Monday 3 December 2012

Awareness, Attitudes and Participation of Teaching Staff Towards the Open Content Movement in One University / Peter Reed

Page Header

Abstract

This research investigates the current awareness of, and participation in, the open content movement at one UK institution for higher education. The open content movement and the open educational resources can be seen as potential methods for reducing time and cost of technology-enhanced learning developments; however, its sustainability and, to some degree, its success are dependent on critical mass and large-scale participation. Teaching staff were invited to respond to a questionnaire. Respondents (n59) were open to the idea of sharing their own content and, similar to other studies, demonstrated existing practices of sharing resources locally amongst colleagues; however, there was little formal, large-scale sharing using suitable licenses. The data gathered concurs with other research suggesting a lack of awareness to the Creative Commons licenses as well as a lack of participation in large open educational resource repositories.
Keywords: open educational resources; staff attitudes; sustainability

(Published: 22 October 2012)

Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2012, 20: 18520

http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.18520

Source and Links to Full Text Available At 

[http://www.researchinlearningtechnology.net/index.php/rlt/article/view/18520]

Saturday 1 December 2012

Visualizing Tweets Linking to a Paper


Martin Fenner / Posted: July 14, 2012

DNA Barcoding the Native Flowering Plants and Conifers of Wales has been one of the most popular new PLoS ONE papers in June. In the paper Natasha de Vere et al. describe a DNA barcode resource that covers the 1143 native Welsh flowering plants and conifers.

My new job as technical lead for the PLoS Article Level Metrics (ALM) project involves thinking about how we can best display the ALM collected for this and other papers. We want these ALM to tell us something important and/or interesting, and it doesn’t hurt if the information is displayed in a visually appealing way. There are many different ways this can be done, but here I want to focus on Twitter and CiteULike, the only two data sources where PLoS is currently storing every single event (tweet or CiteULike bookmark) with a date. Usage data (HTML and XML views, PDF downloads) are aggregated on a monthly basis, and PLoS doesn’t store the publication dates of citations.

We know from the work of Gunter Eysenbach and others that most tweets linking to scholarly papers are written in the first few days after publication. It therefore makes sense to display this information on a timeline covering the first 30 days after publication, and the tweets about the de Vere paper follow the same pattern.

[more]

Source and Full Text Available At 

[http://blogs.plos.org/mfenner/2012/07/14/visualizing-tweets-linking-to-a-paper/]

altmetrics12 > An ACM Web Science Conference 2012 Workshop


Evanston, IL • 21 June 2012

Keynotes (9:00-10:00)

  • Johann Bollen
  • Gregg Gordon
Coffee break (10:00-10:30)

Paper presentations (10:30-01:00)

Position and theory papers, 10min each (10:30-11:30)

  • Martin Fenner / Altmetrics will be taken personally at PLoS (presentation)
  • William Gunn and Jan Reichelt / Social metrics for research: quantity and quality (presentation)
  • Elizabeth Iorns / Reproducibility: an important altmetric
  • Britt Holbrook / Peer review, altmetrics, and ex ante broader impacts assessment – a proposal
  • Kelli Barr / The Role of altmetrics and Peer Review in the Democratization of Knowledge (chalkboard notes)

Empirical papers, 15min each (11:30-1:00)

  • Judit Bar-Ilan / JASIST@mendeley
  • Jasleen Kaur and Johan BollenStructural Patterns in Online Usage (presentation)
  • Vincent Larivière, Benoit Macaluso, Staša Milojević, Cassidy R. Sugimoto and Mike Thelwall / Of caterpillars and butterflies: the life and afterlife of an arXiv e-print
  • Jason Priem, Heather Piwowar and Bradley Hemminger / Altmetrics in the Wild: Using Social Media to Explore Scholarly Impact (presentation)
  • Jennifer Lin / A Case Study in Anti-Gaming Mechanisms for Altmetrics: PLoS ALMs and DataTrust (presentation)
  • Richard Price / Altmetrics and Academia.edu
Lunches on your own (1:00-2:00p)

Demos (2:00-3:00p)

  • total-impact (Heather Piwowar)
  • altmetric.com (Euan Adie) (presentation)
  • PLoS ALM (Martin Fenner)
  • Ubiquity Press metrics (Brian Hole)
  • Plum Analytics (Andrea Michalek)
  • BioMed Central metrics (Ciaran O’Neill)
  • Academia.edu (Richard Price)
  • Knode (David Steinberg)
  • CASRAI (David Baker)
  • Mendeley and ReaderMeter (William Gunn)
  • Academia.edu (Richard Price)
Group discussion (3:00-4:30p)

We’ll split into small groups to discuss key altmetrics issues; topics may include:

  • Gaming: how might it happen, and how do we stop it?
  • Standards: We’ve got COUNTER for downloads; should there be standards for other altmetrics? What should they look like?
  • Visualization: There’s a lot of data. How should we display it?
  • Peer review: Could altmetrics replace traditional peer review? Should it? Can we build new publishing models around altmetrics?
  • CVs and “impact dashboards”: What does an altmetrics-informed CV look like? Who wants (and doesn’t want) one?
  • Publishers: What do publishers want from altmetrics services? How about readers and authors?
  • Normalization: How do we compare metrics from different fields or disciplines?
Group presentations and discussion (4:30-5:30p)

Summing up (5:30-6:00p)

Conclusion (Summarize key points from live and online discussion)

Open discussion: what’s the next year of altmetrics look like?

