eLanguage.net Shifting the paradigm in linguistics from academic publishing to scholarly communication *Dieter Stein, Cornelius Puschmann University of Duesseldorf [email_address] [email_address] PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference 2007 12 July 2007

Contents of this presentation eLanguage: Concept & Organization The Technology Where We Are The Future: Beyond the Paper Metaphor

eLanguage: Concept & Organization

The Technology

Where We Are

The Future: Beyond the Paper Metaphor

A) eLanguage: Concept and Organization

What is eLanguage? an aggregator for peer-reviewed content from OA journals in Linguistics a platform for publishing scientific articles on-line a source of meta-information on academic Linguistics (book reviews, department news etc) an academic community on the Web

an aggregator for peer-reviewed content from OA journals in Linguistics

a platform for publishing scientific articles on-line

a source of meta-information on academic Linguistics (book reviews, department news etc)

an academic community on the Web

Project Partners

From Language to eLanguage Language started in 1924 roughly 7,000 individual and institutional subscribers issues since 2001 available via Project MUSE narrow focus due to space limitations slow publication cycle high production and dissemination costs the goal was to widen the focus while at the same time reducing costs and facilitating access ...an Open Access approach was the ideal solution

Language started in 1924

roughly 7,000 individual and institutional subscribers

issues since 2001 available via Project MUSE

narrow focus due to space limitations

slow publication cycle

high production and dissemination costs

the goal was to widen the focus

while at the same time reducing costs

and facilitating access ...an Open Access approach was the ideal solution

eLanguage organizational structure the eLanguage editorial board reviews co-journal proposals the editor in chief is responsible for the management of the platform co-journals are independent once they have been approved Editor in Chief Editorial Board

the eLanguage editorial board reviews co-journal proposals

the editor in chief is responsible for the management of the platform

co-journals are independent once they have been approved

Co-journal accreditation process forms an editorial board and submits a proposal reviews proposal and approves or asks for revisions is admitted as an eLanguage co-journal eLanguage Editorial Board

Expanded organizational structure content IT services

B) The Technology

A mashup of tools OJS 2.1.1 + Wordpress 2.2

Data from OJS and WP aggregated on the main page blog section content (WP) co-journal content (OJS) master feed

Open Source Reliability all first-level products (OJS, WP) are based on second-level FOSS technologies and protocols such as PHP, MySQL, Apache and RSS/Atom mature, well-supported and well-documented products 90% of software development is outsourced - advantage : we can focus on the content and on making it accessible

all first-level products (OJS, WP) are based on second-level FOSS technologies and protocols such as PHP, MySQL, Apache and RSS/Atom

mature, well-supported and well-documented products

90% of software development is outsourced - advantage : we can focus on the content and on making it accessible

Using external tools for added services Google Domain Tools (admin) Google Custom Search (search) Google Mail (email) Google Groups (mailing lists) Google Analytics (web statistics) Technorati (blog management) Feedburner (feed diagnostics)

Google Domain Tools (admin)

Google Custom Search (search)

Google Mail (email)

Google Groups (mailing lists)

Google Analytics (web statistics)

Technorati (blog management)

Feedburner (feed diagnostics)

Three goals for maximum accessibility to make all eLanguage content accessible via search to make everything published in eLanguage accessible both via library catalogs and commercial search engines to make access to our content independent from access to our website by using feeds (everything but the full text of articles is available via feeds)

to make all eLanguage content accessible via search

to make everything published in eLanguage accessible both via library catalogs and commercial search engines

to make access to our content independent from access to our website by using feeds (everything but the full text of articles is available via feeds)

Benefits of the platform Benefits for... readers : content is free and easily accessible authors : no costs, greater impact, faster publication, ownership of article, precise metrics editors : full control over their publication, less or no headaches about technical issues, no volumes of specialized knowledge necessary Linguistic Society of America : "what's good for the discipline is good for the association", great visibility HBZ/DIPP : strategic value / experience

Benefits for...

