Volunteer participation in citizen science projects

The purpose of this research is to assess the current state of citizen science projects and reveal the role of volunteers in the research process. This is achieved by performing a literature review and content analysis of three international and one state-owned citizen science platforms (Wikipedia, SciStarter, CitSci and Precipita) that contain more than 800 research projects. Projects have been analyzed according to four categories: the academic disciplines, the way the project is designed, the phases of the research in which volunteers participate, and the tasks they perform. The results show that projects in the arts, humanities, and social sciences disciplines are almost non-existent. In addition, in the field of natural and physical sciences, projects are fostered with a top-down approach and volunteers participate primarily in the data collection phase in order to obtain a large volume of data, thereby receiving more financing from the European Union

Evaluating teaching and management innovations in an online university: the case of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) is an online university that has innovation as a transversal feature in all its activities and processes. Therefore, innovation is present in the annual objectives of all the academic and management departments in order to increase student satisfaction. UOC stimulates innovation by funding strategic projects as well as organizing regular internal calls for small projects which brings about innovative academic and management proposals. In this paper we present the method for evaluating teaching and management innovations through internal calls (APLICA), by selecting which initiatives are suitable to become strategic innovative projects (INNOVA) or which features should compose any application available at the OpenApps platform. Besides, general indicators used by the Innovation Program to evaluate the activities carried out are also reported

Assessing Knowledge Organization Systems from a gender perspective: Wikipedia Taxonomy and Wikidata Ontologies

Develop a comprehensive framework for assessing the knowledge organization system (KOS), including the taxonomy of Wikipedia and the ontologies of Wikidata, with a specific focus on enhancing management and retrieval with a gender non-binary perspective.This study employs heuristic and inspection methods to assess Wikipedia's Knowledge Organization Systems, ensuring compliance with international standards. It evaluates the efficiency of retrieving non-masculine gender-related articles using the Catalan Wikipedian category scheme, identifying limitations. Additionally, a novel assessment of Wikidata ontologies examines their structure and coverage of gender-related properties, comparing them to Wikipedia's taxonomy for advantages and enhancements.This study evaluates Wikipedia's taxonomy and Wikidata's ontologies, establishing evaluation criteria for gender-based categorization and exploring their structural effectiveness. The evaluation process suggests that Wikidata ontologies may offer a viable solution to address Wikipedia's categorization challenges.The assessment of Wikipedia categories (taxonomy) based on Knowledge Organization System standards leads to the conclusion that there is ample room for improvement, not only in matters concerning gender identity but also in the overall knowledge organization system to enhance search and retrieval for users. These findings bear relevance for the design of tools to support information retrieval on knowledge-rich websites, as they assist users in exploring topics and concepts.</p

Youth impact on the public sphere in Press and Twitter: The dissolution of the Spanish Youth Council / El impacto de los jóvenes en la esfera pública: La disolución del Consejo de la Juventud de España en la prensa y en Twitter

This paper aims to contribute to the study of the difficulties that young people face in accessing the public sphere as political actors. It looks at the Press coverage and the Twitter activity surrounding the restructuring process and the subsequent dissolution of the Spanish Youth Council (Consejo de la Juventud de España - CJE). A content analysis was carried out on the news published in 22 newspapers between 2012 and 2014, as well as on the use of Twitter within the framework of the “Salvemos el CJE” campaign during the same period of time. The main objective of the analysis has been to see the prominence of this issue on both the media and citizens’ agendas. In most newspapers, the measures taken by the government vis-á-vis the CJE were treated as punctual news of peripheral importance. The online campaign, mainly orchestrated by youth grassroots movements, raised the controversy on the biased nature and the political consequences of this plan. The core of the campaign addressed the representation of young people in public institutions. The results of the study suggest that the increased potential for visibility offered by social media is not always maximized and does not necessarily alter the prominence of an issue in the public sphere

Recursos educativos abiertos: repositorios y uso

Open educational resources: repositories and use. A bibliographic review, state of the art, history, characteristics, development, projects and research lines of open educational resources (OERs) are presented, as well as their storage in repositories and their use in university educational practice. OERs have had two phases: an initial one concerned about providing access, and the more current one, focused on their incorporation into educational practice

Banned books and Wikidata

Book banning has become a widespread method of global censorship. Governments are increasingly using this approach to control internet and technological resources. As is well known, censorship in libraries, and especially school and public libraries, is a subject of international and complex debate that touches several areas, from fundamental rights and freedom of expression to the social responsibility of public institutions and the professionals who work there, also the necessary representation of the existing diversity. Advocacy groups, like Amnesty International or library associations, have emerged to combat this threat to democracy, education, and progressive thinking. Countries such as China, Bangladesh, and Egypt commonly ban books to limit education and suppress vulnerable populations1. In 2022, the American Library Association received a record-breaking 1,269 requests to restrict library access. This surge, nearly doubling the previous year’s figures, underscores concern about intellectual freedom and diverse literary content. Within the 2,571 titles targeted for book censorship cases, some titles faced intense scrutiny2. Nunia Ferran Ferrar Miquel Centelles Lluis Agusti In April 2023, volunteers from Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Catalonia, and the United States launched the #EveryBookItsReader initiative3. Their goal was to improve content related to books, literary works, and oral traditions on various Wikimedia platforms, including Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikicommons, Wikiquotes, Wikibooks, and Wikisource. This collaborative initiative, from various countries, recurs annually throughout April each year, aligning with World Book Day on April 23, which originated in Catalonia, Spain, as the “Day of Books and Roses.” Anyone, especially librarians, can participate.</p

Repositories of Open Educational Resources: An Assessment of Reuse and Educational Aspects

This article provides an overview of the current state of repositories of open educational resources (ROER) in higher education at international level. It analyses a series of educational indicators to determine whether ROER can meet the specific needs of the education context, and to clarify understanding of the reuse of open educational resources (OER) provided by ROER. The aim of the study is to assess ROER by combining these two perspectives, and to form a basis for discussion among the universities that are responsible for these repositories. The method was based on content analysis and consisted of two phases: an exploration of international sources, and an analysis of 110 ROER using the proposed set of indicators. The results focus on data from the analysis of ROER websites and some models of good practices. They are presented according to three core dimensions for evaluating ROER: general factors to establish types of ROER, a focus on drivers for OER reuse, and a focus on educational aspects. It was found that most of the ROER that included one or more of the proposed reuse indicators were created exclusively for educational resources. Educational aspects are not yet firmly embedded into ROER. The few repositories that seem to have successfully included them are those that provide other educational metadata and use educational standards

Revistas científicas españolas de información y documentación: análisis temático y metodológico

Se presenta un estudio sobre la investigación en revistas de información y documentación en España. Se han analizado los artículos publicados entre 2012 y 2014 en las revistas Anales de documentación, BiD: textos universitaris de biblioteconomia i documentació, Cybermetrics, El profesional de la información (EPI), Revista española de documentación científica (REDC), Revista general de información y documentación (RGID) y Scire. Los principales temas tratados son: porcentaje de investigación,temáticas, aproximación metodológica cuantitativa o cualitativa, métodos de investigación y técnicas de investigación. Se muestran resultados para cada revista