Dinners

Source and Presentation Links Available At 

[http://altmetrics.org/altmetrics12/program/]

Slideshare > NISO Webinar: Beyond Publish or Perish: Alternative Metrics for Scholarship


November 14, 2012
1:00 - 2:30 p.m. (Eastern Time)

[snip]

About the Webinar

Increasingly, many aspects of scholarly communication—particularly publication, research data, and peer review—undergo scrutiny by researchers and scholars. Many of these practitioners are engaging in a variety of ways with Alternative Metrics (#altmetrics in the Twitterverse). Alternative Metrics take many forms but often focus on efforts to move beyond proprietary bibliometrics and traditional forms of peer referencing in assessing the quality and scholarly impact of published work. Join NISO for a webinar that will present several emerging aspects of Alternative Metrics.

Source and Q&A and Slideshare Only Available At

[http://www.niso.org/news/events/2012/nisowebinars/alternative_metrics/]

Reusing, Revising, Remixing and Redistributing Research


An OA Week guest post by Daniel Mietchen

The initial purpose of Open Access is to enable researchers to make use of information already known to science as part of the published literature. One way to do that systematically is to publish scientific works under open licenses, in particular the Creative Commons Attribution License that is compatible with the stipulations of the Budapest Open Access Initiative and used by many Open Access journals. It allows for any form of sharing of the materials by anyone for any purpose, provided that the original source and the licensing terms are shared alongside. This opens the door for the incorporation of materials from Open Access sources into a multitude of contexts both within and outside traditional academic publishing, including blogs and wikis.

Amongst the most active reusers of Open Access content are Wikimedia projects like the over 280 Wikipedia, Wikispecies and their shared media repository, Wikimedia Commons. In the following, a few examples of reusing, revising, remixing and redistributing Open Access materials in the context of Wikimedia projects shall be highlighted.

[more]

Source and Full Text Available At 

[http://blogs.plos.org/blog/2012/10/23/reusing-revising-remixing-and-redistributing-research/]

Slideshare > Current and Future Effects of Social Media-Based Metrics on Open Access and IRs

The Power of Post Publication Review: A Case Study


There are many discussions and examples of post-publication review as an alternative to the currently more common peer-review model. While this comes up fairly regularly in my Twitter stream, I don’t think I’ve done more than hint at it within the blogposts here. I’ve also been watching (but neglecting to mention here) the emergence of data journalists and data journalism as a field, or perhaps perhaps I should say co-emergence, since it seems to be tightly coupled with shifts in the field of science communication and communicating risk to the public. Obviously, these all tie in tightly with the ethical constructs of informed consent and shared decisionmaking in healthcare (the phrase from the 1980s) which is now more often called participatory medicine.

That is quite a lot of jargon stuffed into one small paragraph. I could stuff it equally densely with citations to sources on these topics, definitions, and debates. Instead, for today, I’d like to give a brief overview of a case I’ve been privileged to observe unfolding over the weekend. If you want to see it directly, you’ll have to join the email list where this took place.

[more]

Source and Full Text Available At 

[http://etechlib.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/the-power-of-post-publication-review-a-case-study/]

Open Access and Its Impact on the Future of the University Librarian

Library
We are shifting from content ownership by individual libraries to joint provision of services on a larger scale, says Stephen Barr

With the publication of the Finch report earlier this year and the UK government's announcement to commit £10m to help make research findings freely available, there has been a gear shift towards a more rapid movement into an open access world for the publishing of scholarly information.

While there has been a lot of discussion around what that shift means for academic publishers, and there is now a lively dialogue between researchers and scholars in different disciplines, there seems to have been less discussion of what this shift means for libraries and librarians. Yet the move towards open access is a profound change for the whole infrastructure of scholarly communication, and is bound to have impacts on the library as it does on other parts of the process.

