[LINK] Crowd-sourcing research excellence

[Tom Worthington]

Seminar on "RESEARCH ASSESSMENT AND PUBLICATION METRICS - THE
BEGINNING OR END OF AN ERA?" will be held at ANU in Canberra, 18 October
2010: <http://www.anu.edu.au/emeritus/events/event-101018.html>.

In my view the answer to this is reasonably obvious. As research
publishing goes online it will evolve to include social networking
techniques, which can measure the ranking of people based on peer
assessment. Essentially the current publication metrics are a crude form
of such rankings, but these can be improved, refined and made much
cheaper and more audit-able. There is now a credible body of research
literature on this topic, but which is unknown to all but a few IT
researchers. An example of how to do this is Soo Ling Lim's work on
"Using Social Networks to Identify and Prioritise Software Project
Stakeholders", reported at ANU this week: 
<http://blog.tomw.net.au/2010/10/automated-stakeholder-selection-from.html>.

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Emeritus Faculty Seminar

Monday 18 October 2010

4.15pm – 6.15pm, Haydon Allen Tank

RESEARCH ASSESSMENT AND PUBLICATION METRICS - THE BEGINNING OR END OF AN
ERA?

How is research excellence measured and evaluated? What are its key
signs and indicators? The Australian Research Council Excellence in
Research for Australia scheme (ERA) has now received 350,000 research
outputs nationally from universities, the assessment of which is likely
to flow through in future years in budget allocations.

The long term effect of evaluations on scholarly publishing and
communication, for example, through citation measurements, ERA journal
rankings and university league tables, have yet to be assessed both for
institutions and individual researchers. How accurate a system of
measurement is ERA likely to provide: what are its probable strengths,
and what are its possible flaws and shortcomings? What impact is ERA
likely to have on Australian universities, its researchers and publishers?

The seminar below, hosted by the ANU’s Emeritus Faculty, is open to all
on campus. The speakers will address the main issues but allowing
maximum time for questions and audience interaction.

Chair: John Molony, Chair Emeritus Faculty, ANU

Overview: Research Excellence Evaluation.
Colin Steele, Emeritus Fellow, ANU.

The Australian Research Council -ERA National Perspectives.

Andrew Calder, Director, Research Performance and Analysis, ARC.

The ANU Experience.

John Wellard, Director ANU Research Office.

Perverse and Beneficial 0utcomes From Research Assessment

Professor Andrew Cockburn, Director, College of Medicine, Biology and
Environment, ANU.

Scholarly Publishing Economics: an International Research Perspective.
Professor John Houghton, Victoria University.

Future Publishing Metrics – The Way Forward?

Dr Danny Kingsley, Manager Scholarly Communications, ANU.

Research Impact – the Wider Dimension.

Dr Claire Donovan, Lecturer in Sociology, ANU. ...
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-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, The
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/