Communities of Practice: The Academic Book of the Future
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Department Name: Information Studies
Abstract
The Academic Book of the Future has been a matter of intense concern and debate for the last 20 years. Monographs, collections of essays and critical editions are the cornerstone of scholarship in the humanities, and the careers of many rest on the production of books, and the credit given to them, through the regular Research Excellence Framework (REF). But they are uneconomic to produce, given that they sell in small numbers, and as libraries are squeezed in two directions (falling budgets and rising serials prices) a steadily decreasing number are bought into core collections. In the past, publishers accepted that academic books would not make profits, or indeed, often, cover their costs, but regarded them as vitally important loss leaders, with revenue generated to support their publication from other parts of their business. But all kinds of forces are operating in the publishing world which means that such trade-offs are no longer always possible. The advent, too, of digital technologies and social media has had a significant effect on publishing in all areas--print journalism is suffering under the onslaught of freely available internet information, and ebooks have risen in popularity. As John Thompson has said, "Academic publishing has become one of the terrains on which the logics of two different worlds - the world of publishing and the world of the academy - come together and clash, leading on occasion to tension, misunderstanding and mutual recriminations" (Thompson, 2005).
How, in this new world, is the academic of now and the near future to write and circulate their work? How are publishers to respond to the new challenges? How are libraries to curate, preserve, and disseminate the diverse forms and formats coming their way? What economic, political, social and intellectual challenges are we facing in the light of such mandates as the Finch report and HEFCE's recommendations regarding Open Access?
At the heart of our enquiries in responding to the research questions posed by the AHRC is the question posed by Jerome McGann in 2010: "What do scholars want?" Whether we work with digital or paper-based resources, or both, our basic needs are the same. We all want our cultural record to be comprehensive, stable, and accessible. And we all want to be able to augment that record with our own contributions." Traditional print formats and their e-versions are also increasingly limited in representing the breadth of arts and humanities scholarship. New technologies permit new forms of publication more suited to many disciplines: archaeology, art history, anthropology, film studies, paleography and manuscript studies, epigraphy and other areas where the non-textual is at least as important as the textual. But these bring their own problems, for instance, rights to publish images and time-based media, the costs of developing new forms of publication, sustainability. And Open Access still causes fear and suspicion in the minds of many academics (see, for example, the recent piece in the TLS by Jonathan Bate, http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1360491.ece).
There are a number of recent projects and publications seeking to address these questions: in 2011 the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) produced a report, Sustaining Scholarly Publishing: New Business Models for University Presses. In an age of information 'hyperabundance', publishing is within everyone's reach: rather than see this as a threat, however, the Report asserts that "The scholarly enterprise is in it for the long haul, not the next viral hit. As such, the scholarly ecosystem -- libraries, universities, scholarly publishers, scholars -- needs to ensure that the entire ecosystem remains strong over time, and that scholarship is well served by the systems we construct." These beliefs are at the core of this Project, which seeks to ensure our research is and will be set in robust and coherent communities of practice.
How, in this new world, is the academic of now and the near future to write and circulate their work? How are publishers to respond to the new challenges? How are libraries to curate, preserve, and disseminate the diverse forms and formats coming their way? What economic, political, social and intellectual challenges are we facing in the light of such mandates as the Finch report and HEFCE's recommendations regarding Open Access?
At the heart of our enquiries in responding to the research questions posed by the AHRC is the question posed by Jerome McGann in 2010: "What do scholars want?" Whether we work with digital or paper-based resources, or both, our basic needs are the same. We all want our cultural record to be comprehensive, stable, and accessible. And we all want to be able to augment that record with our own contributions." Traditional print formats and their e-versions are also increasingly limited in representing the breadth of arts and humanities scholarship. New technologies permit new forms of publication more suited to many disciplines: archaeology, art history, anthropology, film studies, paleography and manuscript studies, epigraphy and other areas where the non-textual is at least as important as the textual. But these bring their own problems, for instance, rights to publish images and time-based media, the costs of developing new forms of publication, sustainability. And Open Access still causes fear and suspicion in the minds of many academics (see, for example, the recent piece in the TLS by Jonathan Bate, http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1360491.ece).