[more]

Source and Full Text Available At 

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/oct/25/open-access-university-library-impact]

YouTube > Article-Level Metrics

YouTube > Alt Metrics -- A Funder's Perspective

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK_P-dm4QTw]

Duration =  ~14:00 Minutes 

From Bibliometrics to Altmetrics A Changing Scholarly Landscape


C&RL News > 73 (10) > November 2012 > Robin Chin Roemer and Rachel Borchardt

When future Science Citation Index founder Eugene Garfield first came up with the idea of journal impact factor in 1955, it never occurred to him “that it would one day become the subject of widespread controversy.”

Today, techniques for measuring scholarly impact—traditionally known as bibliometrics —are well known for generating conflict and concern, particularly as tenure-track scholars reach beyond previously set boundaries of discipline, media, audience, and format. From the development of more nuanced academic specialties to the influence of blogs and social media, questions about the scope of scholarly impact abound, even as the pressure to measure such impact continues unabated or increases.

As faculty at universities around the world struggle to find new ways of providing evidence of their changing scholarly value, many librarians have stepped forward to help negotiate the landscape of both traditional impact metrics, such as h-index and journal impact factor, and emerging Web-based alternatives, sometimes called altmetrics, cybermetrics, or webometrics. With interest in online venues for scholarly communication on the rise, and the number of tools available for tracking online influence growing steadily, librarians are in a key position to take the lead in bolstering researchers’ knowledge of current trends—and concerns—in the new art and science impact measurement.

[more]

Source and Full Text Available At  

[http://crln.acrl.org/content/73/10/596.full]

Scholarly Metrics with a Heart

I attended last week the PLOS workshop on Article Level Metrics (ALM). As a disclaimer, I am part of  the PLOS ALM advisory Technical Working Group (not sure why :). Alternative article level metrics refer to any set of indicators that might be used to judge the value of a scientific work (or researcher or institution, etc). As a simple example, an article that is read more than average might correlate with scientific interest or popularity of the work. There are many interesting questions around ALMs, starting even with simplest - do we need any metrics ? The only clear observation is that more of the scientific process is captured online and measured so we should at least explore the uses of this information.

[more]

Source and Full Text and Links Available At 

[http://pbeltrao.blogspot.com/2012/11/scholarly-metrics-with-heart.html]

Open Post-Publication Peer Review


Synopsis

Beyond open access, which is generally considered desirable, the essential drawbacks of the current system of scientific publishing are all connected to the particular way that peer review is used to evaluate papers. In particular, the current system suffers from a lack of quality and transparency of the peer review process, a lack of availability of evaluative information about papers to the public, and excessive costs incurred by a system, in which private publishers are the administrators of peer review. These problems can all be addressed by open post-publication peer review.


[more]

Source and Links To Full Text and Brief and Full Arguments Available At

[http://futureofscipub.wordpress.com/open-post-publication-peer-review/]

Beyond Open Access: Visions for Open Evaluation of Scientific Papers by Post-Publication Peer Review

[snip]

This Research Topic in Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience collects visions for a future system of open evaluation. Because critical arguments about the current system abound, these papers will focus on constructive ideas and comprehensive designs for open evaluation systems. Design decisions include: Should the reviews and ratings be entirely transparent, or should some aspects be kept secret? Should other information, such as paper downloads be included in the evaluation? How can scientific objectivity be strengthened and political motivations weakened in the future system? Should the system include signed and authenticated reviews and ratings? Should the evaluation be an ongoing process, such that promising papers are more deeply evaluated? How can we bring science and statistics to the evaluation process (e.g. should rating averages come with error bars)? How should the evaluative information about each paper (e.g. peer ratings) be combined to prioritize the literature? Should different individuals and organizations be able to define their own evaluation formulae (e.g. weighting ratings according to different criteria)? How can we efficiently transition toward the future system?

[snip]

Source and Full Text and Articles Links Available At 

[http://www.frontiersin.org/Computational_Neuroscience/researchtopics/Beyond_open_access_visions_for/137]

Comment

[http://www.sciencecodex.com/does_science_need_open_evaluation_in_addition_to_open_access-102138]

The Digital Scholar: How Educators Can Be Part of the Digital Transformation / Martin Weller


Publication Date: 2011 / Pages: 256 /DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781849666275

While industries such as music, newspapers, film and publishing have seen radical changes in their business models and practices as a direct result of new technologies, higher education has so far resisted the wholesale changes we have seen elsewhere. However, a gradual and fundamental shift in the practice of academics is taking place. Every aspect of scholarly practice is seeing changes effected by the adoption and possibilities of new technologies. This book will explore these changes, their implications for higher education, the possibilities for new forms of scholarly practice and what lessons can be drawn from other sectors.