readers : content is free and easily accessible

authors : no costs, greater impact, faster publication, ownership of article, precise metrics

editors : full control over their publication, less or no headaches about technical issues, no volumes of specialized knowledge necessary

Linguistic Society of America : "what's good for the discipline is good for the association", great visibility

HBZ/DIPP : strategic value / experience

C) Where We Are

eLanguage Beta

Recent developments as of July 2007, four journals have been accredited: Constructions Anette Rosenbach (University of Paderborn, Germany), Alexander Bergs (University of Osnabruck, Gemany) Journal of Mesoamerican Languages and Linguistics (JMLL) David Mora-Marín (University of North Carolina, USA) Linguistic Issues in Language Technology (LiLT) Annie Zaenen (PARC Inc / Stanford University, USA), Bonnie Webber (University of Edinburgh, UK), Martha Palmer (University of Colorado, USA) Semantics & Pragmatics (S&P) Kai von Fintel (Massachusetts of Technology, USA) David Beaver (University of Texas, USA) a blog has been launched to keep people informed launch in spring/summer 2008

as of July 2007, four journals have been accredited:

Constructions

Anette Rosenbach (University of Paderborn, Germany),

Alexander Bergs (University of Osnabruck, Gemany)

Journal of Mesoamerican Languages and Linguistics (JMLL)

David Mora-Marín (University of North Carolina, USA)

Linguistic Issues in Language Technology (LiLT)

Annie Zaenen (PARC Inc / Stanford University, USA),

Bonnie Webber (University of Edinburgh, UK),

Martha Palmer (University of Colorado, USA)

Semantics & Pragmatics (S&P)

Kai von Fintel (Massachusetts of Technology, USA)

David Beaver (University of Texas, USA)

a blog has been launched to keep people informed

launch in spring/summer 2008

Issues producing content takes time many researchers have a “wait and see” approach to Open Access communication must be managed well when working in a geographically dispersed team for our needs, OJS could be simpler in terms of its UI, even if that meant less functions

producing content takes time

many researchers have a “wait and see” approach to Open Access

communication must be managed well when working in a geographically dispersed team

for our needs, OJS could be simpler in terms of its UI, even if that meant less functions

What could we do better? Once the platform is hugely successful we could look into... unified citation database preprint repository (?) more "reader" involvement (blog comments? link external sources?)

Once the platform is hugely successful we could look into...

unified citation database

preprint repository (?)

more "reader" involvement (blog comments? link external sources?)

D) The Future: Beyond the Paper Metaphor

What happens if projects like eLanguage succeed? Let's assume that in the future... a large percentage of all scholarly research is OA the storage of research data is heavily centralized in a few powerful archives the content is annotated manually by its creators, as well as through automatic means (keyword extraction) and social web practices (tagging) retrieval of this content largely takes place via commercial search engines How does the role of academic libraries change if the storage , annotation and retrieval of information is realized elsewhere?

Let's assume that in the future...

a large percentage of all scholarly research is OA

the storage of research data is heavily centralized in a few powerful archives

the content is annotated manually by its creators, as well as through automatic means (keyword extraction) and social web practices (tagging)

retrieval of this content largely takes place via commercial search engines

How does the role of academic libraries change if the storage , annotation and retrieval of information is realized elsewhere?

Publishing as the key role of the future In the future... archiving, enrichment and retrieval are likely to be strongly centralized, while Net access and storage will increasingly be treated as commodities What remains is to enable the creation and dissemination of scholarly content as it takes new forms and becomes usable in new ways Universities, scholarly societies and information infrastructure providers need to work together to achieve this goal

In the future...

archiving, enrichment and retrieval are likely to be strongly centralized,

while Net access and storage will increasingly be treated as commodities

What remains is to enable the creation and dissemination of scholarly content as it takes new forms and becomes usable in new ways

Universities, scholarly societies and information infrastructure providers need to work together to achieve this goal

Thank You for listening!

eLanguage.net Shifting the paradigm in linguistics from academic publishing to scholarly communication *Dieter Stein, Cornelius Puschmann University of Duesseldorf [email_address] [email_address] PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference 2007 12 July 2007