There are a number of recent projects and publications seeking to address these questions: in 2011 the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) produced a report, Sustaining Scholarly Publishing: New Business Models for University Presses. In an age of information 'hyperabundance', publishing is within everyone's reach: rather than see this as a threat, however, the Report asserts that "The scholarly enterprise is in it for the long haul, not the next viral hit. As such, the scholarly ecosystem -- libraries, universities, scholarly publishers, scholars -- needs to ensure that the entire ecosystem remains strong over time, and that scholarship is well served by the systems we construct." These beliefs are at the core of this Project, which seeks to ensure our research is and will be set in robust and coherent communities of practice.
Planned Impact
The core beneficiaries of this research will be professional academics seeking to publish their research and concerned about the long-form scholarly publication. Providing an evidence base of current practice and defining a clear future pathway for the academic book will help scholars to decide the most appropriate form of scholarly discourse. As such this will benefit all researchers - whether early career researchers by ensuring a better understanding of the benefits of the monograph to their academic aspirations, or more senior academics seeking to explore the new opportunities for dissemination of their research offered by digital production processes as these free research from the page. Many subject areas in the arts and humanities are deeply concerned about the future of scholarly publishing, and this Project will enable those somewhat understudied and underrepresented subjects to have their perspectives properly considered and to be consulted on their detailed future needs.
Academics will also benefit from close collaborations with the publishing sector, and intermediaries such as libraries, having a clearer evidence base of workable business models. With better information on future opportunities for the academic book then all parts of the value chain from creator, through publisher and intermediary to consumer can benefit from streamlining of processes, fresh economic models for publishing and consumption, innovative citation options and a clearer path to academic credit and reputation from long-form publications. This in turn will ensure that the general public, who consume many forms of scholarly publication, can benefit from the availability of new books to stimulate knowledge and understanding of arts and humanities subjects.
The Project has a wide and deep process of consultation and engagement built into its structure and methodology. In an area as complex as this, with a diverse, interlocking number of communities of practice in academia, in publishing, and in libraries and other intermediaries then the widest possible community consultation and engagement alongside a number of specifically focused groups and activities is necessary. To achieve this, the Project will establish key relationships with experts, influencers and key actors from the varied communities of practice (linking in professional networks and societies as well as academic societies, research Centres and Institutes, and ensuring engagement and support from across the UK.) These will be invited to join a Community Coalition that will act as both a consultative forum in the first instance and as a means of reaching out to and engaging with the diverse and complex communities of practice. The project will ensure open and equitable consultation and engagement across all the relevant communities.
The Project plan encompasses a range of interventions with the communities of practice to stimulate and provoke debate and enable information gathering. Using expert seminars, high impact keynotes and interviews, a formal consultation process and allowing further investigations from with these communities will allow the beneficiaries to have a direct input and to be directly affected by the project. Wide dissemination of results and active participation are key to ensuring the results of this project provoke change in the professional practices throughout the value chain of scholarly publishing.
Impact will be sought via different media - high visibility platforms such as the THES, the TLS, and The Bookseller, as well as direct interaction via social media feeds, while the opportunity to explore the creation of a new series of books via a new university press at UCL will generate its own reflective research practices.
The academic book is a key feature of a current publishing research landscape that has "Here be dragons" in every corner. This Project tackles those dragons head on: what's at stake is simply too important to do any other way.
Academics will also benefit from close collaborations with the publishing sector, and intermediaries such as libraries, having a clearer evidence base of workable business models. With better information on future opportunities for the academic book then all parts of the value chain from creator, through publisher and intermediary to consumer can benefit from streamlining of processes, fresh economic models for publishing and consumption, innovative citation options and a clearer path to academic credit and reputation from long-form publications. This in turn will ensure that the general public, who consume many forms of scholarly publication, can benefit from the availability of new books to stimulate knowledge and understanding of arts and humanities subjects.
The Project has a wide and deep process of consultation and engagement built into its structure and methodology. In an area as complex as this, with a diverse, interlocking number of communities of practice in academia, in publishing, and in libraries and other intermediaries then the widest possible community consultation and engagement alongside a number of specifically focused groups and activities is necessary. To achieve this, the Project will establish key relationships with experts, influencers and key actors from the varied communities of practice (linking in professional networks and societies as well as academic societies, research Centres and Institutes, and ensuring engagement and support from across the UK.) These will be invited to join a Community Coalition that will act as both a consultative forum in the first instance and as a means of reaching out to and engaging with the diverse and complex communities of practice. The project will ensure open and equitable consultation and engagement across all the relevant communities.