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgements
  • Digital, Networked and Open
  • Is the Revolution Justified?
  • Lessons from Other Sectors
  • The Nature of Scholarship
  • Researchers and New Technology
  • Interdisciplinarity and Permeable Boundaries
  • Public Engagement as Collateral Damage
  • A Pedagogy of Abundance
  • Openness in Education
  • Network Weather
  • Reward and Tenure
  • Publishing
  • The Medals of Our Defeats
  • Digital Resilience
  • References


Source and Full Text Available At 

[http://www.bloomsburyacademic.com/view/DigitalScholar_9781849666275/book-ba-9781849666275.xml]

Review

[http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/the-digital-scholar-how-educators-can-be-part-of-the-digital-transformation/]

Article-level Metrics: Which Service to Choose?

26 Oct, 12 /  Claire Bower, Digital Comms Manager

Article-level metrics (or ALMs) were a hot topic at this week’s HighWire publisher meeting in Washington. (Highwire hosts both the BMJ and its stable of 42 specialist journals). From SAGE to eLife, publishers seem sold on the benefits of displaying additional context to articles, thereby enabling readers to assess their impact. These statistics range from traditional indicators, such as usage statistics and citations, to alternative values (or altmetrics) like mentions on Twitter and in the mainstream media.

So, what services are available to bring this information together in one simple interface? There are quite a few contenders in this area, including Plum Analytics, PLoS Article-Level Metrics application, Science Card, CitedIn and ReaderMeter. One system in particular has received a good deal of attention in the past few weeks; ImpactStory, a relaunched version of total-impact. It’s a free, open-source webapp that’s been built with financial help from the Sloan Foundation (and others) “to help researchers uncover data-driven stories about their broader impacts”.

[more]

Source and Full Text Available At 

[http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj-journals-development-blog/2012/10/26/article-level-metrics-which-service-to-choose/]

Scientists Seek New Credibility Outside of Established Journals

Altmetrics: An App Review > Stacy Konkiel



Keywords: altmetrics; bibliometrics

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2022/14714

Date: 2012-10-07

Rights: Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Rights URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

Type: Presentation

Abstract:

In a university culture increasingly influenced by metrics, academic libraries can use altmetrics to highlight scholarship’s hidden value. This session will cover the apps and services that can help faculty, administration, and librarians learn the full, true impact of research.

Description:

Presented at OCLC Innovation in Libraries post-conference event, LITA Forum 2012.

Source and Links Available At 

[https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/14714]

YouTube Video 

[http://bit.ly/U8xKEB]

Duration = ~23:30

Thursday 22 November 2012

COAR > Automated Downloading of Citation Data


Catalina Oyler, Five Colleges of Ohio Digital Initiatives Coordinator, developed, as a part of an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant, a procedure for batch loading scholarly article citations (from Web of Science [etc.]/via Refworks) into a DSPACE scholarly article repository.  This allowed Oberlin College to efficiently load large numbers of faculty citations for 2010 and 2011 as a means of growing the IR.

OhioLink > Documentation‎ > ‎Batch Submission from RefWorks

This process modifies the batch submission process to start with metadata in the form of RefWorks citations instead of an excel spreadsheet.

There are two different processes for going from Refworks to the DRC.  The Refworks2DC process uploads the Refworks metadata without an associated bitstream.  This process can be used to populate a collection with citations and links to DOIs or have bitstreams added later.  The Refworks2DCbitsteam process uploads metadata as well as primary object bitstreams.  Each attachment includes an instruction guide as well as the files needed for the transformation.

Source and Links Available At 

[http://www.coar-repositories.org/working-groups/repository-content/preliminary-report-sustainable-best-practices-for-populating-repositories/4-automated-downloading-of-citation-data/]

Related 

Process for Batch Uploads to Production Instance

Wednesday 21 November 2012

SUNScholar/Audit > Ingest of Research Digital Assets and Metadata

Dgm13281.jpeg
Section 6: Ingest

Ingest of research digital assets and metadata must be actively pursued and monitored using automatic and manual methods.

Source and Links Available

[http://wiki.lib.sun.ac.za/index.php/SUNScholar/Audit#Section_6:_Ingest]

PDF Permssions Google Docs Script YouTube Video


A demo of the early development stages of a script that will automate PDF permissions lookup in Sherpa Romeo

Stephen X. Flynn / Emerging Technologies Librarian / The College of Wooster/ Wooster, OH

Deposit Strand


This project will seek to embed institutional deposit into the academic workflow of the researcher at almost no cost to the researcher. We will work with Mendeley and Symplectic to allow researchers to synchronise their personal research collections with institutional systems at no extra effort. We expect to significantly increase deposit rates as a result.

