Am Ende der Dresden Summer School 2012 haben die Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer eigene Ideen und Impulse zur Zukunft der Vernetzung von Kultur- und Wissenschaftseinrichtungen vorgestellt. Claudia Becker, wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Vilém Flusser Archiv der Universität der Künste Berlin, ist an neuen Wegen der Wissens- und Kulturvermittlung mit digitalen Technologien interessiert. Wissen, Wissenssammlungen und Wissensordnungen haben sich im Laufe der Jahre verändert, ebenso wie die Wissensproduktion, die Schaffung neuen Wissens, die Wissenschaft selbst. Der Baum des Wissens, „arbor porphyriana“ oder auch „arbor scientiae“ war seit der Antike eine gültige Metapher und das Klassifikationsschema für die Struktur des Wissen, die epistemologische Ordnung. So lehnte auch Denis Diderot die Ordnung seiner berühmten Enzyklopädie an die Baumstruktur des Wissens von Francis Bacon an. Wohl wissend, dass Wissen Macht ist, widmeten Diderot und seine Enzyklopädisten einen großen Teil ihrer Lebenszeit, um das Wissen aus allen Bereichen der Welt zu sammeln und aller Welt zugänglich zu machen. Diderot nutzte somit damals schon die Intelligenz des Schwarmes, seine Enzyklopädie ist ein Produkt des „Crowd Sourcing“, eines kollektiven Verbundes mehrerer Autoren, die gemeinsam an einem Werk schreiben, um Wissen im Namen der Aufklärung den Herrschenden zu entreißen und möglichst vielen zugänglich zu machen. Die Parallelen zu einem der heutigen größten und bedeutendsten Wissensprojekte – der Internet-Enzyklopädie Wikipedia – sind unverkennbar. [...]

Frei verfügbare wissenschaftliche Publikationen sind ein Anliegen, das die Universitätsbibliothek Chemnitz seit vielen Jahren untestützt und vorantreibt. Die Idee, ein Camp für die Überarbeitung des Open-Access-Lehrbuchs für Lernen und Lehren mit Technologien, kurz L3T, zu veranstalten, wurde deshalb begeistert von der Bibliotheksleitung unterstützt. Vom 20. bis 28. August 2013 wurde das neue Lehrbuch L3T 2.0 geschrieben.

Thesis (M.A. ( Information Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / This study aimed to examine the extent of awareness and the adoption of Open Access (OA) publishing for the purpose of scholarly communication by academic staff at the University of Limpopo (UL). The study was guided by Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory (1) to measure the level of awareness of academics on the availability and use of OA resources; (2) to determine the adoption and usage levels of OA publishing as a platform for information sharing by academics in scholarly communication; (3) to establish academics’ attitudes towards the use of the OA publishing platforms; and (4) to identify perspectives of academic staff with regards to challenges and benefits presented by OA publishing. A dominantly quantitative research approach was adopted using a google forms questionnaire with closed ended questions to collect data from 250 academics at the University of Limpopo. Academics were selected using the systematic simple random sampling method. To ensure the survey instrument’s reliability and validity, the researcher conducted a pilot study through a web-based survey. A descriptive statistics method of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse data. The study established that the majority (82%) of academics were aware of OA publishing platforms. The internet and subject librarians were the main communication channels through which they became aware of OA publishing. The study also found that there was minimal the adoption and usage of OA publishing among academics. Their attitudes towards OA and their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of OA. The general attitudes of academics about OA were positive, signifying the acceptance of this scholarly communication mode. However, some of the challenges encountered in adopting and using OA publishing include slow internet connectivity and access, publication charges by some publishers, lack of skills to publish online, power interruptions, lack of policies on OA, fake and predatory v publishers and OA articles not being peer-reviewed. These were reported as problems that directly or indirectly hinder academics from publishing in OA platforms. The study recommends the institutionalisation of OA publishing at UL to improve research output dissemination. An area for further research will be to establish more insights regarding the feasibility of OA development and possible ways of dealing with article processing fees. Keywords: Open Access publishing, scholarly communication, Academic staff, Institutional Repositories, Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory, University of Limpopo.

