March 2020
NISO Two Part Webinar:
NISO Two Part Webinar: Labor and Capacity and Building Data Science Skills
Wednesdays, March 11, and March 18, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm (Eastern Time)
Labor and Capacity for Research Data Management, Part One, Wednesday, March 11, 2020:
For any library serving a research community, research data management continues to be a significant area of interest and concern. Significant labor must be applied to the curation and preservation of such data and additional resources allocated to ensure on-going access. This program will consider the combined roles of archivists, data librarians and administrators in formulating and delivering suitable and effective services. What communities of practice exist? Which is preferred -- a general purpose data repository or one that is discipline specific? How varied is the form of such data? What practices and policies have proven effective? This session will update practitioners and administrators.
Building Data Science Skills: Strategic Support for the Work, Part Two, Wednesday, March 18, 2020:
This roundtable discussion will focus on the on-going need for information professionals to be well-versed in data science skills in order to successfully support the work of students, scholars and other professionals. While the community may be quite familiar with the research data lifecycle, it is likely that additional tools or support are needed for information professionals as they extract, wrangle, analyze and present data? From the perspective of administrators, where are the challenges in ensuring staff are sufficiently prepared and supported by their institution? How does such expertise bolster the position of the library? What is the best way for data science education to permeate the institution? What policies or practices have proven useful?
NOTE: ALL members of NISO automatically receive sign-on credentials for this event as a member benefit. There is no need to register separately. Check your institutional membership status here.
Non-members of NISO may register for one session or for both at a packaged rate. Access to an archived recording of the event is always included in your registration fee, regardless of membership status. See the individual event pages for more information!
NISO Training Series Begins, March 20, 2020
Agile Product and Project Management for Information Products and Services
Friday, March 20, 2020 - Friday, May 15, 2020, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm (Eastern)
Course Objective: The past decade has seen a transformation in the way that information products and services are built with the shift to agile development methodologies. Agile approaches advocate incremental development driven by cross-functional, self-directed teams. Unlike more traditional waterfall methodologies, Agile allows teams to learn and adapt their approach along the way, validating that what they are building actually meets user needs. However, adopting agile does not mean doing away with planning all together and scaling agile to larger projects can be a challenge. Discipline and good practices are still required to ensure that resources are used wisely and overall project goals are met.
This training course is aimed at early- to mid-career professionals developing information products and services in the publishing, library technology and scholarly communications communities. Whether developing free, open-source services for the community or more traditional paid-for services, attendees will hear about key aspects of agile product development and project management for seasoned practitioners who have gained hard-won experience about what works and what doesn’t.
By the end of the course, attendees will have a good understanding of:
The stages of agile product development
Techniques for planning, managing and tracking agile projects
The distinct roles that make up an agile team
The key behaviors and processes which are important for success
Course Moderator: Chris Shillum, Principal, Swiss House Information, will be serving as course moderator.
With more than 25 years of experience in product and platform development in scholarly communications and STM publishing, Chris Shillum is now helping industry groups formulate product and technology strategy in a time of rapidly changing business models, new technology, and increasing expectations from users and customers.
Chris previously held a number of leadership positions at Elsevier where he touched many parts of the organization. Early in his career, he was asked to join the launch team working on what became ScienceDirect, one of the industry’s leading online platforms. During subsequent years, he gained broad experience by leading change programs for most of the major components of digital information platforms, including content management, search, identity and access management, big-data and personalized recommendation systems.
Chris has also played a significant role in the broader STM industry and is a strong believer in the power of community-wide collaboration to solve tough problems and drive progress. He was a co-author of the original paper which led to the use of DOIs for reference linking, going on to spend 20 years working with Crossref, including 10 years as a board member. He was a founder member of the ORCID board, helping that organization grow from start-up to become a sustainable part of the scholarly infrastructure landscape. Chris was part of the committee which oversaw the NISO/NFAIS integration, and he continues to serve on the NISO Board. Over the past few years, Chris has devoted much time to solving the access problem in research information, co-chairing the RA21 project, and building a coalition of industry organizations to operationalize those recommendations as SeamlessAccess.org.
Chris holds a Masters in Electronic Systems Engineering from the University of York in the UK.
Course Duration and Dates: Friday, March 20, 2020 – Friday, May 15, 2020. The series consists of eight (8) segments, one per week and each lasting approximately 60-90 minutes. Each segment is intended to cover a Friday lunch period (11:30am - 1:00pm, US. Eastern). Note that there is no segment scheduled for April 10, 2020 (Good Friday).
Guest lecturers will be featured in specific segments, as the course moderator deems appropriate.
Each session will be recorded and links to that archived recording will be disseminated to course registrants within 2 business days of the close of the specific session.
Early-Bird Registration closes on March 13th, so don't delay!
NISO Virtual Conference:
Researcher Behaviors and the Impact of Technology
Wednesday, March 25, 2020, 12:00 pm Noon - 4:00 pm (Eastern Time)
The introduction of technologies (augmented reality, visualization screens, quantum computing, etc.) can dramatically change how research is performed as well as how the outcome of the research is presented. This event will tap into the excitement felt by researchers when they find a new technology offering greater efficiencies to their work as well as how their adoption of new technologies changes the workflow. Not every community will need the same tools so this event will feature those working in a variety of fields. Service providers of all sorts will be interested in what technologies have captured the interest of scholars as well as transformed their output.
April 2020
NFAIS Forethought:
Artificial Intelligence #1 – Planning for Implementation
Wednesday, April 8, 2020, 1:00 - 2:30 pm (Eastern Time)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is an all-encompassing umbrella term for varying sets and combinations of algorithms simulating human intelligence processes. Such implementations are used by a computer system to rapidly perform a specific set of functional tasks, saving the time and labor of human workers.
While in many ways, artificial intelligence is still in nascent form, many information providers are exploring the implications of AI for their businesses and services. How might AI allow information companies to enhance their products and services? How best to strategically approach the technological needs for doing so? What costs may be incurred? What balance should there be between customization and privacy?
NOTE: ALL members of NISO automatically receive sign-on credentials for this event as a member benefit. There is no need to register separately. Check your institutional membership status here.
NISO Virtual Conference:
Making Content Accessible: How Can Publishers and Libraries Better Satisfy the Obligation?
Wednesday, April 15, 2020, 12:00 pm Noon - 4:00 pm (Eastern Time)
Institutions of higher education (IHEs) have a legal and moral obligation to support the information needs of those in their community -- whether student or faculty -- to provide access to content regardless of individual ability or need for accommodation. They are required to provide access to information resources that are as close as possible to those resources provided to individuals who do not experience those impairments. But what goes into making an ebook, a textbook, or other course materials fully accessible? This event will bring together stakeholders to discuss current efforts made to ensure that all content is accessible and the challenges still to be overcome.