Proposal for Open Theses and workshop at EURODOC 2011
This is a proposal for a workshop on Open dissertation metadata, to be held on April 1, 2011 at the Eurodoc conference 2011. The conference theme is "Young generation in science: new fashion ERA? - The reflections of research traditions, models and relationships in a fast changing world."
We will submit to the conference organizers the permalink to this version of the document, which shall be updated continuously as the preparation of the workshop proceeds. The short link to the most recent version is http://bit.ly/OpenThesesEurodoc2011.
Title: Which (European) country or institution has the highest proportion of Open Theses?
Organizers
Speakers
Timing
- According to the draft programme, the slot for parallel workshops are two 90-min blocks on April 1 between 1pm to 5pm, with a coffee break and poster session (together 1h) in between.
Abstract
For background, see Open Theses Project.
- This workshop has several aims: First, it shall provide some background on how the currently ongoing "digital revolution" affects the way PhD projects are being conducted and PhD theses are being written, reviewed, published, archived, disseminated and reused, and what the relative costs and benefits of paper and digital modes are. Second, the session shall provide a practical demonstration of cross-disciplinary and international collaboration via online tools. To this end, at least one of the speakers will deliver their talk remotely, and the local audience will be able to interact with online participants, using web-hosted collaboratively editable documents. Third, the session shall be integrated with the poster session taking place in between. To this end, an electronic poster shall be designed beforehand which displays the progress of the competition in real time, starting with some preliminary results and possibly continuing online beyond the duration of the session. Fourth, the workshop shall have a measurable outcome, while still providing for a decent dose of fun. We think that this can be achieved by introducing an element of competition, while everyone in either audience contributes to the same goal by collecting the metadata (in a standard format, e.g. JSON) of as many PhD theses as they can manage during this time. This leads to the title of the workshop and should give an estimate of the proportion of Open Theses in each country or institution covered, and of how many person months it would take to collect the metadata for _all_ theses published around the globe, along with ideas on the extent to which this proportion could be increased, or its determination automated.
- The organizers and speakers represent different disciplines, generations and nationalities: Peter Murray-Rust submitted a printed thesis and defended it way before the World Wide Web was started, while the theses of Mathias Klang and Daniel Mietchen are available on the web for everyone to read, reuse and share, subject to the conditions of a Creative Commons licence.
Intended audience
- Early Stage Researchers and other interested parties physically present at the meeting
- Online attendees with an interest in dissertations, bibliographical metadata, open science or European science
Finances
- We have discussed the workshop with JISC UK who support the proposal and are prepared to provide financial and other support. We are jointly exploring how to bring in other European partners.
Technical requirements
- For video live streaming and recording: A dedicated computer with stable internet connection (preferably LAN), a webcam, a microphone (preferably connected to the microphones used in the room), and ustream or similar streaming software.
- For speakers: A dedicated computer with stable internet connection (preferably LAN), connected to a beamer. For remote speakers, audio in/out plus Skype (or a similar VoIP tool) are required in addition. If live streaming works, they can also follow the session beyond giving their talk.
- For remote participation in general: A dedicated computer with stable internet connection (preferably LAN), with Twitter or some other microblogging tool installed, and connected to a second beamer.
See also
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What would science look like if it were open?
