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Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica
by sandeep bhavsar 17 Dec '05

17 Dec '05

Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica Daniel Terdiman, December 16, 2005 The journal Nature says the open-access encyclopedia is about as accurate as the old standby. Over the last couple of weeks, Wikipedia, the free, open-access encyclopedia, has taken a great deal of flak in the press for problems related to the credibility of its authors and its general accountability. In particular, Wikipedia has taken hits for its inclusion, for four months, of an anonymously written article linking former journalist John Seigenthaler to the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and John F. Kennedy. At the same time, the blogosphere was buzzing for several days about podcasting pioneer Adam Curry's being accused of anonymously deleting references to others' seminal work on the technology. In response to situations like these and others in its history, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has always maintained that the service and its community are built around a self-policing and self-cleaning nature that is supposed to ensure its articles are accurate. Still, many critics have tried to downplay its role as a source of valid information and have often pointed to the Encyclopedia Britannica as an example of an accurate reference. For its study, Nature chose articles from both sites in a wide range of topics and sent them to what it called "relevant" field experts for peer review. The experts then compared the competing articles--one from each site on a given topic--side by side, but were not told which article came from which site. Nature got back 42 usable reviews from its field of experts. In the end, the journal found just eight serious errors, such as general misunderstandings of vital concepts, in the articles. Of those, four came from each site. They did, however, discover a series of factual errors, omissions or misleading statements. All told, Wikipedia had 162 such problems, while Britannica had 123. That averages out to 2.92 mistakes per article for Britannica and 3.86 for Wikipedia. "An expert-led investigation carried out by Nature--the first to use peer review to compare Wikipedia and Britannica's coverage of science," the journal wrote, "suggests that such high-profile examples (like the Seigenthaler and Curry situations) are the exception rather than the rule." And to Wales, while Britannica came out looking a little bit more accurate than Wikipedia, the Nature study was validation of his service's fundamental structure. "I was very pleased, just to see that (the study) was reasonably favorable," Wales told CNET News.com. "I think it provides, for us, a great counterpoint to the press coverage we've gotten recently, because it puts the focus on the broader quality and not just one article." He also acknowledged that the error rate for each encyclopedia was not insignificant, and added that he thinks such numbers demonstrate that broad review of encyclopedia articles is needed. He also said that the results belie the notion that Britannica is infallible. "I have very great respect for Britannica," Wales said. But "I think there is a general view among a lot of people that it has no errors, like, 'I read it in Britannica, it must be true.' It's good that people see that there are a lot of errors everywhere." To Britannica officials, however, the Nature results showed that Wikipedia still has a way to go. "The (Nature) article is saying that Wikipedia has a third more errors" than Britannica, said Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopedia Britannica. But Cauz and editor in chief Dale Hoiberg also said they were concerned that Nature had not specified the problems that it had found in Britannica. "We've asked them a number of questions about the process they used," Hoiberg said. "They said in (their article) that the inaccuracies included errors, omissions and misleading statements. But there's no indication of how many of each. So we're very eager to look at that and explore it because we take it very seriously." Regards Sandeep Bhavsar Librarian Dr.V.N.Bedekar Institute of Research and Management Studies Thane(W) 400601. MUMBAI PH : 25364492 25446554 25339868 Mo : 9867437438 email : sandeep.bhavsar(a)gmail.com --------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica Daniel Terdiman, December 16, 2005 The journal Nature says the open-access encyclopedia is about as accurate as the old standby. Over the last couple of weeks, Wikipedia, the free, open-access encyclopedia, has taken a great deal of flak in the press for problems related to the credibility of its authors and its general accountability. In particular, Wikipedia has taken hits for its inclusion, for four months, of an anonymously written article linking former journalist John Seigenthaler to the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and John F. Kennedy. At the same time, the blogosphere was buzzing for several days about podcasting pioneer Adam Curry's being accused of anonymously deleting references to others' seminal work on the technology. In response to situations like these and others in its history, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has always maintained that the service and its community are built around a self-policing and self-cleaning nature that is supposed to ensure its articles are accurate. Still, many critics have tried to downplay its role as a source of valid information and have often pointed to the http://www.britannica.com/ Encyclopedia Britannica as an example of an accurate reference. For its study, http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051212/full/438900a.html Nature chose articles from both sites in a wide range of topics and sent them to what it called "relevant" field experts for peer review. The experts then compared the competing articles--one from each site on a given topic--side by side, but were not told which article came from which site. Nature got back 42 usable reviews from its field of experts. In the end, the journal found just eight serious errors, such as general misunderstandings of vital concepts, in the articles. Of those, four came from each site. They did, however, discover a series of factual errors, omissions or misleading statements. All told, Wikipedia had 162 such problems, while Britannica had 123. That averages out to 2.92 mistakes per article for Britannica and 3.86 for Wikipedia. "An expert-led investigation carried out by Nature--the first to use peer review to compare Wikipedia and Britannica's coverage of science," the journal wrote, "suggests that such high-profile examples (like the Seigenthaler and Curry situations) are the exception rather than the rule." And to Wales, while Britannica came out looking a little bit more accurate than Wikipedia, the Nature study was validation of his service's fundamental structure. "I was very pleased, just to see that (the study) was reasonably favorable," Wales told CNET News.com. "I think it provides, for us, a great counterpoint to the press coverage we've gotten recently, because it puts the focus on the broader quality and not just one article." He also acknowledged that the error rate for each encyclopedia was not insignificant, and added that he thinks such numbers demonstrate that broad review of encyclopedia articles is needed. He also said that the results belie the notion that Britannica is infallible. "I have very great respect for Britannica," Wales said. But "I think there is a general view among a lot of people that it has no errors, like, 'I read it in Britannica, it must be true.' It's good that people see that there are a lot of errors everywhere." To Britannica officials, however, the Nature results showed that Wikipedia still has a way to go. "The (Nature) article is saying that Wikipedia has a third more errors" than Britannica, said Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopedia Britannica. But Cauz and editor in chief Dale Hoiberg also said they were concerned that Nature had not specified the problems that it had found in Britannica. "We've asked them a number of questions about the process they used," Hoiberg said. "They said in (their article) that the inaccuracies included errors, omissions and misleading statements. But there's no indication of how many of each. So we're very eager to look at that and explore it because we take it very seriously." Regards Sandeep Bhavsar Librarian Dr.V.N.Bedekar Institute of Research and Management Studies Thane(W) 400601. MUMBAI PH : 25364492 25446554 25339868 Mo : 9867437438 email : mailto:sandeep.bhavsar@gmail.com sandeep.bhavsar(a)gmail.com http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/uk/taglines/default/messenger/*http://uk.messen… Yahoo! Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/uk/taglines/default/messenger/*http://uk.messen… calling worldwide with voicemail