This strand builds on previous JISC programmes and other work in this area that have dealt with the issues around the deposit process and as mentioned above, seeks to lower the barrier to deposit:

  • "Jisc Depost" event that preceded the funding of these projects: the list of current deposit tools that have been built  and the themes/patterns beginning to emerge in these deposit situations.
  • There have been a range of other JISC projects that have worked in the deposit solution.
  • Open Access Repository Junction offers an API that supports redirect and deposit of research outputs into multiple repositories.
  • Open Access policies are listed by ROARMAP and Sherpa-Juliet, and these may suggest research communities where deposit might be a concern for researchers.
  • SWORD is a widely used application nationally and internationally.
  • Various "Shared Infrastructure Services" projects, such as Sherpa-RoMEO, openDOAR and Names offer functionality that can support deposit.
  • Text mining tools/services by organisations such as Yahoo's term extractor, Thomson Reuters's Open-Calais, Nactem's tools for researchers and other services also provide opportunities to enhance deposit.
Projects

DepositMO: Modus Operandi for Repository Deposits

The DepositMO project aims to develop an effective culture change mechanism that will embed a deposit culture into the everyday work of researchers and lecturers. The proposal will extend the capabilities of repositories to exploit the familiar desktop and authoring environments of its users. The objective is to turn the repository into an invaluable extension to the researcher’s desktop in which the deposit of research outputs becomes an everyday activity. The target desktop software suite is Microsoft Office, which is widely used across many disciplines, to maximise impact and benefit. Targeting both EPrints and DSpace, leveraging SWORD and ORE protocols, DepositMO outputs will support a large number of organisations. The ultimate goal is to change the Modus Operandi of researchers so that repository deposit becomes standard practice across a wide number of disciplines using familiar desktop tools.


DURA – Direct User Repository Access

This project will seek to embed institutional deposit into the academic workflow of the researcher at almost no cost to the researcher. We will work with Mendeley and Symplectic to allow researchers to synchronise their personal research collections with institutional systems at no extra effort. We expect to significantly increase deposit rates as a result.


See Also > Dura Project with Mendeley and Caret 


RePosit: Positing a New Kind of Deposit

The RePosit Project seeks to increase uptake of a web-based repository deposit tool embedded in a researcher-facing publications management system. Project work will include gathering feedback from users and administrators and evaluating the tool's effectiveness; developing general strategies for increasing uptake of embedded deposit tools; compiling a community commentary on the issues surrounding research management system integration; and producing open access training materials to help institutions enlighten their users and administrators regarding how embedded deposit tools are related  to the work of the library and the repository.

The intention is to use the reduction in deposit barriers offered by the tool to enhance open access content, creating more full-text objects available under stable URIs. This will be used to demonstrate that repositories can play a part in the researcher's daily activities, and that a deposit mandate is viable for the partner institutions. Success is measurable by an increase in the number of open access items which is greater than the expected increase without use of the deposit tool and the advocacy throughout this project. Other outputs will take the form of documentation available freely on the web.


Source and Links Available


Friday 16 November 2012

Automated Deposit of Researcher Publications Into Repositories ?

 Colleagues/

Are you aware of any effort in which metadata and the full text (and/or link) of e-journal articles (and/or other digital publications) are automatically harvested and "deposited" within a local *institutional* (and/or subject) repository ?

It has occurred to me that the automation of publication deposition could quickly populate such repositories.

As a number of publishers allow for deposit of a post-print


the question of copyright could / might / should / would not be an issue [?]

Thanks for considering ...

Please submit as comment / Thanks !

/Gerry 

Monday 5 November 2012

Mendeley Global Research Report


What Authors Want From Open Access Publishing: Wiley Author Survey 2012


Wiley conducted a survey of over 100,000 journal article authors to discover their opinions and behaviors with regard to open access publishing. The results are detailed in these slides.

Wednesday 31 October 2012

2013-2014 Chevening Scholarship for Commonwealth Countries – Application Now Open


