THE SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION INSTITUTE
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

July 13-15, 2011

SCI 9

New-Model Scholarly Communication:
Road Map for Change

The Scholarly Communication Institute 9 (SCI 9), to convene at the University of Virginia July 13-15, 2011, will bring together scholars, librarians, publishers, higher education administrators, and funders noted for their innovative approaches to scholarly communication. Participants will assess new models of humanities publishing, create a road map for catalyzing the most promising of them, and develop implementation strategies.

SCI 9 will build upon the achievements of previous institutes, particularly SCI 8 (2010), which explored new publishing forms that take advantage of the affordances of digital technologies. The fundamentals of scholarly research, authoring, production, and dissemination are being transformed in the digital environment. Scholars often begin with evidence in digital form, use digital tools to examine and analyze evidence, build arguments and present evidence in digital genres, and disseminate the results electronically.

Integrating this new model of scholarly production fully into the humanities requires change across all sectors of higher education. Key to the successful transition of humanities to a digital environment are:

• Peer communities able to assess and validate new forms of scholarship, including genres that cross disciplinary boundaries and use technology in innovative ways
• Publishers able to support new communities of discourse and the scholarship they produce
• Libraries that can ensure the integrity and long-term accessibility of the scholarly record
• Administrators who support realignment of resources to where they are needed and support changes in the reward system of scholarship
• Funders who seed innovation through projects designed to model and test new modes of working, new methodologies, and new career paths for the many professionals involved in scholarship.

Making progress in these areas demands the active engagement of many sectors of the scholarly community working towards a shared vision. Therefore, SCI 9 will focus on: the appropriate roles and responsibilities of the major actors; the development of mechanisms for coordination and collaboration; and identification of the needs of the professionals who will create and support humanities scholarship in the 21st century. SCI participants will create a road map for change that leverages the combined creativity and resources of scholars, scholarly societies, publishers, librarians, technologists, university administration, and funders. This will include concrete actions to implement the road map across these key sectors and to forge the alliances necessary to effect change.

SCI Background

From its inception, SCI has focused on cultivating leadership and encouraging and enabling the integration of new technologies into scholarship. SCI 1 assembled a group of pioneers in digital scholarly communication to review progress over the last two decades and lessons learned, and to identify strategies for continuing progress in the arts and humanities. The reflections of SCI 1 participants set the stage for following institutes. SCI 2 – SCI 8 have focused on scholarly disciplines, the nature and potential of collaborative working structures, critical questions surrounding the use of new media technologies to advance scholarship in unique and innovative ways, emerging genres in digital scholarship, and the institutional infrastructure essential to enable digital scholarly communication.

SCI leadership is committed to assisting participants develop real and reasonable goals that can be accomplished. Theoretical and practical discussions are designed to lead to an action agenda. To this end, we have worked closely with scholars and their partners from previous institutes including practical ethicists, architectural historians, visual studies scholars, and leading humanities research centers. Additional information on the Scholarly Communication Institute can be found at: http://www.uvasci.org/.

Download the PDF version of the SCI 9 Program Statement.