The Project plan encompasses a range of interventions with the communities of practice to stimulate and provoke debate and enable information gathering. Using expert seminars, high impact keynotes and interviews, a formal consultation process and allowing further investigations from with these communities will allow the beneficiaries to have a direct input and to be directly affected by the project. Wide dissemination of results and active participation are key to ensuring the results of this project provoke change in the professional practices throughout the value chain of scholarly publishing.
Impact will be sought via different media - high visibility platforms such as the THES, the TLS, and The Bookseller, as well as direct interaction via social media feeds, while the opportunity to explore the creation of a new series of books via a new university press at UCL will generate its own reflective research practices.
The academic book is a key feature of a current publishing research landscape that has "Here be dragons" in every corner. This Project tackles those dragons head on: what's at stake is simply too important to do any other way.
Organisations
- UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON (Lead Research Organisation)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- Midas Public Relations (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM (Collaboration)
- Research Information Network (Collaboration)
- Bath Spa University (Collaboration)
- Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) (Collaboration)
- Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland (Collaboration)
- Association for Learned and Professional Society Publishers (Collaboration)
- De Montfort University (Collaboration)
- Periodicals Publishers Association PPA (Collaboration)
- University of Lincoln (Collaboration)
- The British Library (Collaboration)
- University of Stirling (Collaboration)
Publications
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Armstrong G
(2017)
Reflections on the Academic Book of the Future
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Canty, Nick
(2016)
Altmetrics and the Humanities
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Deegan M
(2017)
Academic Book of the Future Project Report
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Jubb M
(2017)
Academic Books and Their Futures
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Lyons R E
(2017)
BOOC Academic Book of the Future
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Rayner, S
(2019)
Oxford Handbook of Publishing
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Rayner, S. J.
(2018)
Convergence Special Issue
in Convergence
Description | This will be pulled together in our End of Project Report, which is currently being finalised. In the meanwhile, the discoveries can be seen in the various commissioned reports and blog posts that are listed on the Project website and elsewhere on this ResearchFish portal. UPDATE, FEB 2018: please find full narratives about what we discovered and developed in the two Project Reports, now available for download here: https://academicbookfuture.org/end-of-project-reports-2/ |
Exploitation Route | We will articulate this in our End of Project Report, due in May/ June 2017. UPDATE: please find our recommendations for ways forward in our two Project Reports, available here: https://academicbookfuture.org/end-of-project-reports-2/ |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Government Democracy and Justice Retail |
URL | https://academicbookfuture.org/ |
Description | At present through the repetition of Academic Book Week in January this year, where a body of stakeholder groups (the Booksellers Association, RLUK, The Publishers Association, the British Library, The ALPSP, and the British Academy) have taken on management of the events as the findings from the first Week proved what a successful vehicle this could be for raising the profile of academic book publishing, bookselling, the role of the academic library, book production and how people view and read academic books. UPDATE FEB2018: our findings have been used in the second University Redux conference, held at the British Library in Feb 2018. Slides and information about this event can be found here: https://events.bizzabo.com/Redux18/page/1332592/slides-and-audio In addition, our consultant on the Project, Dr Michael Jubb, is now a member of the UUK OA monographs group, and although it is too early to say what impact the Project has had on that group, he is keeping us posted on progress. UPDATE MARCH 2019: The 4th Academic Book Week has begun, and we are capturing more focussed data on the impact of the initiative over the past 4 years, which we will report on next year. The campaign is now part of the Booksellers Associations suite of annual campaigns, which have a dedicated member of staff facilitating them, so this demonstrates impact on the behaviour and practice of a UK-wide, non-academic organisation. UPDATE: March 2020: 5th Academic Book Week happening week beginning 9th March, organised by the Booksellers Association, and the third biennial University Press Redux Conference will be held on March 17th - 18th in Cambridge, organised by the ALPSP. |
First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
Sector | Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Retail |
Impact Types | Cultural Policy & public services |