Scholarship Name: Chevening Scholarship
Brief description
The Association of Commonwealth Universities is offering the Chevening Scholarships for one year postgraduate Masters course to study any discipline at UK Universities 2013/2014
Accepted Subject Areas?
Chevening Scholarships are awarded across a wide range of fields; including politics, government, business, the media, the environment, civil society, religion, and academia in any UK University
About Scholarship
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Chevening Scholarship programme was established in 1983 and is now an internationally prestigious scheme with over 41,000 alumni. In 2011-12 there were over 700 Chevening Scholars studying at universities across the UK. Chevening Scholarships are currently offered in approximately 110 countries. Chevening awards enable Scholars to study a one-year postgraduate Master’s course in any discipline at any UK university.Chevening Scholarship
The Chevening programme makes awards to talented individuals who demonstrate the potential to become future leaders, decision makers and opinion formers.
Scholarship Offered Since: 1983
By what Criteria is Selection Made?
Chevening Scholarships are for high-calibre graduates with the personal, intellectual and interpersonal qualities necessary for leadership. You will need to demonstrate that you:
  • have the personal, intellectual and interpersonal qualities necessary for leadership in your home country
  • are motivated to develop your career in order to establish a position of leadership in your own country within ten years of your Scholarship
  • have a clear post-Scholarship plan, outlining your career objectives and how you plan to achieve them
  • are committed to networking to find global solutions
  • are committed to networking within the Chevening community, via online engagement and attending Chevening events in the UK and engaging with the alumni network in your home country
  • are able to use your studies and experience in the UK to benefit yourself, your country and the UK
  • are capable of successfully undertaking and completing your proposed course of study in the UK
Who is qualified to apply?
There are no age restrictions for Chevening Scholarships. To qualify for a Scholarship, you must:
  • demonstrate that you have achieved a minimum English language requirement (see link below) at the time that you submit your application
  • be a citizen of a Chevening-eligible country at the time of applying for the award, and intend to return there at the end of the period of study
  • hold a degree that is equivalent to at least a good UK second-class honours degree. Further information on UK degree equivalency can be found from UK NARIC
  • have completed at least two years’ work or equivalent experience by 30 September 2012
If you do not meet the above criteria please do not apply. Your application will not be considered.
How Many Scholarships are available? Several (over 700 studying in UK as at 2011/2012)
What are the benefits?
full Chevening Scholarship award normally comprises:
  • payment of tuition fees;
  • travel to and from your country of residence by an approved route for you only;
  • an arrival allowance;
  • a grant for the cost of preparation of a thesis or dissertation (if required);
  • an excess baggage allowance;
  • the cost of an entry clearance (visa) application for you only;
  • a monthly personal living allowance (stipend) to cover accommodation and living expenses. The monthly stipend will depend on whether you are studying inside or outside London. It is currently £917 per month outside London and £1134 per month inside London (subject to annual review).
How long will sponsorship last? For one year
Eligible African Countries
See list of eligible African countries: http://www.chevening.org/maps/africa
See list of other countries: http://www.chevening.org/maps/
To be taken at (country): UK Universities
Application Deadline
December 2012 (but specific dates varies from country to country. For example, the deadline date for Nigeria is 14 December 2012). Select your country from link above for specific instructions
We recommend that you submit your application as early as possible – preferably well before the closing date for your country.
Offered annually? yes
How can I Apply?
To apply for a Chevening Scholarship, you must complete and submit an online eChevening application form
Be sure to visit this page for Guidelines for Applicants before applying
English language requirement
In order to apply for a Chevening Scholarship you must demonstrate that you have achieved a minimum level of English language ability at the time of application (unless you fall into one of the exemption categories below or if there are no English language test centres in your country and special arrangements therefore apply). The minimum English language requirement is as follows:
Academic IELTS
Overall score – 6.5, with a minimum score in each component of: Listening – 5.5; Reading – 5.5, Speaking – 5.5, Writing – 5.5
Pearson PTE Academic
Overall score – 58, with a minimum score in each component of: Listening – 42, Reading – 42, Speaking – 42, Writing – 42
TOEFL iBT
Overall score – 79, with a minimum score in each component of: Listening – 17, Reading – 18, Speaking – 20, Writing – 17
Sponsors
Chevening Scholarships are funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), with further contributions from universities and other partners in the UK and overseas, including governmental and private sector bodies.
Important Notes:
You must set out clearly in your Personal Statement on the application form how you believe you meet the Chevening selection criteria

Friday 26 October 2012

Open Access Explained! < YouTube


>>> Duration = ~ 8:30 Minutes <<<

What is open access? Nick Shockey and Jonathan Eisen take us through the world of open access publishing and explain just what it's all about.

Thursday 25 October 2012

Nature > Alternative Metrics


As the old 'publish or perish' adage is brought into question, additional research-impact indices, known as altmetrics, are offering new evaluation alternatives. But such metrics may need to adjust to the evolution of science publishing.

Today, a growing frustration among researchers is that the impact of their contribution to science is mostly assessed on the basis of out-of-date mechanisms including impact factor and citation measurements. This discontent occurs as we are reaching a turning point in science publishing history where the essence of the peer-review process has been called into question.

Indeed, the drive to find alternative metrics is a symptom of a community where research evaluation is not functioning well. A new movement called altmetrics — eloquently described through a manifesto1 published in 2010 and arguably a variation on the theme of what is referred to as webometrics or social media metrics — revisits the measurement of a scientist's worth. Rather than using peer-reviewed journal articles, alternative metrics range from other types of research output to a researchers' reputation made via their footprint on the social web.

[more]

Source and Full Text Available At

http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v11/n11/full/nmat3485.html

Monday 8 October 2012

HowOpenIsIt? > Open Access Spectrum > Final Version Now Available

Not all Open Access is created equal. To move beyond the seemingly simple question of “Is it Open Access?” PLOS, SPARC and OASPA have collaborated to develop a resource called “HowOpenIsIt?” This resource identifies the core components of open access (OA) and how they are implemented across the spectrum between "Open Access" and "Closed Access". We recognize there are philosophical disagreements regarding OA and this resource will not resolve those differences. 