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SITE FOR LIBRARIANS
by Suresh Kumar Tejomurtula 16 Dec '05

16 Dec '05

Dear Student friends, Am a final student in LIS from Andhra University, I would like to let all the students know the information I've found. This a site for the students who are new to Internet http://www.lii.org/ Have a note of it friends, And I hope students from all the corners will share their informative knowledge with the remaining. Regards T.suresh Kumar Dept. Library & Information science Andhra University Visakhapatnam. Dear Student friends, Am a final student in LIS from Andhra University, I would like to let all the students know the information I've found. This a site for the students who are new to Internet http://www.lii.org/ http://www.lii.org/ Have a note of it friends, And I hope students from all the corners will share their informative knowledge with the remaining. Regards T.suresh Kumar Dept. Library & Information science Andhra University Visakhapatnam.

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NET JUNE'05 RESULTS OUT!!!
by rupesh kumar 16 Dec '05

16 Dec '05

Dear All, The results of June 2005 UGC-NET exam is available on the UGC website http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/net.html Congratulations to the successful candidates and good luck to aspirants. Regards, RUPESH KUMAR.A. DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE BANGALORE UNIVERSITY __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com Dear All, The results of June 2005 UGC-NET exam is available on the UGC website http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/net.html Congratulations to the successful candidates and good luck to aspirants. Regards, http://www.bub.ac.in/buLogo.jpg RUPESH KUMAR.A. DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE BANGALORE UNIVERSITY __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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New Stuff
by Thapar, Amit 16 Dec '05

16 Dec '05

Library, Librarian and Librarianship Quotes http://informatics.buffalo.edu/faculty/ellison/quotes/libquotesac.html There's a lot of material for sig files here; you can also submit your own favorite quotes. Merriam-Webster Open Dictionary http://www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/ "where you can 1) submit and share entries that aren't already in our Online Dictionary, and 2) browse entries submitted by other members of the Merriam-Webster Online community." Among the recent submissions: "blogosphere" (THAT isn't in the dictionary yet?), "craptastic," "geekmeister," "chillax." amit@niper Cell: 9417419457 e-mail: amit_thapar(a)yahoo.com Library, Librarian and Librarianship Quotes http://informatics.buffalo.edu/faculty/ellison/quotes/libquotesac.html http://informatics.buffalo.edu/faculty/ellison/quotes/libquotesac.html There's a lot of material for sig files here; you can also submit your own favorite quotes. Merriam-Webster Open Dictionary http://www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/ http://www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/ "where you can 1) submit and share entries that aren't already in our Online Dictionary, and 2) browse entries submitted by other members of the Merriam-Webster Online community." Among the recent submissions: "blogosphere" (THAT isn't in the dictionary yet?), "craptastic," "geekmeister," "chillax." mailto:amit@niper amit@niper Cell: 9417419457 e-mail: mailto:amit_thapar@yahoo.com amit_thapar(a)yahoo.com

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From libraries to 'libratories'
by Mailing List Manager 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2005 15:57:29 +0530 From: "Thapar, Amit" <amitt(a)niper.ac.in> Source: First Monday Volume 10, Number 12 - December 5th 2005 >From libraries to 'libratories' by Leo Waaijers http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_12/waaijers/ Abstract: While the eighties of the last century were a time of local automation for libraries and the nineties the decade in which libraries embraced the Internet and the Web, now is the age in which the big search engines and institutional repositories are gaining a firm footing. This heralds a new era in both the evolution of scholarly communication and its agencies themselves, i.e. the libraries. Until now libraries and publishers have developed a digital variant of existing processes and products,i.e. catalogues posted on the Web, scanned copies of articles, e-mail notification about acquisitions or expired lending periods, or traditional journals in a digital jacket. However, the new OAI repositories and services based upon them have given rise to entirely new processes and products, libraries transforming themselves into partners in setting up virtual learning environments, building an institution's digital showcase, maintaining academics' personal Web sites, designing refereed portals and - further into the future - taking part in organising virtual research environments or collaboratories. Libraries are set to metamorphose into 'libratories', an imaginary word to express their combined functions of library, repository and collaboratory. In such environments scholarly communication will be liberated from its current copyright bridle while its coverage will be both broader - including primary data, audiovisuals and dynamic models - and deeper, with cross-disciplinary analyses of methodologies and applications of instruments. Universities will make it compulsory to store in their institutional repositories the results of research conducted within their walls for purposes of academic reporting, review committees, and other modes of clarification and explanation. Big search engines will provide access to this profusion of information and organise its mass customization.

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2020 Shape of Academic and Research Libraries
by Mailing List Manager 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:33:59 +0530 From: Sukhdev Singh <esukhdev(a)gmail.com> Year 2020 - Online is In and Paper is Out: Let us assume by the year 2020: -- All content required for teaching, learning and research is available online. -- 24/7 Access is available for free or fee. -- Online content is well indexed and rated. -- Vendors provide single point access to premium content and organized free content. -- Access is available at a cost, which is less then 10 % of the total educational cost of a postgraduate student. What would be shape [should I call future?] of Academic and Research Libraries? Any wild guesses? Let us dare to imagine. Comments Please. --Sukhdev Singh, NIC. http://openmed.nic.in

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Digital Content Management
by visakhi bapaiah pulagam 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