Description | Course content - MA Publishing, UCL |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | We have adapted our Academic and Journals module (INSTG071) on the MA in Publishing to bring in elements from the Academic Book of the Future Project - so that publishers of the future will be able to learn from what the Project has explored. A direct result has been the submission of a proposal from a student to continue study at PhD level, in an area directly related to the Project's themes. |
Title | UK Book Heatmap REF2014 |
Description | A Tableau dataset and visualization provides an interactive map listing every Arts and Humanities book submitted to the REF2014 by location of UK university. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | This visualisation accompanies the report for the analysis of the Arts and Humanities submitted research outputs to the REF2014 with a focus on academic books. It has policy impacts as an information source to inform HE institutions on REF planning. |
URL | https://public.tableau.com/profile/abof#!/ |
Description | Academic Book Week |
Organisation | Association for Learned and Professional Society Publishers |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Learned Society |
PI Contribution | We organised events and launched a website and social media feeds to promote Academic Book Week, a key activity as part of Phase 1 of the Project. We travelled to events held by our partners, either recording or speaking at these. We chaired the organising committee's meetings, and helped ensure all communications about the Week were handled efficiently. |
Collaborator Contribution | Helped set up activities across the UK via their membership; attended committee meetings; promoted the Week and the Project via their networks: Midas PR ran a publicity campaign for us, and got the Week global reach (est. 425million potential readers worldwide). |
Impact | A full Report of the Week is in the process of being prepared, and more detail will be reported in the next ResearchFish round. 63 events took place in 21 locations across 5 countries. The Week was covered in 189 articles, and during the Week itself the websites (AcBookWeek and AcBookFuture) were visited by people from 113 different countries. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Academic Book Week |
Organisation | Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | We organised events and launched a website and social media feeds to promote Academic Book Week, a key activity as part of Phase 1 of the Project. We travelled to events held by our partners, either recording or speaking at these. We chaired the organising committee's meetings, and helped ensure all communications about the Week were handled efficiently. |
Collaborator Contribution | Helped set up activities across the UK via their membership; attended committee meetings; promoted the Week and the Project via their networks: Midas PR ran a publicity campaign for us, and got the Week global reach (est. 425million potential readers worldwide). |
Impact | A full Report of the Week is in the process of being prepared, and more detail will be reported in the next ResearchFish round. 63 events took place in 21 locations across 5 countries. The Week was covered in 189 articles, and during the Week itself the websites (AcBookWeek and AcBookFuture) were visited by people from 113 different countries. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Academic Book Week |
Organisation | Midas Public Relations |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We organised events and launched a website and social media feeds to promote Academic Book Week, a key activity as part of Phase 1 of the Project. We travelled to events held by our partners, either recording or speaking at these. We chaired the organising committee's meetings, and helped ensure all communications about the Week were handled efficiently. |
Collaborator Contribution | Helped set up activities across the UK via their membership; attended committee meetings; promoted the Week and the Project via their networks: Midas PR ran a publicity campaign for us, and got the Week global reach (est. 425million potential readers worldwide). |
Impact | A full Report of the Week is in the process of being prepared, and more detail will be reported in the next ResearchFish round. 63 events took place in 21 locations across 5 countries. The Week was covered in 189 articles, and during the Week itself the websites (AcBookWeek and AcBookFuture) were visited by people from 113 different countries. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Academic Book Week |
Organisation | Periodicals Publishers Association PPA |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We organised events and launched a website and social media feeds to promote Academic Book Week, a key activity as part of Phase 1 of the Project. We travelled to events held by our partners, either recording or speaking at these. We chaired the organising committee's meetings, and helped ensure all communications about the Week were handled efficiently. |
Collaborator Contribution | Helped set up activities across the UK via their membership; attended committee meetings; promoted the Week and the Project via their networks: Midas PR ran a publicity campaign for us, and got the Week global reach (est. 425million potential readers worldwide). |
Impact | A full Report of the Week is in the process of being prepared, and more detail will be reported in the next ResearchFish round. 63 events took place in 21 locations across 5 countries. The Week was covered in 189 articles, and during the Week itself the websites (AcBookWeek and AcBookFuture) were visited by people from 113 different countries. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Academic Books of the Future: An Initial Literature Review (2015) |