We are seeking input on the accuracy and completeness of how OA is defined in this guide. Download the above open review draft and provide feedback below in the comment form. In its final form, this guide will provide an easily understandable, comprehensive, and quantifiable resource to help authors make informed decisions on where to publish based on publisher policies. In addition, funders and other organizations will have a resource that indicates criteria for what level of OA is required for their policies and mandates.

This OA guide is aimed toward a wide audience of researchers, authors, and policy-makers. Your feedback will help us more precisely define OA across a number of categories. The goals of the guide are to:

• Move the conversation from “is it open access?” to “how open?” 

• Clarify the definition of OA  

• Standardize terminology 

• Illustrate a continuum of “more open” versus “less open” 

• Enable people to compare and contrast publications and policies 

• Broaden the understanding of OA to a wider audience 

In 2002, the Budapest Open Access Initiative articulated the basic tenets of OA for the first time. Since then, thousands of journals have adopted policies that embrace some or all of the open access core components related to: readership; reuse; copyright; posting; and machine readability.

Why now and why this resource?  

OA is gaining momentum and we are seeing a groundswell of support from authors and funders to colleges and governments. Despite this progress there is still confusion about OA. With this guide we aim to provide greater clarity regarding its definition and components. All suggestions will be considered and a final version will be released during Open Access Week (October 22 -28, 2012). 

Source 


Draft 


Unfortunately > The comment is now closed. 

Final Version Available Via (10-19-12)

[http://www.openaccessweek.org/profiles/blogs/open-access-spectrum-guide-released]

Thursday 4 October 2012

Do I need to pay tuition fees in Finland?


Tuition fees


The answer to this depends on the level of your studies, and also on the porgramme you're interested in.
In Bachelor’s or Doctoral level programmes, the higher education institutions will not charge tuition fees.
Several Master’s level programmes are free of charge as well, however, some Master's may charge tuition fees from non-EU/EEA students. (NB: Erasmus Mundus Master’s programmes always charge a tuition fee – see section ‘Erasmus Mundus scholarships’ for information on Erasmus Mundus Master’s and related scholarships)
Remember that even if the programme you're applying to does not charge tuition fees, you still need to plan your finances so that you'll be able to independently cover youreveryday living expenses during your studies in Finland.

How much does a fee-charging Master's cost per year?

Currently, 8000 euros per year is the average annual tuition fee in those Master's programmes that charge fees. However, depending on the programme, the annual fee can be different from this average amount (currently, the tuition fees vary between the range from 2500 euros to 12 000 euros per year).
The exact amount of the annual tuition fee depends on the programme, so please check this directly with the university you're interested in!

Which Master’s programmes charge tuition fees?

In selected English-language Master's degree programmes it is possible for the Finnish higher education institutions to charge tuition fees from non-EU/EEA nationals during afive-year trial period 2010–2014. Depending on the programme, tuition fees may be collected starting from autumn 2010, 2011 or 2012.
The inclusion of a Master's programme in the above lists only indicates the possibility of a tuition fee; each institution decides independently whether or not they collect tuition fees in their programmes. Therefore, it is important that you always check the tuition fee policy for each Master's programme separately, either from the institution's own web site or from CIMO's study programmes database.
You will not be charged any tuition fee, if you are
  • an EU/EEA citizen
  • a non-EU/EEA citizen permanently resident in Finland
  • a non-EU/EEA citizen and have started your studies in the Master’s programme in question before the introduction of tuition fees into that particular programme
Please refer to the web site of the university you are applying to for detailed information on the tuition fees and the related scholarships.

'Institutional scholarships' available for tuition fees

Those higher education institutions that choose to collect tuition fees in their English-language Master's programmes are also providing institutional scholarship options for non-EU/EEA students enrolled in tuition-fee carrying Master's programmes. Theseinstitutional scholarships can not be applied for from CIMO, instead you must turn to the higher education institution in question for info and advice regarding these scholarships. Please see section ‘institutional scholarships’.
The CIMO scholarships are applicable only to Doctoral level studies and research in Finnish universities, and can not be applied to cover any tuition fees.

What will happen after the tuition fee trial period is over? Will there be fees in all universities?

At the moment, the simple answer is - no-one knows yet. After the trial period is over in 2014, its results will be assessed. After that, what decisions will be made based on the result of this assessment, remains yet to be seen. For tuition fees to continue after the trial period, a governmental decision and a change in legislation will be required; and no such decisions or changes have yet been made.

We will notify prospective students of any possible changes in tuition fee policies officiallyon this Study in Finland website, so keep an eye on the News section on our front page!