This thesis presents a detailed explanation and argumentation of why modern decentralized technologies could be utilized in order to improve scholarly communication on many fronts. The current model of scholarly communication, which is dominated by scientific journals, is analysed together with the current economic models in use. The thesis also briefly investigates peer reviews. It also endeavors to explain how scholarly goods might be perceived from an economic standpoint. Blockchain technology offers functionalities that could potentially solve many problems associated with scholarly communication through decentralization. Both permissioned and permissionless blockchains, their implementations, interesting technical/economic/governance aspects and why they are such a unique match for scholarly needs are thoroughly analyzed and explained. Finally minimal viability criteria suitable for assessment of decentralized scholarly projects are proposed. Existing decentralized applications which try to migrate scholarly communication from a current centralized system to a decentralized one are described and examined through the prism of this framework.

In diesem Beitrag stellen wir die aktuellen Möglichkeiten der Open-Access-Publikationsunterstützung für Angehörige der TU Bergakademie Freiberg (TUBAF) vor und präsentieren eine Statistik zum Open-Access-Publizieren an der TUBAF für die Jahre 2014-2023.

This dissertation contributes to the research-based understanding of the scholarly journal as an artefact by studying the document structures of open access e-journals published by editors or small, independent publishers. The study focuses on the properties of the documents, taking its point of departure in a sociotechnical document perspective. This perspective is ope rationalised through a number of aspects from document architecture and information architecture: logical structures, layout structures, content structures, fi le structures, organisation systems, navigation, and labelling. The data collection took the form of a survey of 265 journal web sites, randomly selected, and qualitative readings of four journal web sites. The results of the study are presented based on choice of format and modes of representation; visual design; markup; metadata and paratexts; and document organisation and navigation. Two approaches were used to analyse the study fi ndings. To begin with, the remediation strategies of the scholarly journals were discussed; how does this document type, which has a long tradition in the print medium, take possession of the web medium? The ties to the print journal are still strong, and a majority of the journals treat the web medium mainly as a way to distribute journal articles to be printed and read as hard-copies. Many journals do, however, take advantage of such features as hypertext and full-text searching, and some use the fl exibility of the web medium to provide their users with alternative views. A small number of e-journals also refashion the print journal by including modes of representation not possible in print, such as audio or video, to illustrate and support the arguments made in their articles. Furthermore, interactive features are used to increase communication between different groups, but this type of communicative situation has not yet become an integral part of the scholarly journal. An electronic document is often viewed as more fl exible, but also less constant, than documents on paper. This sometimes means that the e-only journal is seen as a less dependable source for scholarly publishing than print. A second analytical approach showed how the architectures are used to indicate aspects that can enhance a journal’s chances of being regard ed as a credible source: a cognitive authority. Four strategies have been identifi ed as used by the journals: they employ architectural features to draw on the cognitive authority of people or organisations associated with the journal, on the cognitive authority of other documents, and on the professional use of the conventions of print journals and web sites respectively. By considering how document properties are used to indicate cognitive authority potential, a better understanding of how texts function as cognitive authorities is achieved. / <p>Akademisk avhandling som med tillstånd av samhällsvetenskapliga fakulteten</p><p>vid Göteborgs universitet för vinnande av doktorsexamen framläggs till</p><p>offentlig granskning kl. 13.15 måndagen den 28 april i hörsalen Sappören,</p><p>Göteborgs universitet, Sprängkullsgatan 25.</p>

This dissertation contributes to conversations regarding the impact of open user centered innovation on cultural production by focusing on the construction and production of religious products within one large-scale open user-centered technological environment, 3D virtual worlds. Particularly, this study examines how virtual world users construct (non-gaming) religious communities and practices and how the technology impacts the forms of religious expression these users create. Due to its existing religious sector and affordances for user-created content, Second Life (SL) was chosen as the context of study for this dissertation project. Building upon Von-Hippel's (2005) user-centered innovation theory, construction and production within three different user-centered religious communities in SL were explored. Using a comparative ethnographic approach over a 14-month period, involving participant observations, interviews and hyper-media techniques, the social construction of customized religious products amidst technical, social, and economic virtual/non-virtual structures were analyzed. Exploratory findings demonstrate that the democratizing of cultural innovation, that is the construction of heterogeneous cultural religious products by the everyday user, is a matter of patterned relational pathways. The greater possible patterned pathways the higher potential for democratized cultural innovation, an increasing number of users developing new ways of doing religion. The fewer patterned pathways the less the potential for democratize cultural innovation and the greater potential for reproducing within the virtual realm the same cultural frames that define the current social order in the non-virtual realm.

