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1
Innovative Dissemination
Practices and Altmetrics
Workshop at OSFair2017
Sep 8, 2017

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Agenda
• Introduction & Innovative dissemination
framework (Peter Kraker)
• Innovative dissemination toolbox (Michela
Vignoli & Rainer Bachleitner)
• Linking dissemination channels and
altmetrics (Stephan Gauch)
• Case studies:
• Theatrical workshop (Menelaos Sotiriou)
• Open Science Cafe (Martine Oudenhoven)

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Introduction
[Video copyrighted]

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Introduction

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Introduction
[Images copyrighted]

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Introduction
• Dissemination of research has changed
considerably following the digitisation of
science
• Most research findings are now
disseminated in a way that is born digital
 Innovative dissemination: research
dissemination going beyond academic
publishing: blogging, academic social
networks, science slams, open notebooks…

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OpenUP
H2020 project on OPENing UP new methods,
indicators and tools for peer review, impact
measurement and dissemination of research
results

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Innovative dissemination in
OpenUP
• User-driven exploration of the emerging
landscape of innovative dissemination
• Goal: provide OpenUP stakeholders with an entry
point to innovative dissemination
• Activities in Year 1:
• Practices evaluation and mapping: Methods, tools and
user needs
• Literature review
• Survey of more than 1000 European researchers
• Case studies of innovative dissemination
• Workshop at Open Science Conference (w WP5)
• Framework and Toolbox for Innovative Dissemination

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Innovative dissemination in
OpenUP
See our project report:
Peter Kraker, Rainer Bachleitner, Viltė
Banelytė, Ilire Hasani-Mavriqi, Daniela Luzi,
Roberta Ruggieri, Electra Sifacaki, Vilius
Stanciauskas, Michela Vignoli, Mappet Walker
(2017). D4.1: Practices evaluation and
mapping: Methods, tools and user needs.
Project OpenUP. Online at http://openup-
h2020.eu/project-material/project-
deliverables/

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Literature Review

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Non-research audiences
considered important
[© TNS-BMRB & PSI, 2015
N=2,454]

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But the general public is still
underserved
[European Commission, 2013
N=27,563 ]

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Survey

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Methodology
• Goal: to collect data on researchers’ preferences and
perspectives on peer review, non-traditional dissemination and
impact measurement (i.e. altmetrics)
• Target groups/researchers: randomly selected main authors of
publications in arXiv, PubMed, RePEc and a number of other
sources:
• Implications for the survey sample: 1) scientific discipline; 2) career
stage; 3) gender
• Respondents were employed by organisations based in the EU-
28, Switzerland or Norway
• Survey ran from 20 January to 23 February
• 1347 responses received, of which 976 completed

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Importance of
dissemination to non-
research audiences

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Use of innovative dissemination
channels
4.53%
5.08%
6.06%
7.69%
8.49%
9.06%
9.63%
10.00%
14.15%
16.59%
22.48%
22.69%
27.40%
33.26%
54.14%
56.75%
58.96%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Wikipedia
Open lab books/interactive notebooks
Podcasts, Video sharing sites
Television/radio programs
Blogs, other wikis (excluding Wikipedia)
Print media (e.g. leaflets, folders)
Exhibitions, performances
Other channels
Git repositories (e.g. GitHub)
Non-specialist social networks
Popular science publications
Press releases
E-Mail/Newsletters
Events for the general public/specific target audiences other than…
Personal/Project Website
Academic social networks
Open access repositories/ preprint servers

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Main factors/barriers
affecting uptake of innovative
dissemination
8.35%
8.96%
9.11%
11.88%
14.92%
39.60%
46.97%
49.71%
49.93%
54.23%
56.20%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Privacy and/or ethical concerns
Other factors
Legal/contractual barriers
Lack of presentation and communication skills
Missing IT infrastructure
Lack of knowledge about non-traditional dissemination tools and
methods
I do not need non-traditional dissemination to reach my target
audiences.
Lack of financial support for non-traditional dissemination
Lack of organizational support for non-traditional dissemination
Lack of acknowledgement/credit given to non-traditional
dissemination in my research field
Time constraints

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Other examples of innovative
dissemination
• About 100 entries under an open
question on outstanding success when
using innovative dissemination
channels:
• Different examples, including television,
radio, lectures, newspapers, reaching
policy makers and effective use of social
media.