Dear Collegues, We are planning to digitize the contents, subject heading / glossories from books of our library. Can any body kindly help me to write the name of the libraries where this type of project was done. Thanking U Dr. P. Visakhi Librarian, IASRI, New Delhi Dear Collegues, We are planning to digitize the contents, subject heading / glossories from books of our library. Can any body kindly help me to write the name of the libraries where this type of project was done. Thanking U Dr. P. Visakhi Librarian, IASRI, New Delhi http://adworks.rediff.com/cgi-bin/AdWorks/sigclick.cgi/www.rediff.com/signa… http://adworks.rediff.com/cgi-bin/AdWorks/sigimpress.cgi/www.rediff.com/sig…

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Re: [oa-india] Re: Fw: [BOAI] Functioning IRs
by Subbiah Arunachalam 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

Thank you Sukhdev for expressing your views openly so everyone will have an opportunity to reflect. 1.India has such a great reputation - as one of the world's best in software, for example - and many of our LIS professionals attend and speak at conferences on digital libraries and other adanced topics. Many Indian LIS professionals have spent several months in good US institutions as Fulbright scholars and a few have spent time in the UK (as exchange visitors). Many LIS departments do teach computer programming and use of technology in libraries as part of their curriculum. One would therefore expect that there should be no "fear of working with Linux," at least in leading research institutions and the better higher educational institutions. Assuming that some LIS professionals are not familiar with Linux, how long would it take to learn? 2. There is no harm in examining different software before one chooses one of them. For example, at NIC Sukhdev and colleagues took time before they decided to go ahead with GNU EPrints. Mr Muthu Madhan at NIT Rourkela took time to examine both DSPace and EPrints before he decided to work with DSPace. Indeed taking time to examine different software before a repository is set up, in my opinion, is a good thing. It gives one hands-on experience and strengthens one's involvement in OA. 3. Yes, the passing away of Raja is a great loss. But his legacy, viz. the IISc GNU EPrints archive, should inspire the rest of the community to set up similar archives in other institutions. Right now we have competent people such as Dr A R D Prasad, Dr D K Sahu and Sukhdev imself. When I wanted OneWorld South Asia to set up an archive for ICT-enabled Development (somewhat similar to penMED for biomedical research), I took the OWSA team to Sukhdev without prior appointment and he was kind enouugh to spare two hours (and he even offered to provide us lunch). My point is we have lost one of our best men, but mercifully we have others who are more than willing to help anyone who wants to set up an archive. 4. I have not heard of any computer science department coming forward to set up an institutional archive. By and large is going to be the LIS personnel who will have to set up and maintain institutional archives. At least in India, that is how it will happen. 5. When we held two workshops at MSSRF more than 18 months ago, virtually everyone of the participants told Leslie Chan that he/she would be able to set up an archive within a few months (ranging from 3-9 months). But only a few have actually set up till now. As the coordinator of the workshop, I wrote to virtually everyone of the participants more than once. I am not even sure how many of them spoke to their managements (Vice chancellor, Director, Registrar, Head of Dept, Dean, etc.). Things may improve only if there is an order from above! If heads of institutions/ funding agencies could mandate making publicly funded research available through open access, then people will start action. The recent versions of both DSpace and EPrints are pretty easy to install. Costs are not a major problem, but cannot be ignored altogether. Advocacy at all levels - at the levels of research students, faculty, heads of institutions, policy makers, donor agencies - should continue. And of course some introspection - just started by Sukhdev, for which he deserves our thanks. Let us hope Dr Alma Swan [who will speak at the Science Congress on 6th January and also visit Bangalore, Bombay and Delhi to meet with people and promote Open Access] will inspire a number of people to start new OA archives. Best wishes. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sukhdev Singh" <esukhdev(a)gmail.com> To: "Discussion Group for Open Access Workshop India" <oa-india(a)dgroups.org> Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 11:10 AM Subject: [oa-india] Re: Fw: [BOAI] Functioning IRs > However, Institutional Archives are not coming up as expected in > India. What are the reasons? > > I suspect the following could be some of the factors: > > - Fear of working with Linux. > - Spending too much time on deciding which IA Repository Software to use. > - Lack of technical leadership of the kind of Late Dr. Rajshekhar > - Confusion on Domain Area, whether computer department should set up > or initiative should be taken by libraries. Some librarians may even > fear loosing the (false?) tag of being the sole custodian of > knowledge > - Mere lip service to the whole issue. Boosting too much and doing too > little. > > Following could serve a solution to some extend. > > - Work to package all components required for installing and running : > Linux, Apache and EPrints. > - Distributing a set of CDs that will format a new machine, install > linux and eprints - all set and running. > - A national level team of practical professionals could be formed > that would implement the above two steps. > - State level teams could be formed that would take the distribution > CDs and implement the same in instituions / universities. It would > also provide training and support service for day to day running of > servers. > > However, the motivation and policy level lobbing is not included the > above solution. Moreover funding has also to be arranged. Someone > else may suggest the same. > > Regards > Sukhdev Singh, NIC. > http://openmed.nic.in > > > On 12/15/05, Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> wrote: >> >> >> >> [Forwarding from the AmSci OA Forum. --Peter Suber] >> >> >> Posted on behalf of Subbiah Arunachalam, Leslie Chan and Barbara Kirsop >> >> Regarding comments to the list on the costs of setting up and maintaining >> an >> Institutional Repository (IR), we agree that figures are being publicised >> about the costs without distinguishing whether these are solely for the >> institute's published research output or for a high-cost Institute-wide >> or >> Campus-wide resource for all purposes. So when issuing cost statements it >> is >> critical to explain precisely what is being set up, otherwise figures are >> meaningless. Because of these confusions, we are concerned that the very >> high figures quoted can deter smaller institutions and developing >> countries >> from setting up open access archives. >> >> To off-set such concerns, we know that over 70 repositories for research >> publications have already been set up in the developing world and we have >> evidence of the low costs associated with these. >> >> Only yesterday a colleague from India responded to a question we asked, >> saying '....organisations can do with a server just costing about 40 K >> (rupees) and use a broad band connectivity. This connectivity has become >> very cheap recently due the launch of Broadband Services by >> BSNL/MTNL/Private Cos. Running the server is also not a problem for us. >> We >> are already paid for other work. It just takes fraction of our time to >> maintain the server and handle the approval of uploaded articles. In the >> same manner, Indian Universities / Research Institutes already have >> infrastructure in form of libraries and librarians....' And we have had >> other similar reports from developing country organisations. >> >> Cost should not be used as an argument to dissuade organisations from >> setting up an eprints server. As Arthur says, costs are trivial compared >> with the overall institutional budgets and can generally be absorbed. If >> further examples of costs are to be reported, the purpose of the >> repository >> and the overall research budget of the institution should be stated at >> the >> same time. >> >> Leslie Chan, Subbiah Arunachalam, Barbara Kirsop >> Electronic Publishing Trust for Development >> >> >> Dgroups is a joint initiative of Bellanet, DFID, Hivos, ICA, IICD, >> OneWorld, UNAIDS and World Bank >> --- You are currently subscribed to oa-india as: esukhdev(a)gmail.com >> To unsubscribe send a blank email to >> %%email.unsub%% > > Dgroups is a joint initiative of Bellanet, DFID, Hivos, ICA, IICD, > OneWorld, UNAIDS and World Bank > --- You are currently subscribed to oa-india as: arun(a)mssrf.res.in > To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-oa-india-137598Y(a)dgroups.org

