A study to examine the operation and function of a virtual UK environmental specimen bank (UK-ESB). Final report

Executive Summary: 1. Environmental specimen banking is recognised internationally as an integral part of long-term environmental research and monitoring. Analysis of preserved environmental samples is often needed to detect and quantify patterns and rate of environmental change, and the emergence and progression of environmental hazards and risks. 2. National Environmental Specimen Banks have been established in several countries; they vary in scope and breadth. There are a few specialised environmental specimen holdings in the UK but no national-scale catalogue of holdings, despite an estimated annual spend of £16 million to store specimens. This lack of information results in under-exploitation of archived specimens and is a lost opportunity to facilitate world-class science and identify emerging pressures and threats on the environment. 3. An earlier project had identified key stakeholder organisations either engaged in archiving nationally important environmental specimens or who wished to utilise such specimens. These stakeholders had agreed there was a need for a national metadata catalogue of environmental specimens (subsequently termed a virtual UK-ESB). The objective of the current project was to further develop a virtual UK-ESB. Specifically, the aim was to work with stakeholders to establish the correct metadata entry fields, the search capabilities, the functionality and the nature of the hosting website of a virtual UK-ESB. 4. More than 80 stakeholder organisations that had previously expressed an interest in a UK-ESB were approached to provide feedback either electronically or by attending a stakeholder workshop. Thirty eight organisations responded. All remained interested in the UK-ESB concept and seventeen answered the survey questions. 5. Mock-ups of data entry screens, search screens and ideas around the functionality of a UK-ESB were developed by the CEH project team. These were mailed to stakeholders for feedback. Initial feedback was incorporated into the mock-ups which were then presented for discussion at a workshop comprising 15 attendees from across the specimen archiving community, CEH and the UK-EOF. 6. Workshop participants reviewed and agreed the format of 23 mandatory or optional data-entry fields for a virtual UK-ESB that, in the absence of standard for material samples and archives, were aligned with ISO19115 (geospatial metadata standard) and DublinCore (metadata standard). These fields were sub-divided into the following headings: Sample description, Categorisation, keywords and links, Storage Information and Contact information. Workshop participants also made a number of recommendations as to the format of the data entry screens and inclusion of extra fields. 7. Workshop participants reviewed options for search capabilities and made recommendations as to simple and advanced searching methods and their formats. It was also recommended that search facilities of the ESBs of other countries be examined to determine what is used, ease of use, and how they match the recommendations from the workshop. 8. Workshop participants reviewed options for functionality and agreed a detailed list of prioritised requirements. 9. Workshop participants agreed that a virtual UK-ESB should be hosted through a dedicated website that would also provide wider information, such as recently updated or added specimen holdings, most downloaded information, links to other groups, standard operating procedures, etc. 10. The next step for the development of a virtual UK-ESB is to implement the design and development ideas captured in the current report and build a test version of a virtual UK-ESB. This would be tested and refined, and could then be launched on a specifically designed website. This would need to be accompanied by a communication strategy. There is potential to link and co-brand a virtual UK-ESB with the UK-Environmental Observation Framework (UK-EOF)

Report on the Second Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE2)

This technical report records and discusses the Second Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE2). The report includes a description of the alternative, experimental submission and review process, two workshop keynote presentations, a series of lightning talks, a discussion on sustainability, and five discussions from the topic areas of exploring sustainability; software development experiences; credit & incentives; reproducibility & reuse & sharing; and code testing & code review. For each topic, the report includes a list of tangible actions that were proposed and that would lead to potential change. The workshop recognized that reliance on scientific software is pervasive in all areas of world-leading research today. The workshop participants then proceeded to explore different perspectives on the concept of sustainability. Key enablers and barriers of sustainable scientific software were identified from their experiences. In addition, recommendations with new requirements such as software credit files and software prize frameworks were outlined for improving practices in sustainable software engineering. There was also broad consensus that formal training in software development or engineering was rare among the practitioners. Significant strides need to be made in building a sense of community via training in software and technical practices, on increasing their size and scope, and on better integrating them directly into graduate education programs. Finally, journals can define and publish policies to improve reproducibility, whereas reviewers can insist that authors provide sufficient information and access to data and software to allow them reproduce the results in the paper. Hence a list of criteria is compiled for journals to provide to reviewers so as to make it easier to review software submitted for publication as a “Software Paper.

Report on the Third Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE3)

This report records and discusses the Third Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE3). The report includes a description of the keynote presentation of the workshop, which served as an overview of sustainable scientific software. It also summarizes a set of lightning talks in which speakers highlighted to-the-point lessons and challenges pertaining to sustaining scientific software. The final and main contribution of the report is a summary of the discussions, future steps, and future organization for a set of self-organized working groups on topics including developing pathways to funding scientific software; constructing useful common metrics for crediting software stakeholders; identifying principles for sustainable software engineering design; reaching out to research software organizations around the world; and building communities for software sustainability. For each group, we include a point of contact and a landing page that can be used by those who want to join that group's future activities. The main challenge left by the workshop is to see if the groups will execute these activities that they have scheduled, and how the WSSSPE community can encourage this to happen