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Case Studies

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Setup
• Focus on projects rather than
platforms/methods
• Initial collection of leads by the OpenUP
consortium (16 projects, 8 platforms/
methods)
• Crowdsourcing further leads
• Google Spreadsheet
• Runtime: Oct 4-23
• Received 39 further
leads (18 projects,
21 platforms)

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Case Study Leads

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Selected Cases
1. Pluto Fly-By
2. Galaxy Zoo
3. Polymath Project
4. Frontiers for Young Minds
5. Gut (Giulia Enders)
6. Projet SOHA
7. Science at Home
8. Transcribe Bentham
9. Homer Multitext Project
10.Innovations in Scholarly
Communications

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Methodology
Purpose of
dissemination
Dissemination
activities
Dissemination
outputs
Tools used
Disseminated
materials
Media formats Start of
dissemination
Dissemination
phases
Who initiated the
dissemination?
Target
audience
Reception &
Impact
Connection to
peer review and
metrics
Quality of
materials
Estimated cost Openness of
dissemination
Interoperability
Gender
representation
Gender
distribution
• Study cases along the following dimensions
• Why? What & How? When? Who?
• Effort, Openness & Gender

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Example: Human Brain Project

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Example: Human Brain Project

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Example: Galaxy Zoo

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Example: Galaxy Zoo

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Example: Galaxy Zoo

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Insights (Openness)
• Even the most innovative dissemination
efforts may not provide CC-licensed
materials
• On the other end of the spectrum:
projects where all project outputs are CC
BY- or CC0-licensed
 Researchers need guidance in terms of
choosing the right license for their
materials

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Insights (Gender)
Four relevant aspects with respect to
gender:
1. Gender distribution within the team
2. Representation of gender in the
disseminated materials
3. Gender sensitivity and inclusiveness of
dissemination tools and platforms
4. Gender aspects of the target audience

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Main Insights
• Dissemination in an open science context starts
in the earlier stages of a research project 
becomes an integral part of the research cycle
• Dissemination becomes more interactive 
dissemination = participation
• There is an avantgarde of researchers
successfully employing an immense variety of
innovative dissemination methods
• …but the majority of researchers are not using
them, even though they see the need to engage
with the general public

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Framework

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Introduction
• Goal: Provide stakeholders with an entry
point to innovative dissemination, so
that they can choose methods and tools
based on their audience, their skills and
their requirements.
• Method:
• Stakeholder & requirements analysis
• Flexible mapping of user needs and
requirements to methods, skills and
respective costs

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Stakeholders

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Objectives

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Objectives – Exercise 1
• Please use the red dots to mark the four
most important objectives for
disseminating research from the
researchers’ point of view in the current
science system (5 minutes)
• To move to an open science system,
what should be the four most important
objectives for disseminating research
from the researchers’ point of view?
Please use your blue dots to mark them
(5 minutes)

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Objectives – Exercise 2
• Which changes/improvements are
needed to facilitate transition to
dissemination objectives that are most
important for open science?
Please write them down on the cards
provided

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Mappings
• Objectives  methods
• Methods  media and tools/channels
• Methods  target audiences
• Methods  resources/skills and costs
• Enables stakeholders to find innovative
dissemination methods based on their
needs and requirements

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Mappings

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Mappings

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Toolbox

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OpenUP Hub: Dissemination Toolbox
• I am a…

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Discussion
• What is your scenario?
• Do you have experience in disseminating
research to businesses or the general
public?
• What are the barriers?
• Which kind of support do you need?

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Some key messages
Think well about what
you want to offer to the
company.
Go there and
personally talk to
the company, find
out what they
need.
Offer targeted solutions.
Involve someone from the marketing
department to package the
information/content well.

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Information to
give to the general
public is often
overlooked, but it
is very important.
It is important to
break the
information
down, and to do
it right.
General audiences are
interested in a lot of science
stuff. The important thing is
that they can get something
away from the story, that they
gained some knowledge.
Use parallel channels:
think of a strategy for
social media. Especially
when a topic is currently
prominent and publicly
discussed this can be very
powerful.

46.
2016-08-11 46The OpenUP project received funding through the H2020 Framework Programme, GA No:
710722
Thank you for your attention!

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Working Definitions
Dissemination = Planned process involving…
• … consideration of target audiences
• … the settings in which research findings are
received
• … communicating and interacting with wider
audiences in ways that will facilitate research
uptake in decision-making processes and practice
(where appropriate)
Innovative dissemination = Dissemination that
goes beyond traditional academic publishing (e.g.
academic journals, books, monographs), conferences
and workshops.

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Research Process Model
Based on Kraker & Lindstaedt (20

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Example: Pluto Fly-by

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Example: Pluto Fly-by

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Example: Pluto Fly-by

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Example: Transcribe Bentham

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Example: Transcribe Bentham

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Example: Transcribe Bentham

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Example: Projet SOHA