Read more about Katina and her future work with the Praxis Program and SCI on the Scholars’ Lab site.

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.

PDF versions are available on the SCI website.

The affiliation of CHCI and centerNet was developed at a series of three meetings sponsored by the Scholarly Communication Institute in 2008-9. In 2008, SCI 6 focused on the role of humanities centers in studying, developing, and implementing creative and innovative strategies to advance scholarly communication in the context of the ongoing digital revolution.

Read the announcement here. [pdf]

These gatherings will focus on “Experimental Approaches to New-Model Scholarly Communication.” [PDF link.]

Planning for SCI 8 (to be held Wednesday, July 14th to Friday, July 16th, 2010) is now underway.

PDF versions are available on the SCI website.

We also welcome your response and invite you to comment on the report at: http://uvasci.digress.it/

Richard Lucier founded the Institute in 2003, together with Deanna Marcum, and under his leadership, SCI has worked to advance scholarly communication through annual summer Institutes and working with and advising Institute participants throughout the year. Lucier has actively advised SCI participants in the development of EthicShare, the Architecture Visual Resources Network (recently launched as SAHARA), and the Online Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.

“It has been a professional and personal joy to work with Richard Lucier over the past several years,” Wittenborg said. “He has a keen understanding of how scholars work and what they want to accomplish. His leadership has been a catalyst for individual scholars and for scholarly societies. Abby Smith and Bethany Nowviskie share Richard’s focus on scholarship and will ensure the important work of SCI continues successfully.”

Walker agrees: “Together, Richard, Abby, and Bethany have provided excellent and clear-sighted leadership to SCI. While we will miss working with Richard, we know that Abby and Bethany are equally committed to the ongoing success of SCI.”

Abby Smith is a historian and consulting analyst with special interest in the creation, preservation, and use of the cultural record in a variety of media; the impact of digital information technologies on cultural heritage institutions; and the evolving role of information as a public good. Formerly director of programs at the Council on Library and Information Resources, she has been with the Institute since its inception, and served as senior advisor since 2006: “I look forward to leading the Scholarly Communication Institute at this promising juncture in the evolution of the humanities, when scholars are embracing new technologies in imaginative ways to advance research and share it more broadly. Richard has set a clear course for SCI, focused on collaborative actions that serve scholarship broadly and change not just the work we do, but, just as importantly, the way that we work.”

In addition to her role as associate director of SCI, Bethany Nowviskie is Director of Digital Research & Scholarship at the University of Virginia Library. She holds a doctoral degree in English from the University of Virginia and has taught courses in literature, bibliography, and new media aesthetics and design. Nowviskie has been active in the digital humanities since 1995.

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With initial three-year funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Scholarly Communication Institute (SCI) began in 2003 with the overall goal of providing an opportunity for leaders in scholarly disciplines, academic libraries, advanced technologies, and higher education administration to study, develop, and implement creative and innovative strategies to advance scholarly communication in the context of the ongoing digital revolution. Extended by the Mellon Foundation for an additional six years, SCI has most recently focused on Architectural History (2006); on Visual Studies (2007); and in 2008 on models and strategies for national “centers of excellence” in humanities scholarship. The upcoming Institute at the University of Virginia Library in 2009 will explore the use of geospatial technologies in the humanities. Future sessions in 2010 and 2011 will further explore the integration of multimedia into emerging areas of inquiry.

SCI is directed by Abby Smith and advised by a Steering Committee, whose members are leaders in the academic, digital humanities, and research library communities.

A full PDF version of this press release is available here: SCI Transitions.