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Re: [medlib] 2020 - Shape of Academic and Research Libraries
by Sukhdev Singh 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

Dear Friends, Thank you all very much in responding to email on the above subject. Ihad made certain assumptions that could be true in the year 2020.Under such circumstances, what could be the Shape of Academic andResearch Libraries? I did not touch upon the Public and NationalLibraries, as their functions are more of serving the citizens and ofarchival of national heritage. Some of you [1][2] have valid reasons to question such assumptionsespecially when it comes to India. Infrastructure like Electricity andReliable Internet connectivity could be major hurdles. You won'tbelieve that even in Delhi, the capital of India, there are regularpower cuts. Even in day of Govt. Control of power distribution thesituation was much better. Only problem was billing and their payment.With private companies, billing and payments is no problem, can behandled conveniently over Internet. But the power cuts are a routineand unscheduled. So lesson learned is that Privatization withoutcompetition is worse. But friends, hold a bit, lack of infrastructure won't affect thecoming shape of libraries in India. The Reason? Our Research andTeaching depends largely depends on what is published outside India.Even good Indian content is published outside India. So we have nochoice if much of it is available in electronic format in future. Iagree with some of you [2][5] that paper is more convenient mode ofreading. But then efforts to develop display gadgets that will givethe comfort of paper are on way and by 2020 could be a reality. So, Ithink, whether we are ready or not – content may only available inelectronic form [3][6] from developed countries. Economics ofpublishing may not favor print formats. The publishers will bedistributing the content, as done now, in various business models –Free, Fee Based, Pay-per-view etc. Only thing would be that confusionsaround copyrights etc would be cleared and taken care of by the year2020. Friends, training of the end-users will also be not a major problemthen. The future users are the now primary school children. You willappreciate how both their teachers and parents keen to teach themcomputers. Infact, if a middle class Indian family is buying a homecomputer today, it is for their children. I hope this generation ofusers may be well ahead of present day users. I am not painting a gloomy picture for future of Librarianship. I amonly assuming a "worst – case scenario". I know, I was told in mymatriculation math class, how to solve problem and find unknownquantity – 'Let the quantity be "X" !!!' and so on. So friends, under the given assumptions, what would be the librariesof year 2020 look like? References:1. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/medlib/message/163 - Satish S Munnolli2. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/medlib/message/164 - Varalakshmi3. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/medlib/message/165 - Surinder Kumar4. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/medlib/message/166 - Vasumathi Sriganesh5. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/medlib/message/168 - Rama Reddy6. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/medlib/message/167 - Prasanna --Sukhdev Singh, NIC.http://openmed.nic.inhttp://indmed.nic.in

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RE: [LIS-Forum] Interesting book available- free full text Online
by madhuresh.singhal 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

Dear Friends, In continuation of Mr. Pradeep's mail, I would like to add that National Academies Press is providing 3500+ books freely in PDF format. One can read the book online or can download full text pdf. There are couples of good titles in scientific publishing, DL's, Information Management, and on various major subjects ranging from Agriculture to Biology.....Computer......and Urban Development. One can get a full list of all freely available books (1959 till 2005). And when you are there at NAP website, try their Discovery Engine, which will give you the related keywords derived from the results and other options like Research dashboard, Find Similar etc. And also an interesting service is Reference Finder (Find more like your own document). Here you are provided with a text box where you can paste up to 8 pages of text from any other source or your own document and can get 1) relevant reports from NAP and other institutes OR 2) Extract key terms to produce a more fine-tuned set of resources to use to build web queries. Here are couples of titles which might be of general interest. Electronic Scientific, Technical, and Medical Journal Publishing and Its Implications: Proceedings of a Symposium (2004) Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science: Proceedings of an International Symposium (2004) A Patent System for the 21st Century (2004) Developing a Digital National Library for Undergraduate Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education: Report of a Workshop (1998) Please note the change in my mail id and address. Regards Madhuresh Singhal Assoc. Res. Scientist - Inf. Sc. Advinus Therapeutics Pvt. Ltd. 21 & 22, Phase 2, Peenya Industrial Area, Bangalore - 560058 Phone: +91 80 51172085, Ext. 25; Mobile 098861 82822 E-mail: madhureshsinghal(a)yahoo.com http://nettalk2.tripod.com/ -----Original Message----- From: lis-forum-bounces(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in [mailto:lis-forum-bounces@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in] On Behalf Of pradip umdale Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 6:21 PM To: LIS-FORUM Subject: [LIS-Forum] Interesting book available- free full text Online Dear Members An interesting book available- free full text Online - "Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend: on Being a Mentor to Students in Science and Engineering." http://books.nap.edu/openbook/0309063639/html/index.html Regards Pradipkumar Pradeepkumar M Umdale Proj Ass. National Chemical Laboratory Information Division/ Library Pashan Rd., Pune- 411 008 Ph.No.91-20-25902031/25902038 (Direct) --------------------------------- Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now.