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Australian Development Scholarships 2012-2013


Australian Development Scholarships

Australian scholarships
Australian Development Scholarships (ADS) are long term development awards administered by AusAID. ADS aim to contribute to the long term development needs of Australia's partner countries in line with bilateral and regional agreements. They provide opportunities for people from developing countries to undertake full time undergraduate or postgraduate study at participating Australian universities and Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions.
The study and research opportunities provided by ADS develop skills and knowledge of individuals to drive change and contribute to the development outcomes of their own country.

Scholarship benefits

ADS are offered for the minimum period necessary for the individual to complete the academic program specified by the Australian higher education institution, including any preparatory training. The following benefits generally apply:
  • Full tuition fees.
  • Return air travel—payment of a single return, economy class airfare to and from Australia, via the most direct route.
  • Establishment allowance—a once only payment of A$5,000 as a contribution towards as accommodation expenses, text books, study materials.
  • Contribution to Living Expenses (CLE) is a fortnightly contribution to basic living expenses paid at a rate determined by AusAID. From 1 January 2012, CLE payable to Scholars studying under an ADS is A$28,000 per year.
  • Introductory Academic Program (IAP)—a compulsory 4-6 week program prior to the commencement of formal academic studies covering information on life and study in Australia.
  • Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) for the duration of the award (for award holder only)—provided to cover the student's basic medical costs (with the exception of pre existing conditions).
  • Pre-course English (PCE) fees—if deemed necessary PCE may be available for students for in-country and/or in-Australia training.
  • Supplementary Academic Support may be available to ensure a Scholar's academic success or enhance their academic experience.
  • Fieldwork (for research students only)—may be available for eligible research students for one return economy class airfare via the most direct route to their country of citizenship or within Australia.

Scholarship conditions

Applicants who want to accept an AusAID Scholarship will need to sign a contract with the Commonwealth of Australia declaring that they will comply with the conditions of the Scholarship.
Awardees are required to leave Australia for a minimum of two years after completing their Scholarship. Failure to do so will result in the awardee incurring a debt for the total accrued cost of their Scholarship.

More information


American Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery 2014 is Now Open for Application Read more: http://www.afterschoolafrica.com/2012/10/american-diversity-visa-dv-lottery-2014-is-now-open-for-application


The Diversity Visa -DV lottery Program 2014 is now open for application. Online registration for the DV-2014 Program started on Tuesday, October 2, 2012 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), and concludes on Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4). After the entry period opens October 2, early entry is highly recommended, and applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter. Review the DV Instructions below.
DV 2013 Entrants: Please keep your confirmation number until at least September 2013, even if you were not selected on May 1, 2012. The Department of State may select more DV 2013 entries on October 22, 2012 at noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4).
Entry InstructionsDV lottery 2014
Please read the DV-2014 Entry Instructions carefully. Entrants may be disqualified for not completing the entry form correctly or by submitting more than one entry. Use the link below to view the instructions.
Requirements for Entry
To enter the DV lottery 2014 program, you must be a native of one of the listed countries. See List Of Countries from instruction.
To enter the DV lottery 2014 program, you must meet either the education or work experience requirement of the DV program: you must have either a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; OR two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform. The U.S. Department of Labor’s O*Net OnLine database will be used to determine qualifying work experience.
Procedures for Submitting An Entry To DV-2014
The Department of State will only accept completed E-DV entry forms submitted electronically at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period between noon, EDT (GMT-4), Tuesday, October 2, 2012, and noon, EDT (GMT-4), Saturday, November 3, 2012.
§ All entries by an individual will be disqualified if more than ONE entry for that individual is received, regardless of who submitted the entry. You may prepare and submit your own entry or have someone submit the entry for you. There are NO COSTS or FEES to register for the DV Program.
§ A registered entry that complies with submission instructions will result in a confirmation screen containing your name and a unique confirmation number. You must print this confirmation screen for your records using the print function of your web browser and ensure that you retain your confirmation number.
Starting May 1, 2013, you will be able to check the status of your DV-2014 entry by returning to www.dvlottery.state.gov, clicking on Entrant Status Check, and entering your unique confirmation number and personal information. Entrant Status Check will be the sole means of informing you of your selection for DV-2014, providing instructions to you on how to proceed with your application, and notifying you of your appointment for your immigrant visa interview. Therefore, it is essential you retain your confirmation number.
Paper entries are no longer accepted. The sole method for entry to the 2014 Diversity Visa Program is through this electronic process.
Download Diversity Visa lottery_2014_Instructions (PDF)


Read more: http://www.afterschoolafrica.com/2012/10/american-diversity-visa-dv-lottery-2014-is-now-open-for-application.html#ixzz28JEhSV8c
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