:00 PM
Digital Humanities Center, Butler Library Room 305
Graduate students can check out the revamped Digital Humanities Center and bring USB drives with materials to deposit into Academic Commons, Columbia's open access digital repository. Refreshments will be served.
Open Access Library Cordial & Academic Commons Deposit Party
October 27 at 5:00 PM
Monell Engineering Library
Chat with colleagues, learn about open access, and bring your work on a USB drive to upload to Academic Commons. View details
Learn More
Expert panel to discuss data management and federal funding
On Tuesday, September 27 at noon, the Scholarly Communication Program will host a panel discussion on "Data Management and Federal Funding: What Researchers Need to Know." Co-sponsored with Columbia's Office of Research Compliance and Training, this event will examine the goals of funder data-management policies and explore the technical, scientific, and professional challenges resulting from efforts to preserve and share data.
The speakers all have extensive experience with data management issues and we look forward to an informative discussion. The panel includes: Victoria Stodden, Assistant Professor of Statistics at Columbia University and a member of the NSF's Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure; Sayeed Choudhury, Associate Dean for Library Digital Programs, Hodson Director of the Digital Research and Curation Center at the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University, and Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded Data Conservancy; and Kerstin Lehnert, Senior Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and co-Principal Investigator for the NSF-funded Integrated Earth Data Applications data facility.
Anyone interested in these issues is welcome to attend this first Research Without Borders event for the 2011-12 academic year. It will be held on Columbia's Morningside campus in Faculty House, Presidential Rooms 2 & 3.
You can also follow a live summary of the discussion at http://twitter.com/ScholarlyComm. If you would like to presubmit questions for the speakers, please email them to kp2002 [at] columbia.edu or send a direct message on Twitter to @scholarlycomm by the end of the day on Friday, September 23.
Watch the new “Crisis on Campus” highlights video
How do we best educate students for an increasingly networked and global future? Columbia Department of Religion chair Mark C. Taylor joined the debates over education reform with opinion pieces in the New York Times and the 2010 book Crisis on Campus. You can now view highlights from Taylor's November 2010 Research Without Borders talk at Columbia outlining his thoughts on re-imagining post-secondary education. The structure of the university and its curriculum reflects the needs of the industrial age, argues Taylor, and in the era of global networked culture this is not a sustainable financial, institutional, or curricular model. Taylor's ideas for change inform the continuing conversation around the future of education and networked technology.
You can view the complete video of Taylor's talk on the Past Events page. View highlights of Taylor's talk and other Research Without Borders events on YouTube.