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Google to launch music content feature
by rahul kumar 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

Dear All, McGraw-Hill Professional, in its continuing effort to provide the most authoritative and innovative digital content to professionals and students worldwide, today announced the establishment of a Digital Advisory Board. The board comprises representatives from McGraw-Hill's customer base, including decisionmakers in corporate, public and academic libraries at Sun Microsystems, Weill Cornell Medical College, the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto, and the University of California-San Diego. To read more Click below: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8EGGFV83.htm?campaign_id=apn_… Regards Rahul Kumar Jaypee Institute of Information Technology A-10, Sec-62, Noida, UP --------------------------------- Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at Yahoo! Shopping Dear All, McGraw-Hill Professional, in its continuing effort to provide the most authoritative and innovative digital content to professionals and students worldwide, today announced the establishment of a Digital Advisory Board. The board comprises representatives from McGraw-Hill's customer base, including decisionmakers in corporate, public and academic libraries at Sun Microsystems, Weill Cornell Medical College, the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto, and the University of California-San Diego. To read more Click below: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8EGGFV83.htm?campaign_id=apn_… http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8EGGFV83.htm?campaign_id=apn_… Regards Rahul Kumar Jaypee Institute of Information Technology A-10, Sec-62, Noida, UP Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/footer/shopping/*http://shopping.yahoo.com/;… Yahoo! Shopping

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New service aims to help developing world in research
by sandeep bhavsar 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

New service aims to help developing world in research Stefanie Olsen December 14, 2005 Scientists in developing countries may soon have better access to peer research on the Internet, thanks to a partnership between search specialists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Elsevier. MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is contributing technology to a joint project with Elsevier that will allow scientists with limited bandwidth to access information online more easily, the school announced on Tuesday. MIT's technology, called TEK, lets researchers with limited resources, such as outdated technology or weak funds, send a query to its servers and search engine. TEK will collect documents, compress them and send them back via email a week later, saving the recipient on connectivity costs. Combined with Elsevier's science search engine, dubbed Scirus, TEK will hone in on the science-related subset of the Web for researchers, according to the two partners. Called Search Scirus with TEK, the service "can help bridge the information divide between technologically advanced and developing countries, serving the global scientific community at large", Sharon Mombru, Scirus' senior product manager, said in a statement. The move comes as many projects are under way to bring more scientific information to the Web and mitigate the costs of otherwise pricey information. Google, for example, is adding many different sources of scientific data to its specialised search engine, Google Scholar. Still, the project doesn't directly address the slow connection speeds that bandwidth-challenged researchers face. MIT and Elsevier plan to bring the project to institutions with specific expertise in information-delivery to developing countries. "We hope that organisations with access to users in these countries will take Elsevier's lead and get involved... to help put this initiative into practice and extend the reach of valuable scientific information available on the Internet," said Saman Amarasinghe, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. Sandeep Bhavsar Librarian Dr.V.N.Bedekar Institute of Research and Management Studies Thane(W) PH : 25364492 25446554 25339868 Mo : 9867437438 email : sandeep.bhavsar(a)gmail.com ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Exclusive Xmas Game, help Santa with his celebrity party - http://santas-christmas-party.yahoo.net/

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Fw: [BOAI] Functioning IRs
by Subbiah Arunachalam 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

[Forwarding from the AmSci OA Forum. --Peter Suber] Posted on behalf of Subbiah Arunachalam, Leslie Chan and Barbara Kirsop Regarding comments to the list on the costs of setting up and maintaining an Institutional Repository (IR), we agree that figures are being publicised about the costs without distinguishing whether these are solely for the institute's published research output or for a high-cost Institute-wide or Campus-wide resource for all purposes. So when issuing cost statements it is critical to explain precisely what is being set up, otherwise figures are meaningless. Because of these confusions, we are concerned that the very high figures quoted can deter smaller institutions and developing countries from setting up open access archives. To off-set such concerns, we know that over 70 repositories for research publications have already been set up in the developing world and we have evidence of the low costs associated with these. Only yesterday a colleague from India responded to a question we asked, saying '....organisations can do with a server just costing about 40 K (rupees) and use a broad band connectivity. This connectivity has become very cheap recently due the launch of Broadband Services by BSNL/MTNL/Private Cos. Running the server is also not a problem for us. We are already paid for other work. It just takes fraction of our time to maintain the server and handle the approval of uploaded articles. In the same manner, Indian Universities / Research Institutes already have infrastructure in form of libraries and librarians....' And we have had other similar reports from developing country organisations. Cost should not be used as an argument to dissuade organisations from setting up an eprints server. As Arthur says, costs are trivial compared with the overall institutional budgets and can generally be absorbed. If further examples of costs are to be reported, the purpose of the repository and the overall research budget of the institution should be stated at the same time. Leslie Chan, Subbiah Arunachalam, Barbara Kirsop Electronic Publishing Trust for Development [Forwarding from the AmSci OA Forum. --Peter Suber] Posted on behalf of Subbiah Arunachalam, Leslie Chan and Barbara Kirsop Regarding comments to the list on the costs of setting up and maintaining an Institutional Repository (IR), we agree that figures are being publicised about the costs without distinguishing whether these are solely for the institute's published research output or for a high-cost Institute-wide or Campus-wide resource for all purposes. So when issuing cost statements it is critical to explain precisely what is being set up, otherwise figures are meaningless. Because of these confusions, we are concerned that the very high figures quoted can deter smaller institutions and developing countries from setting up open access archives. To off-set such concerns, we know that over 70 repositories for research publications have already been set up in the developing world and we have evidence of the low costs associated with these. Only yesterday a colleague from India responded to a question we asked, saying '....organisations can do with a server just costing about 40 K (rupees) and use a broad band connectivity. This connectivity has become very cheap recently due the launch of Broadband Services by BSNL/MTNL/Private Cos. Running the server is also not a problem for us. We are already paid for other work. It just takes fraction of our time to maintain the server and handle the approval of uploaded articles. In the same manner, Indian Universities / Research Institutes already have infrastructure in form of libraries and librarians....' And we have had other similar reports from developing country organisations. Cost should not be used as an argument to dissuade organisations from setting up an eprints server. As Arthur says, costs are trivial compared with the overall institutional budgets and can generally be absorbed. If further examples of costs are to be reported, the purpose of the repository and the overall research budget of the institution should be stated at the same time. Leslie Chan, Subbiah Arunachalam, Barbara Kirsop Electronic Publishing Trust for Development