Organisation | Research Information Network |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | An initial literature review, commissioned from the Research Information Network (RIN) |
Collaborator Contribution | RIN carried out desk research to produce this Review. |
Impact | https://academicbookfuture.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/initial-literature-review-with-references.pdf |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Ethics of Circulation: a workshop on the future of the book |
Organisation | University College London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Rebecca Lyons (RA) and Prof Marilyn Deegan helped organise the event with the partners, and Rebecca Lyons attended the event and reported on the proceedings. |
Collaborator Contribution | The symposium will focus on the ethics and anxieties of the digital circulation of academic research, using as examples the circulation of ethnography, both in book and in a range of other audio and visual media. Contemporary discourses about the benefits and problems of open access, digital books, e-reading, and intellectual property rarely situate these debates in cultural contexts of communities of readers and scholars and other communities of practice. Bringing together international scholars who use ethnographic approaches to explore both the representation of anthropological knowledge and its forms of circulation, we seek to explore the follow questions: How do different forms of our research move through the world? How and in what ways are these shared, translated, interpreted, reworked and revised as they circulate? How does the possibility of digitization shape these practices? What are the ethics of knowledge production? What do readers want? What are the differences between images, text, audio-visual media, and other data in digital spaces? A particular strength of the symposium will be a shared focus upon the importance of visual and material culture in ethnographic research, including reflections upon the role of the archive, alongside the monograph. The workshop will take the form of a morning of 20 minute presentations. In the afternoon we will work together to draft a working document to provide a set of ethical guidelines for thinking about the future of the book expanding our terms of reference around the global circulation of academic material. It is our hope that we could create a resource that brings current policies into dialogue with different cultural perspectives and different academic practices that is also sensitive to the particularities of different media. RMIT contributed costs for flights and accommodation and subsistence for speakers at the event. |
Impact | https://academicbookfuture.org/2015/07/30/ethics-of-circulation/ Blog post (Ethnography, Anthropology) |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Peer Review Research |
Organisation | University of Stirling |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Project team have supported with funding and with shaping the proposed research. |
Collaborator Contribution | Peer review is one of the most contentious aspects of academic publishing and often generates fierce opinions often based upon anecdotal evidence without assessing the system on a larger scale. The report will ask five questions that emerge from these tensions in peer review practices: • What are contemporary models of peer review? • Where does peer review occur in the research and publication process? • What is the role of peer review in institutional structures (e.g. individual HEIs, REF, HEFCE/SFC, RCUK)? • How are reviewers guided towards writing useful feedback? • What could peer review look like in the future? In order to address the first question, the report will conduct a literature review of contemporary models of peer review of books and journals in the arts and humanities. While the focus of the report will be on the arts and humanities, the project will also assess peer review models that gained traction in STEM publishing but have not been applied in mainstream humanities academic publishing. The second question will be addressed through a literature review of the role of peer review in the development of academic work. For example, when does the peer review take place in the production of a book? Does it occur multiple times? The third question will summarise documentation relating to the institutional roles of peer review. The report will also summarise documentation provided by publishers for the purpose of peer review and external guidelines such as the Committee of Publishing Ethic's (COPE) Ethical Guidelines for Peer Review to answer the final question. It is intended that the Peer Review project will conclude with a set of recommendations for further primary research. The project will connect to the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities (SGSAH) development of doctoral training workshops in 2016 on the topics of peer review & reviewing, open access, IP & copyright. • Project format (e.g. seminar, workshop, focus group, lecture, other): Research report. • Outputs: Main report (c5000 words; for possible publication via UCL Press); shorter summary (c.800-2000 words) to be pitched to THE and/or The Conversation; contributions to Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities (SGSAH) doctoral workshops on academic publishing |