Using Cloudworks to Support OER Activities

This report forms the third and final output of the Pearls in the Clouds project, funded by the Higher Education Academy. It focuses on evaluation of the use of a social networking site, Cloudworks, to support evidence-based practice. The aim of this project (Pearls in the Clouds) has been to evaluate the ways in which web 2.0 tools like Cloudworks can support evidence-informed practices in relation to learning and teaching. We have reviewed evidence from empirically grounded studies surrounding the uses of web2.0 in higher education and highlighted the gap between using web2.0 to support learning and teaching, and using it to support learning about learning and teaching (in an evidence-informed way) (Conole and Alevizou, 2010). We have reported on findings from a case study focusing on the use of Cloudworks by a community of practice - educational technologists - reflecting upon, and, negotiating their role in enhancing teaching and learning in higher education (Galley et al., 2010). The object of this study is to explore and evaluate the use of the site by individuals and communities involved in the production of, and research on, the development, delivery and use of Open Educational Resources (OER)

Upgrading a Social Media Strategy to Increase Twitter Engagement During the Spring Annual Meeting of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.

Microblogs known as tweets are a rapid, effective method of information dissemination in health care. Although several medical specialties have described their Twitter conference experiences, Twitter-related data in the fields of anesthesiology and pain medicine are sparse. We therefore analyzed the Twitter content of 2 consecutive spring meetings of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine using publicly available online transcripts. We also examined the potential contribution of a targeted social media campaign on Twitter engagement during the conferences. The original Twitter meeting content was largely scientific in nature and created by meeting attendees, the majority of whom were nontrainee physicians. Physician trainees, however, represent an important and increasing minority of Twitter contributors. Physicians not in attendance predominantly contributed via retweeting original content, particularly picture-containing tweets, and thus increased reach to nonattendees. A social media campaign prior to meetings may help increase the reach of conference-related Twitter discussion

Summary of the First Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE1)

Challenges related to development, deployment, and maintenance of reusable software for science are becoming a growing concern. Many scientists’ research increasingly depends on the quality and availability of software upon which their works are built. To highlight some of these issues and share experiences, the First Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE1) was held in November 2013 in conjunction with the SC13 Conference. The workshop featured keynote presentations and a large number (54) of solicited extended abstracts that were grouped into three themes and presented via panels. A set of collaborative notes of the presentations and discussion was taken during the workshop. Unique perspectives were captured about issues such as comprehensive documentation, development and deployment practices, software licenses and career paths for developers. Attribution systems that account for evidence of software contribution and impact were also discussed. These include mechanisms such as Digital Object Identifiers, publication of “software papers”, and the use of online systems, for example source code repositories like GitHub. This paper summarizes the issues and shared experiences that were discussed, including cross-cutting issues and use cases. It joins a nascent literature seeking to understand what drives software work in science, and how it is impacted by the reward systems of science. These incentives can determine the extent to which developers are motivated to build software for the long-term, for the use of others, and whether to work collaboratively or separately. It also explores community building, leadership, and dynamics in relation to successful scientific software

SALT Equalizer, Vol. 2010, Issue 1

Contents of This Issue: Raquel Aldana & Steven W. Bender, Co-Presidents’ Column, at 1. Hazel Weiser, Executive Director’s Colum, at 1. Ngai Pindell, December SALT Teaching Conference Promises Exciting Visions of the Law School of the Future, at 4. Ruben Garcia, New Law Teachers Pipeline Committee Launches with San Francisco Event, at 4. Angela Onwuachi-Willig, The New SALT Blog: SALT Members Speak Out, at 5. Doug Colbert, SALT Forms New Access to Justice Committee, at 6. Karla McKanders, Human Rights Committee Report, at 7. Jackie Gardina, LGBT Committee Report, at 8. Bryan Adamson, Affirmative Action Committee Report, at 9. Robert Dinerstein, Judicial/Governmental Nominations Committee Report, at 9. Andi Curcio, Issues in Legal Education Committee Report, at 10. Deborah Waire Post, Academic Freedom Committee Report: “Qualified Immunity…Is Not a Parachute to be Deployed Only When the Plane Has Run Out of Fuel,” at 11. Imran Siddiqui, 2010 Cover Retreat Inspires, Encourages, at 12. Steven W. Bender, 2010 Trino Grillo Retreat Reminds Participants: “Happiness is Living in Alliance With Your Own Principles,” at 12. Ruben Garcia, Annual Dinner in New Orleans a Rousing Success; On to San Francisco, at 14. Olympia Duhart, Membership Makes It Possible for Us to Meet Our Mission, at 14. Hazel Weiser, “Sowing the Seeds of Justice:” Thanks for a Great Sneak Preview!, at 16. Nancy Cook, SALT Members and Friends Provide a Day of Service in New Orleans, at 18. About SALT, at 19

OpenLearn and knowledge maps for language learning

This chapter presents new methodologies designed to facilitate language acquisition in open learning communities via open educational resources and knowledge mapping. It specifically focuses on the OpenLearn project developed by the Open University. This offers a virtual learning environment based on Moodle platform with free educational materials and knowledge media tools such as the instant messaging MSG, the video webconference FlashMeeting and the knowledge mapping software tool Compendium. In this work, these technologies and mapping techniques are introduced in order to promote open language learning. Ways in which teachers and students can make use of these OpenLearn tools and resources are discussed and some benefits fully described

The Soft Power of Ephemeral Communities a Short History of Las Vegas Technology Conventions, 1959-2019

This article presents an overview of the large Las Vegas–based technology conventions: Comdex, CES (the Consumer Electronics Show), and NAB (the NationalAssociation of Broadcasters trade show)