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Free Live Presentation of LiBSUITE RFID system.
by Pranaykumar Dhiwar 14 Dec '05

14 Dec '05

Dear All, We Cordially Invite you for a Free Live Demonstration of LiBSUITE RFID at Hotel Ashraya International, SHANGHALA HALL, 149, Bhagvan Mahaveer Road (Infantry Road) Diagonally Opp to Police Commissioners Office, Bangalore 560 001. On Friday 16th December 2005 Between 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (Any One Hour which you find comfortable ) Requested to Give us a Call on Soft-AID Computers (P) Ltd. 080- 23464717 / 23444860 or 9844278564 (Vanishree) and confirm what time is suitable for you to attend. Thanks & Regards, Pranaykumar Dear All, We Cordially Invite you for a Free Live Demonstration of LiBSUITE RFID at Hotel Ashraya International, SHANGHALA HALL, 149, Bhagvan Mahaveer Road (Infantry Road) Diagonally Opp to Police Commissioners Office, Bangalore 560 001. On Friday 16th December 2005 Between 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (Any One Hour which you find comfortable ) Requested to Give us a Call on Soft-AID Computers (P) Ltd. 080- 23464717 / 23444860 or 9844278564 (Vanishree) and confirm what time is suitable for you to attend. Thanks & Regards, Pranaykumar

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Interesting book available- free full text Online
by pradip umdale 14 Dec '05

14 Dec '05

Dear Members An interesting book available- free full text Online - "Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend: on Being a Mentor to Students in Science and Engineering." http://books.nap.edu/openbook/0309063639/html/index.html Regards Pradipkumar Pradeepkumar M Umdale Proj Ass. National Chemical Laboratory Information Division/ Library Pashan Rd., Pune- 411 008 Ph.No.91-20-25902031/25902038 (Direct) --------------------------------- Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Dear Members An interesting book available- free full text Online - "Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend: on Being a Mentor to Students in Science and Engineering." http://books.nap.edu/openbook/0309063639/html/index.html http://books.nap.edu/openbook/0309063639/html/index.html Regards Pradipkumar Pradeepkumar M Umdale Proj Ass. National Chemical Laboratory Information Division/ Library Pashan Rd., Pune- 411 008 Ph.No.91-20-25902031/25902038 (Direct) http://yahoo.shaadi.com Yahoo! India Matrimony : Find your partner now.

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Why is open access important for higher education?
by Subbiah Arunachalam 14 Dec '05

14 Dec '05

Here is an interview, reproduced from Peter Suber's blog "Open Access News". Arun --- Interview with Ray English on OA Michael Roy, Open Access to Scholarship: An Interview with Ray English, Academic Commons, December 11, 2005. Ray is the Library Director at Oberlin College. Excerpt: Why is open access important for higher education? Open access is one strategy - and actually the most successful strategy so far - for addressing dysfunctions in the system of scholarly communication. That system is in serious trouble. High rates of price increase for scholarly journals (particularly in scientific fields), stagnant library budgets, journal cancellations, declining library monograph acquisitions, university presses in serious economic trouble, and increasing corporate control of journal publishing by a small number of international conglomerates that have grown in size through repeated mergers and acquisitions - those are all symptoms of the problem. Scholars have lost control of a system that was meant to serve their needs; more importantly, they are also losing access to research. Open access has extraordinary potential for overcoming the fundamental problem of access to scholarship. It is a means of reasserting control by the academy over the scholarship that it produces and of making that scholarship openly available to everyone - at anytime and from virtually any place on the globe. Why does open access matter to liberal arts colleges in particular? It is especially important for liberal arts colleges because of the access issue. Liberal arts college libraries have smaller budgets, compared to the research universities. While even the major research libraries cannot afford all of the journals that they need, the lack of access is an even bigger problem in the liberal arts college realm. Faculty at many liberal arts colleges are expected to be active researchers and independent study is also a hallmark of a liberal arts college undergraduate education. So the lack of access to journal literature can be even more problematic in the liberal arts college framework than it is for the research universities.... What's the hottest current issue related to open access? I think it's the issue of taxpayer-funded research. Both in this country and abroad there is increasing interest in making publicly-funded scientific research openly accessible. We saw the beginnings of that with the National Institute of Health policy that was instituted last year and I think we will soon see a broad national debate about the advisability of this for all U.S. government agencies. The United Kingdom is moving toward a comprehensive policy of mandating open access to all government-funded research. What is your role in the open access movement? I have been a member of the steering committee of SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) since its inception. SPARC, which is a coalition of academic and research libraries, has been a prominent advocate for open access. I have also played a leading role in the scholarly communications program of the Association of College & Research Libraries. I chaired a task force that recommended the ACRL scholarly communications initiative and I have been chair of the ACRL Scholarly Communications Committee since it was established. Being involved with both SPARC and ACRL has put me in the middle of a number of these issues for the past several years. Here is an interview, reproduced from Peter Suber's blog "Open Access News". Arun --- Interview with Ray English on OA Michael Roy, http://www.academiccommons.org/the-commons/interviews/Ray_English_Open_Acce… Open Access to Scholarship: An Interview with Ray English , Academic Commons , December 11, 2005. Ray is the Library Director at Oberlin College. Excerpt: Why is open access important for higher education? Open access is one strategy and actually the most successful strategy so far for addressing dysfunctions in the system of scholarly communication. That system is in serious trouble. High rates of price increase for scholarly journals (particularly in scientific fields), stagnant library budgets, journal cancellations, declining library monograph acquisitions, university presses in serious economic trouble, and increasing corporate control of journal publishing by a small number of international conglomerates that have grown in size through repeated mergers and acquisitions those are all symptoms of the problem. Scholars have lost control of a system that was meant to serve their needs; more importantly, they are also losing access to research. Open access has extraordinary potential for overcoming the fundamental problem of access to scholarship. It is a means of reasserting control by the academy over the scholarship that it produces and of making that scholarship openly available to everyone at anytime and from virtually any place on the globe. Why does open access matter to liberal arts colleges in particular? It is especially important for liberal arts colleges because of the access issue. Liberal arts college libraries have smaller budgets, compared to the research universities. While even the major research libraries cannot afford all of the journals that they need, the lack of access is an even bigger problem in the liberal arts college realm. Faculty at many liberal arts colleges are expected to be active researchers and independent study is also a hallmark of a liberal arts college undergraduate education. So the lack of access to journal literature can be even more problematic in the liberal arts college framework than it is for the research universities.... Whats the hottest current issue related to open access? I think its the issue of taxpayer-funded research. Both in this country and abroad there is increasing interest in making publicly-funded scientific research openly accessible. We saw the beginnings of that with the National Institute of Health policy that was instituted last year and I think we will soon see a broad national debate about the advisability of this for all U.S. government agencies. The United Kingdom is moving toward a comprehensive policy of mandating open access to all government-funded research. What is your role in the open access movement? I have been a member of the steering committee of http://www.arl.org/sparc SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) since its inception. SPARC, which is a coalition of academic and research libraries, has been a prominent advocate for open access. I have also played a leading role in the scholarly communications program of the Association of College & Research Libraries. I chaired a task force that recommended the ACRL scholarly communications initiative and I have been chair of the ACRL Scholarly Communications Committee since it was established. Being involved with both SPARC and ACRL has put me in the middle of a number of these issues for the past several years.