Impact | Pre-publication version of Report; full Report to be published on the Academic Book of the Future Project's BOOC with UCL Press (late March, 2017) |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | SOFT Project Sprinting to the Open FuTure |
Organisation | University of Nottingham |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | the Project team funded the activities and helped promote them, and capture them. |
Collaborator Contribution | Organised the series of events: Project format • Book Sprint Workshops • Book Sprint • Panel Debate and Discussion • Talking Heads • Social Media Competition: most iconic arts and humanities book at UoN • Shelf-end signs in the Hallward Library that highlight academic books • Manuscripts and Special Collections display of rare book(s) • Video of Book Sprint (20 minutes) • Video of Panel Debate (2-3 hours) • Talking Heads Video (1 hour) Outputs Social Media Competition The Libraries Student Engagement Officer will lead a competition to identify the most iconic arts and humanities book in the history of the University of Nottingham. The winner will be announced at BookFest. Book Sprint Workshops During the beginning of the Autumn term, the School of English will lead workshops with students that will provide preparation before the Sprint in Academic Book Week. Book Sprint The Book Sprint will take place over three days during Academic Book Week (Monday 9th; Tuesday 10th, Wednesday 11th). The format will be decided during the Summer term, but options include: Word/PDF; Flipsnack; Flipping book; Issuu; Scribd; Yumpu; and, the Univeristy of Nottingham created Xerte Toolkits. Main Event: Sprinting to the Open FuTure The main event will be on Thursday 12th November. This will be two panel discussions with publishers and academic staff focussing on two areas: How to Publish, aimed at postgraduate research students and early career researchers; and, open access monographs in the context of REF 2026. It is anticipated that the publishers will be from either: Bloomsbury; Brepols Publishers; Cambridge University Press; Cengage Learning; John Benjamins Publishing Company; Oxford University Press; Policy Press; Routledge; or Seren Books. Book Sprint Video (20 minutes) Panel Discussion Video (2-3 hours) Talking Heads Videos (6-8 x 5 minutes) Wollaton Antiphonal Display Hallward Library Shelf-End signs Book Sprint Book - to be launced at BookFest BookFest The main event will end with a BookFest Reception in Highfield House. BookFest is annual event that showcases University of Nottingham research in the arts and humanities. There is an opportunity this year to integrate the Academic Book of the Future and Academic Book week around the Festival of Humanities and Nottingham's bid to become a City of Literature. |
Impact | A book, created by the BookSprint at Nottingham. A video. Multi-discilinary - Arts and Humanities |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | The Academic Book of the South Conference |
Organisation | The British Library |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | This event was co-organised by Marilyn Deegan from the Project team, with Maja Maricevic from the BL and Dr Caroline Davis from Oxford Brookes University. Marilyn Deegan spoke at the event. |
Collaborator Contribution | The BL funded and helped organise the event, and Dr Caroline Davis organised and spoke at the event. |
Impact | The conference has just taken place, so outputs will be submitted in the next round of ResearchFish. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | The Future of the English PhD |
Organisation | De Montfort University |
Department | School of Design |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Funded and promoted the event - captured outputs and published via a blog post on the Project website. |
Collaborator Contribution | Event partner (Riczhard Whitney) organised and chaired the event. |
Impact | A blog post - see https://academicbookfuture.org/2016/02/08/acbookweek-future-of-english-phd/ |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | The role of the Editor |
Organisation | Bath Spa University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | A commissioned report on the role of the Editor in scholarly Arts and Humanities publishing - the team funded the research. |
Collaborator Contribution | Katharine undertook the research (desk and via interviews) to create a Report for the Project. |
Impact | A Report for the Project, which will be released later in 2016 as part of the Project's outputs. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Training Future Arts and Humanities Researchers in the Academic Book of the Future |
Organisation | Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Project has funded the SGSAH so that a Research Assistant can be employed to carry out some surveying research of the postgraduates within its scope, and also to organise some training events as part of the School's programme over 2016. |
Collaborator Contribution | As above - the partner organisation, SGSAH, will provide training and gather data which will then be compiled into a Report for the end of Project Report in Dec 2016. |
Impact | None yet - ongoing. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | UCL Press - BOOC |
Organisation | University College London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are partnering with UCL Press to try and produce an academic book of the future - the BOOC (Books as Open Online Content). Nick Canty, Samantha Rayner, and Rebecca Lyons are working to commission and edit content, as well as work with the Press to design this new form of "book". |
