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New Alliance Creates Online Research and Publishing Innovations
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New Alliance Creates Online Research and Publishing Innovations
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The California Digital Library is pairing up with Berkeley Electronic Press to bring the University of California one step closer to effectively using the Internet in scholarship. The year-and-half old California Digital Library (CDL) makes e-books and other scholarly materials available online to UC students, faculty, and staff. As a "co-library" in the UC system, the CDL takes on the task of applying technology to the distribution, storage, and creation of materials and knowledge. Berkeley Electronic Press (known as "bepress") is the enterprise of three UC Berkeley professors who have set out to reform scholarly journals. The result is a suite of tools that facilitate Internet publication, review, and cataloging of knowledge. bepress also provides tools that allow for online review and tracking of authors and reviewers. The partnership of CDL and bepress will take advantage of the CDL's ability to provide the UC with widespread access to the publications and tools that bepress facilitates. As such, it is a valuable resource for scholars, researchers, teachers, and publishers. Innovations in Publishing
The power of publishing was once held only by a few select publishing houses. This power was radically democratized with the advent of the Internet, and then rapidly complicated by a slew of pros and cons:
A Broadening Horizon
Computer technology has already had a major impact on libraries and is beginning to have an impact on library materials. We are moving beyond the significant yet primitive step of converting a card catalog to a searchable electronic database and entering the realm where the library itself is available electronically. The partnership of the CDL and bepress hopes to change the way that journals and scholarship work by providing a forum that organizes, distributes, and communicates research findings. bepress tools are designed to allow authors to upload their work into a database which then tracks that work as it is processed, evaluated, and adjudicated by reviewers and editors, and made available to subscribers.Initially this might sound like the traditional journal process dressed up in new clothes; however, bepress does begin to pry apart the model by allowing scholars to share almost unlimited additional materials (such as data sets and illustrations) that do not fit within the covers of a traditional journal. Teaching Applications
The review and tracking tools may be of particular interest in the teaching and learning applications of this technology. As class sizes increase, more faculty are turning to a system of peer review for writing exercises, having students read and comment on each other's drafts. This has the dual benefits of giving students insight into the editorial process and reducing the number of drafts that the instructor must wade through. Yet, this process also saddles the instructor with the time-consuming task of managing the reviews and reviewers. This tool could be used to assist a class in managing such a peer review process.Greg Tanabaum, bepress Vice President, confirms that the database tool does not discriminate between the types of documents it is organizing. It can be used to create an online journal, a repository of theses and dissertations, or a collection of undergraduate term papers. As we see with almost any innovation, the immediate uses and predictions are rarely the most interesting or influential. It will be exciting to see what is waiting around the next bend. This might be the beginning of a major change in how we learn. We are very lucky to find the fruit of this partnership ripening on our very own doorstep. Editor's Note: As the Program Coordinator of Educational Technology at the Teaching Resources Center, Victoria L. Cross offers her expert perspective on this innovative alliance between the California Digital Library and Berkeley Electronic Press. Send us your comments on this story. |
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