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Researchers Crack Biometric Security with Play-Doh
by rahul kumar 13 Dec '05

13 Dec '05

Dear all A Professor at Clarkson University in New York has proved that biometric security systems can be easily "spoofed" with fake fingerprints. Read must at http://www.sci-tech-today.com/news/Biometrics-Cracked-with-Play-Doh/story.x… Regards Rahul Kumar Learning Resource Centre Jaypee Institute of Information Technology(Deemed University) A-10 , Sec-62, Noida(UP) --------------------------------- Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at Yahoo! Shopping Dear all A Professor at Clarkson University in New York has proved that biometric security systems can be easily "spoofed" with fake fingerprints. Read must at http://www.sci-tech-today.com/news/Biometrics-Cracked-with-Play-Doh/story.x… http://www.sci-tech-today.com/news/Biometrics-Cracked-with-Play-Doh/story.x… Regards Rahul Kumar Learning Resource Centre Jaypee Institute of Information Technology(Deemed University) A-10 , Sec-62, Noida(UP) Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/footer/shopping/*http://shopping.yahoo.com/;… Yahoo! Shopping

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AOL Tests Remote Access Service
by rahul kumar 13 Dec '05

13 Dec '05

Dear all America Online has begun testing a new service that lets users access their PC remotely from any computer that has a browser and is connected to the Internet. The new service, called LinktoPC, became available on Friday to AOL subscribers interested in trying it out, an AOL spokesperson said Monday. "We haven't offered this type of service before," he said. The technology behind LinktoPC comes from WebEx Communications, a company that specializes in online meetings and Web conferencing. get more at: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,123911,00.asp Regards Rahul Kumar Learning Resource Centre Jaypee Institute of Information Technology(Deemed University) A-10 , Sec-62, Noida(UP) --------------------------------- Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at Yahoo! Shopping Dear all America Online has begun testing a new service that lets users access their PC remotely from any computer that has a browser and is connected to the Internet. The new service, called LinktoPC, became available on Friday to AOL subscribers interested in trying it out, an AOL spokesperson said Monday. "We haven't offered this type of service before," he said. The technology behind LinktoPC comes from WebEx Communications, a company that specializes in online meetings and Web conferencing. get more at: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,123911,00.asp http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,123911,00.asp Regards Rahul Kumar Learning Resource Centre Jaypee Institute of Information Technology(Deemed University) A-10 , Sec-62, Noida(UP) Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/footer/shopping/*http://shopping.yahoo.com/;… Yahoo! Shopping

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Microsoft, MCI announce PC-to-phone calling partnership
by rahul kumar 13 Dec '05

13 Dec '05

Dear all SEATTLE Microsoft and MCI said Monday they'll soon offer a service that lets customers place calls from their personal computers to regular phones. But the service will permit only outbound calls at first, even as rivals Yahoo and America Online allow instant messaging users to receive calls from conventional phones as well as to call out. Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, and MCI, the telecommunications provider being acquired by Verizon Communications, said they will begin a test run of the service in the United States this week. Broader availability is set for the first half of next year. Rahul Kumar Learning Resource Centre Jaypee Institute of Information Technology(Deemed University) A-10 , Sec-62, Noida(UP) --------------------------------- Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at Yahoo! Shopping Dear all SEATTLE Microsoft and MCI said Monday they'll soon offer a service that lets customers place calls from their personal computers to regular phones. But the service will permit only outbound calls at first, even as rivals Yahoo and America Online allow instant messaging users to receive calls from conventional phones as well as to call out. Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, and MCI, the telecommunications provider being acquired by Verizon Communications, said they will begin a test run of the service in the United States this week. Broader availability is set for the first half of next year. Rahul Kumar Learning Resource Centre Jaypee Institute of Information Technology(Deemed University) A-10 , Sec-62, Noida(UP) Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/footer/shopping/*http://shopping.yahoo.com/;… Yahoo! Shopping

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Microsoft is expanding the reach of its mobile e-mail and IM services in India.
by rahul kumar 13 Dec '05

13 Dec '05

Dear information Sc. and Library Patrons. The software giant's MSN division and messaging company Mobile 365 announced Tuesday that they've reached deals with five Indian mobile service providers. Under the deals, subscribers will be able to use text messaging on their cell phones to receive and reply to e-mail sent to their Hotmail accounts. They will also be able to use the MSN Messenger service from their phones. read in detail at http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-5993520.html Rahul Kumar Learning Resource Centre Jaypee Institute of Information Technology(Deemed University) A-10 , Sec-62, Noida(UP) --------------------------------- Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at Yahoo! Shopping Dear information Sc. and Library Patrons. The software giant's MSN division and messaging company Mobile 365 announced Tuesday that they've reached deals with five Indian mobile service providers. Under the deals, subscribers will be able to use text messaging on their cell phones to receive and reply to e-mail sent to their Hotmail accounts. They will also be able to http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5992141.html?tag=nl use the MSN Messenger service from their phones. read in detail at http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-5993520.html http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-5993520.html Rahul Kumar Learning Resource Centre Jaypee Institute of Information Technology(Deemed University) A-10 , Sec-62, Noida(UP) Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/footer/shopping/*http://shopping.yahoo.com/;… Yahoo! Shopping