Collaborator Contribution | UCL Press have invested in developer work to create a new platform for BOOC, as well as lending expertise in terms of contracts, peer review processes, and user-testing of the BOOC portal. |
Impact | BOOC will be launched in late Spring/ early Summer 2017. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | [im]Possible Constellations: Publishing in the digital age |
Organisation | University of Lincoln |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Funding given by the Project team from our budget to facilitate the events. Samantha Rayner attended The Impossible Constellation symposium. |
Collaborator Contribution | Organised the events, detailed below: This project considers the possibilities for the Academic Book of the Future in the context of the digital age, aiming to challenge and expand current perceptions and to lay the groundwork for a wider view of what might be acceptable as book format for, eg, REF purposes (2026 and beyond). It builds on debates that were initiated at the first Impossible Constellation event hosted by the College of Arts at Lincoln, July 2014, which served as a showcase for a wide range of forms of outputs that were suitable for those working in media and the arts. Thus it would be particularly suitable to a UoL setting given that it would play on existing skills and strengths of College of Arts with its focus on interdisciplinary work across humanities, media, the arts and new technologies. The symposium, with speakers engaged in the commissioning, publishing, creating, archiving and housing new types of 'book/publication', would be embedded within the programme for the third edition of the Frequency Festival of Digital Culture (23 Oct-1st Nov 2015), a partnership event that involves the University plus a range of city organisations and which receives support from the Arts Council, Foyle Foundation and local authorities. Guests will include Catherine Grant (as keynote) to speak about the video essay, and projects exhibited will include examples of 'practice-as-research' developed at Lincoln. Participants will be invited to explore the Festival which will feature a special projection mapping event at Lincoln Castle as part of the Magna Carta 800 anniversary celebrations. The book jam/hack will be hosted and organised by our co_LAB research group, which specialises in cross-disciplinary projects involving staff, students and guests, that test the possibilities for using new technologies to explore specific themes. The aim would be to produce the foundations for a digital multi-authored publication in a week which showcases a live research project at Lincoln. In short, the events would seek to challenge: - what it means to create, publish and house/archive a book in digital age: open to new forms of publishing beyond the traditional text; - what it means to be an 'author' in an age of increasing digital collaboration and revision; -what it means to be a 'reader' of the academic book in the digital age - the idea of the 'book' itself in this environment. • Project format: Symposium (including screening/s and other digital formats), to be held as part of the third edition of Frequency Festival of Digital Culture, followed by a book jam/hack to produce a collaborative multi-authored digital book in a week • Outputs: Symposium - papers, report and recording. Possible submission to REFRAME, an open access academic digital platform for the online practice, publication and curation of internationally produced research and scholarship. Book jam/hack - collaborative multi-authored digital publication • Timeline: 3 October (symposium); Spring 2016 (book jam) |
Impact | A chapter in the Palgrave Pivot, The Academic Book of the Future: Barrow, Sarah (2015) The impossible constellation: practice as research as a viable alternative. In: The academic book of the future. Palgrave Pivot. ISBN 9781137595768 |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Academic Book Week 2015 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Academic Book Week #AcBookWeek is aimed at and created by all those who write, make, sell, work with, or read, academic books. For the first time, booksellers, institutions, publishers, librarians, authors and readers came together to debate and bring to life the academic book in a series of coordinated events, competitions, promotions, and social media activity. Academic Book Week took place from 9-16 November 2015, all over the UK and beyond. #AcBookWeek was the centrepiece of 2015 activity on the two-year AHRC/British Library The Academic Book of the Future Project, as well as the launchpad for 2016's Project activity. The week was a huge success, with over 60 events taking place up and down the country as well as internationally, including seminars, workshops, debates, symposia, exhibitions (both physical and virtual), writing sprints, competitions, promotions, offers and more! See "Other Outputs and Knowledge section for more detailed list of events and their capture" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://acbookweek.com/ |
Description | Academic Book Week 2017 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Academic Book Week 2017 (January 23rd - 28th) was a festival of the academic book. It is organised by the British Library, The British Academy, UCL, Research Libraries UK, the Publishers Association, the Booksellers Association and the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers. The week saw academics, booksellers, publishers, libraries and universities host events, workshops, debates, exhibitions, competitions, special offers and more, to get people talking about academic books. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://acbookweek.com/ |
