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SURF Foundation Enhanced Publications
Work
I wanted to share this announcement from our friends at the SURF
Foundation in the Netherlands with the CNI community. They have been
doing some very helpful work trying to understand what will happen to
scholarly publications as we leave behind the limitations of the
printed page, and as we need to present data intensive science.
Clifford Lynch
Director, CNI
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Enhanced publication: from experiment to practice
Utrecht, 20 October 2011 - Researchers at a number of
universities and research institutions gained experience in 2011 with
enhancing publications during six projects financed by SURFfoundation.
The emphasis in previous projects was mainly on developing the
technical facilities for creating enhanced publications. This year, it
was the turn of the researchers themselves to enhance their
publications and to present them in context. Enhanced publication is a
new type of scientific/scholarly publication whereby researchers make
publications available on the Internet in combination with related
research data.
Vision for the future
In the future, it will become increasingly rare for research
results to be presented merely one-dimensionally. It is precisely the
significant relationship between the publication itself, the
underlying research data, references, illustrations, etc. that creates
cross-fertilisation between research, researchers, and research
fields. This increases the likelihood of research breakthroughs and
perhaps also of new ways for researchers to collaborate.
Removing the barrier
The many technical possibilities offered by the semantic web, xml
and rdf (rich data format) mean that it is often no easy matter for
researchers to publish their research as an enhanced version. That
barrier can be removed if they receive proper support and cooperation
from ICT departments and support staff. Researchers who have overcome
that barrier are enthusiastic about the potential of enhanced
publication.
Researchers with little ICT know-how also see the advantages even
if they do not understand the 'inner workings'of an enhanced
publication. A pdf that has been enhanced with relevant supplementary
or supporting information is a more attractive way of presenting
research results. Enhanced publication also makes it easier for
interested colleagues to discover the research work concerned.
What researchers say
Prof. Nick Jankowski of the eHumanities Group at the Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) is enthusiastic about
the possibilities opened up by enhanced publications: "They provide
the opportunity for new insights, new knowledge, and for sharing the
knowledge with other scholars and a wider public." In a short video
- Enhanced Publications: from
experiment to practice - Prof. Jankowski and five
colleagues talk about the value of enhancement and their experience
during the project.
Five disciplines
Enhanced publication has proved valuable in a number of
disciplines and can be applied in various different ways, making it
very versatile.
Lessons learned
Enhanced publication has enormous potential. However, the
experience gained during the project shows that there is still a lot
to be learned about how to enhance publications and how to make use of
the semantic web. The various tools that have been developed for this
new way of publishing research results are not yet "ready for
immediate use" by researchers. Enhancement still involves
collaboration between researchers and ICT staff. The lessons learned
will be used for further development.
More information
About the SURFshare programme
The aim of SURFshare is to provide better access to high-quality
scientific and scholarly knowledge using the very latest ICT
technology. This is possible because ICT not only speeds up standard
communication processes but changes the nature of the knowledge chain
itself. The growing number of facilities for knowledge sharing and
dissemination mean that traditional publications, tools (models,
algorithms, visualisations) and research data are increasingly
interwoven.
SURFfoundation's intention in the SURFshare programme is to create a common infrastructure that
will facilitate access to research information and make it possible
for researchers to share scientific and scholarly information.
Kind regards,
Annemiek van der Kuil
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