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HarperCollins to create digital warehouse of books
by rahul kumar 13 Dec '05

13 Dec '05

Dear all , NEW YORK U.S. publisher HarperCollins said Monday it plans to convert some 20,000 books in its catalogue into digital form in a bid to rein in potential copyright violations on the Internet. The move comes as the U.S. publishing industry is bringing lawsuits against Web search leader Google over its effort to scan copyrighted books in libraries a move the industry fears would set a dangerous copyright precedent. get the detail information from the link below http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-12-12-harpercollins-digital-books_x.… Regards Rahul Kumar Learning Resource Centre Jaypee Institute of Information Technology A-10, Sec-62, Noida(UP) --------------------------------- Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at Yahoo! Shopping Dear all , NEW YORK U.S. publisher HarperCollins said Monday it plans to convert some 20,000 books in its catalogue into digital form in a bid to rein in potential copyright violations on the Internet. The move comes as the U.S. publishing industry is bringing lawsuits against Web search leader Google over its effort to scan copyrighted books in libraries a move the industry fears would set a dangerous copyright precedent. get the detail information from the link below http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-12-12-harpercollins-digital-books_x.… http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-12-12-harpercollins-digital-books_x.… Regards Rahul Kumar Learning Resource Centre Jaypee Institute of Information Technology A-10, Sec-62, Noida(UP) Yahoo! Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/footer/shopping/*http://shopping.yahoo.com/;… Yahoo! Shopping

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LIS policy at National level
by Saji S. Nair 13 Dec '05

13 Dec '05

Dear All, We have a plethora of policies in various disciplines and sub-disciplines at the national level. In our field, the National Policy on Library & Information System (NAPLIS) submitted in 1986 to the Government of India wasn't adopted. Eventhough an LIS policy is not a panacea, it could safeguard our professional interests to a large extent. In this era of Information & Communication Technologies, can we moot another one or restructure the NAPLIS? Bye Saji S. Nair Regional Cancer Centre Library Trivandrum Kerala _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!

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Traditional Knowledge encyclopedia
by Saji S. Nair 12 Dec '05

12 Dec '05

Dear All, Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) project of NISCAIR is planning for a free electronic encycopedia, as an effort to tackle 'biopiracy'. The encylopedia comprising of 30 million pages will be made available at the public domain next year. See the news at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4506382.stm India hits back in 'bio-piracy' battle Bye Saji S. Nair Regional Cancer Centre Library Trivandrum Kerala _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!

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Life sciences in semantic web
by Subbiah Arunachalam 11 Dec '05

11 Dec '05

>From Peter Suber's blog "Open Access News" More on NeuroCommons Paul Krill, Semantic Web eyed for life sciences data, InfoWorld, December 9, 2005. Excerpt: The Semantic Web is getting a boost in the life sciences arena. The Semantic Web involves a concept in which data from multiple sources and ontologies can be integrated into a single information space. Experiment design automation (XDA) software vendor Teranode, which focuses on software for life sciences, plans to collaborate with Science Commons to build a neurology repository for the Semantic Web. Called Neurocommons.org, the project will provide a free repository of neurology-related data, tools and pathway knowledge for use by public and private researchers. Science Commons is an effort launched to promote the free flow of scientific information....Science Commons will use the Teranode XDA infrastructure for Neurocommons.org. All content will be available in the Resource Description Framework (RDF) format, allowing for participating foundations to use a shared repository of research.

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OA in China - the debate has begun
by Subbiah Arunachalam 11 Dec '05

11 Dec '05

OA to publicly-funded journals coming in China Jia Hepeng, China launches campaign to boost local journals, SciDev.Net, December 7, 2005. Excerpt: The Chinese government has launched a campaign to encourage Chinese researchers to publish their results in domestic rather than international journals, and to place their results in free archives. "We will gradually make scientists publish research that is funded by the government agencies in leading domestic journals," said Wu Bo'er, director of the Department of Facilities and Financial Support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, at a meeting last week (30 November). At the heart of the campaign is a new fund that will provide financial support to between 300 and 500 of the country's 5,000 scientific journals. The money, whose total amount has yet to be announced, is intended to help the journals improve their editorial and print quality. Some journals will be encouraged to publish in English....At present, papers published by Chinese researchers in journals quoted in the Science Citation Index can bring substantial rewards, such as professorships, research grants and even housing. This has encouraged Chinese scientists to publish their results in foreign journals. To reverse the trend, Wu told SciDev.Net that Chinese scientists may eventually be required to publish their work domestically....Yu Zailin of Peking University disagrees with a ban on publishing in international journals, saying it would impede academic progress. He suggests that instead, Chinese scientists could be asked to write a Chinese paper to be published simultaneously or shortly after their foreign publication....Wang Li, chief editor of Changchun-based Journal of Jilin University, raises another concern. While he accepts that the government's campaign may help to strengthen the country's leading journals, he warns that it could have a less beneficial impact on other scientific publications. "If all Chinese researchers are encouraged to submit their papers to the leading journals, the middle and small-level domestic ones could suffer," says Wang....The government will also fund an online database of the full text of all papers published in journals selected to receive financial support. Both researchers and the public will have access to the database. Comment. I applaud the Chinese plan to improve many of its journals and provide OA to publicly-funded research and publicly-funded journals. However, I also support the concerns of Yu Zailin. One solution is to let researchers publish in the journals of their choice but expect them to deposit copies of their work in OA repositories. This is the approach taken by the NIH, Wellcome Trust, and RCUK. Researchers will still have an incentive to publish in the improved Chinese journals because of their new quality and new access policies.

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