Description | British Academy Journal |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This was a special issue of the British Academy Review, focussed on the Project and on Academic Book Week 2, which happened in Jan 2017. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.britac.ac.uk/node/5482/ |
Description | Project Blog Posts |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Here is the list of our blog posts, - 52 in total: September 2016 Reasoning Without Words: Envisioning the Multimodal Thesis and its Challenges Digital Conversation event: British Library, 29 September 2016 #AcBookWeek 2015: Publisher Workshop at Stationers Hall August 2016 Creative writing theses: guidelines on discoverability and open access June 2016 Life and times of an independent researcher: Publish or be damned? Catherine White Quadrivium day 2 May 2016 #AcBookWeek: Book sprints and collaborative ways of working, Spencer Jordan Musical Scholarship and the Future of Academic Publishing, Richard Lewis The academic book in Chile: present and future contexts, Manuel Loyola April 2016 Away with the monotonous monograph, Martyn Lawrence Notes on the Future of the Academic Book in Africa, Ola Uduku March 2016 Quadrivium XI: Identity, Use, and Creation of Academic 'Books' for Medievalists, International Arthurian Society: Books, Libraries, and Learned Societies Lonely library or collaborative centre? - Zoe Enstone The International Arthurian Society: an academic family - Natalie Goodison The books I consider to be the most iconic scholarly Arthurian texts - Victoria Shirley February 2016 Why We Like Reading an Old Story in an Old Book, Anastasija Ropa #AcBookWeek: The Future of the English PhD, Richard Vytniorgu #AcBookWeek: The Guadalajara International Book Fair (28 Nov-6 Dec 2015), Simon Mahony January 2016 What's the Point of the Academic Book? Part One: Rebecca Lyons What's the Point of the Academic Book? Part Two: Mari Shullaw What's the Point of the Academic Book? Part Three: Tim Hitchcock #AcBookWeek: The Future of the Academic Book in the USA December 2015 #AcBookWeek: Interdisciplinary Research and Publishing: Challenges and Opportunities "What is required is an opening towards non-knowledge"?Gary Hall, Professor of Media and Performing Arts (recording) "The problems of the world call for interdisciplinarity"?David Chandler, Professor of International Relations #AcBookWeek: Ecologies of Publishing Futures, Andrew Prescott #AcBookWeek: Students and the digital edition. A polemic., Stephen Gregg #AcBookWeek: The Academic Book of the Future: Evolution or Revolution? (Cambridge event) November 2015 #AcBookWeek: What will the Academic Book of the Future look like? Bristol responds! #AcBookWeek: The Manchester Great Debate Three hundred years of piracy: why academic books should be free, George Walkden 20 Academic Books that Changed the World: a perspective on the list, Emily Tee #AcBookWeek Events! October 2015 Audio-Visual Resources and Academic Books of the Future, Steven Dryden Open Access: A Personal Take, Alastair Horne Open Access and Academic Publishing, Ian Lovecy Acts of Reading: when, how, and where do academics and their audiences read in the digital age? Why Do We Write? Anne Welsh September 2015 Investigating the REF2014 as another means of understanding academic books, Simon Tanner Creative Writing Research Discoverability, Susan L. Greenberg August 2015 Specialist perspectives: the Project works with the Miltonists July 2015 SHARP 2015: Generations and Regenerations of the Book Towards an Ethics of Circulation: A Manifesto in Tweets By the Book 2, Florence 18-19 June 2015: conference reporT, Nick Canty June 2015 A Tough Time to Build a Life in the Humanities?, Greg Colón Semenza and Garrett A. Sullivan, Jr Preservation, conservation, and the experience of reading, Kevin Whetter Format, Flexibility, and Speed: Palgrave Pivot, Jen McCall Italy in Berlin: The Fiesole Collection Development Retreat 2015, Nick Canty May 2015 Aberystwyth University Library: Encouraging Engagement, Celebrating with Words, Kit Kapphahn The Bookshops of New York Fight Back!, Marilyn Deegan Saddletree: The Academic Book as Art, Jen McCall April 2015 What is an academic book? Marilyn Deegan The Academic Book of the Future: exploring academic practices and expectations for the monograph My Acts of Reading, Andrew Prescott The Academic Book in Sudan, Marilyn Deegan February 2015 Welcoming Wales to the Project Rockwell Typeface, Nick Canty |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016,2017 |
URL | https://academicbookfuture.org/blog/ |
Description | Project Video |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Our Project video was commissioned for Academic Book Week 2, and was created by Lincoln University's Co_Lab team. It highlights key aspects of the Project, and captures some useful feedback on the Project's impact. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://youtu.be/6CzCl50hX00 |
Description | Times Higher Education article |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | An article by Matthew Reiz, called "From books to Boocs: what is the future?" which reports on the activities of Academic Book Week 2. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/books-to-boocs-what-is-the-future |