RESEARCH: TECHNIQUES: Changing Research Practices in the Digital Information and Communication Environment

[David P. Dillard]

RESEARCH: TECHNIQUES: Changing Research Practices in the Digital
Information and Communication Environment


Changing Research Practices in the Digital Information and Communication
Environment
John W. Houghton
With
Colin Steele &
Margaret Henty
August 2003
Department of Education, Science and Training
<http://eprints.anu.edu.au/archive/00002196/01/c_res_pract.pdf>


Commonwealth of Australia 2003
ISBN 0 642 77387 4
ISBN 0 642 77388 2 (Internet copy)

Contents

1. Introduction

1.1 Overview of the study
1.2 Outline of the report

2. The production of knowledge

2.1 Models of knowledge production
2.1.1 Systems of Innovation
2.1.2 New Knowledge Production
2.1.3 Triple Helix
2.1.4 Post-academic science
2.1.5 Knowledge production and research practice
2.2 Changing nature of research
2.2.1 Level of expenditure and source of funds
2.2.2 Location of research activity (expenditure)
2.2.3 Source of funding by sector of expenditure
2.2.4 Type of research activity (basic or applied)
2.2.5 Objectives of research activity
2.2.6 Human resources devoted to research
2.2.7 Fields of research
2.2.8 Research fields by sector of performance
2.2.9 Publication and citation
2.2.10 Patenting
2.3 What do these data show?

3. Changing research practices

3.1 The impact of ICTs
3.2 Communication and collaboration
3.3 Information search and access
3.3.1 Library and information user studies
3.3.2 Information access and research practices
3.3.3 Use of research databases
3.4 Dissemination and publication
3.4.1 Scholarly publishing in transition
3.4.2 Publication motives and mechanisms
3.5 Common themes
Changing Research Practices in the Digital Information and
Communication Environment

4. Research practices in Australia

4.1 Characteristics and context
4.1.1 Position and experience
4.1.2 Research fields and disciplines
4.1.3 Funding sources and issues
4.2 Communication and collaboration
4.2.1 Collaboration on research projects
4.2.2 Wider networks of scholarship
4.2.3 The impact of ICTs on research collaboration
4.3 Information search and access
4.3.1 Information sources and search practices
4.3.2 Print versus electronic
4.3.3 Choosing sources
4.3.4 Personal subscriptions and collections
4.3.5 Research databases
4.3.6 The impact of ICTs on search and access
4.4 Dissemination and publication
4.4.1 Publication practices
4.4.2 Preferred publication medium and format
4.4.3 Reasons for publishing
4.4.4 Barriers to publishing
4.4.5 Factors in choosing a publishing outlet
4.4.6 Informal dissemination
4.4.7 The impact of ICTs on dissemination and publication
4.5 Summary of findings

5. Discussion and conclusions

5.1 Approach
5.2 Key findings
5.3 Issues arising
5.4 Research information infrastructure
5.5 The challenge
5.6 The way ahead

====================================================

Executive summary

In the context of the emerging knowledge-based economy, innovation and the
capacity of the national innovation system to create and disseminate
scientific and scholarly information are increasingly fundamental
determinants of national prosperity. In their foundational work on
National Innovation Systems, the OECD observed that prosperity in a
knowledge economy depends as much, if not more, on the knowledge
distribution power of the system than it does on its knowledge production
power (OECD 1997, p43). This makes the infrastructure supporting research
communication and collaboration, information search and access, and
dissemination and publication a key element of the national innovation
system. It is essential, therefore, to provide cost-effective access to,
and dissemination of scientific and scholarly information in support of
research and its economic, social and environmental applications.

This study examines evolving research practices, focusing on how practices
are changing and what the implications of those changes are for scholarly
communication and the future development of the research infrastructure.

It outlines a coherent agenda for the evolutionary development of a
sustainable research information and scholarly communication
infrastructure.

Approach

Wide-ranging statistical and literature reviews provide a framework for
analysis. Interviews were conducted with a structured sample of senior
researchers in a range of research fields and institutional settings.
Findings were confirmed and extended in a series of workshops. Both
interviews and workshops targeted the leading edge of research in order to
shed light on the direction of development and future needs.

They focused on why researchers do what they do, rather than simply on
what they do, because it is only by understanding the evolving needs of
leading researchers that we can effectively resource research activities
in the future. Analysis focuses on three key areas of research activity:
communication and collaboration, information search and access, and
dissemination and publication.

The key questions posed are:

How do researchers conduct their research, and how is that changing?

What are their major information sources, and how are those sources
changing?

How do researchers access, use and manage information, and how is that
changing?

How do researchers use their sources in the creation of new content, and
how that is changing?

====================================================

There are extensive figures and tables, hence statistical data, provided
with this report.



Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jw...@astro.temple.edu
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold>
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html>
<http://www.kovacs.com/medref-l/medref-l.html>
<http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html>
<http://www.LIFEofFlorida.org>
World Business Community Advisor
<http://www.WorldBusinessCommunity.org>