Collaboration is at the foundation of modern theatre practices. All of the individuals involved in a production share their contributions with their immediate colleagues for the benefit of the production. Reoccurring or very similar technical challenges often arise in productions no matter where they are produced. Sharing the creative solutions to these problems among graduate technical theatre students will benefit the theatre industry by increasing the possibility for innovation. An information-sharing infrastructure should be developed in a way that will ease the burden for the individuals who wish to share their innovations with the broader community, while including a way to receive acknowledgment for their contributions. This paper looks to the theories of Eric Von Hippel on “innovation communities” and the ideas and motivations for “free revealing”. The theories are related to the specific characteristics and needs of the community of Master of Fine Arts graduate students in theatre technology programs. Six techniques currently used for the sharing of information will be analyzed for their benefits and limitations. Topics such as open source software development, the principles of the organization Public Library of Sciences, and the practice of creating online instructional videos are all explored for successful techniques that can be applied to technical theatre innovation sharing. In addition, the protection of authorship will be discussed including: a broad history of copyright law in America, the cultural property theories of Lawrence Lessig, and the Creative Commons. I plan to compile all of the necessary information to lay the foundation for the development of a new approach to sharing information in theatre technology. Open Theatre Source will be the name for the proposed infrastructure. It will provide an online meeting place among the potential innovators in MFA programs. The infrastructure will employ new sharing techniques and will use innovative technologies to the community. The primary objective of Open Theatre Source will be to facilitate a dialogue among individuals who are studying within the many different programs. The dialogue will transcend institutional boundaries, which will benefit and improve the entire community of academic institutions. Open Theatre Source will create a valuable case study for future research in open sharing infrastructures for theatre technology. Through its successes or failures, the information gathered could then be applied to other areas of the theatre community, including the professional industry. / text

South Africa is engaged in social redress and Education at all levels reflects this commitment. The period of transition from the apartheid policy of the National Party, (1948 – 1994), to the democratic policy of the African National Congress and its alliances, (1994 - ), continues to be in a state of flux. Education authorities struggle to maintain a balance between widening access to previously disadvantaged students whilst maintaining standards at the same time. Much of the recent debate on good teaching and learning practices suggests that teachers not only need to have a firm grasp of their discipline knowledge but that they also need to perform competently in pedagogic practice. This debate recognises sociological change in knowledge-discourses, fair and transparent assessment policy, and teacher and learner profiles, thereby creating an urgent need for a new professional identity for teachers. Efficient and effective teaching practices require school teachers to be sensitive to innovative and wide ranging culture-sensitive content as proposed by the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS). This is a refined version of South Africa’s first national education policy, C2005, introduced to schools in 1998 and streamlined in 2000 by the Review Committee of C2005 to produce the RNCS. Music now fits into Arts and Culture, one of eight integrated learning areas. The Generalist-Specialist Music Educator is a new identity meant to empower classroom trainee-teachers in primary and secondary education who are new to the discipline of music. The majority of the teacher-trainees who have elected to take the Music in Education module at the University of The Witwatersrand’s School of Education are admitted under discretionary rules, and as a consequence they have little or no experience of formal music education. The Generalist-Specialist Music Educator comes from such a background and her aim would be to fast track her way towards a music orientation that would equip her to advise her own students who might want to learn music at school. Specifically, the Generalist-Specialist should enhance the open relationship between learner and teacher as well as contribute effectively to the multidisciplinary nature of today’s school curriculum.

Since the 1990’s Open Access has developed into an alternative model for scientific publication. Today an increasing political interest in promoting Open Access is commonly channeled through the implementation of policies by research funders. However, in the scientific community the uptake and acceptance of the model has been of notably different character.This Master’s thesis examines the understanding of and attitudes towards open access among eight senior Swedish researchers and how these have been affected by the implementation of the Swedish Research Council’s Open Access-policy as implemented in 2010. It further asks the question of how researchers’ publishing practices can be understood as shaped by and performed within actor-network configurations. The study is based on interviews with researchers from three academic disciplines. The empirical material has been analyzed through the perspective of actor-network theory.The study finds that the impact of the Swedish Research Council’s policy has been low. Yet, perceived as a floating object, the policy has forced the researchers to adhere to and position themselves in relation to the immanent powers of the policy and, thus, to Open Access both as movement and publishing model. The study also finds that both the traditional model for scientific publishing and the Open Access model can be understood as actor-networks, currently competing for the researchers’ loyalty and involvement in order to secure future dominance. The study finally concludes that in order to fully understand researchers’ practices and attitudes it is necessary to perceive these as shaped in and by extra-social contexts and forces. / Program: Masterutbildning: Digitala tjänster - kultur, information & kommunikation