CIT INFOBITS December 2002 No. 54 ISSN 1521-9275 About INFOBITS INFOBITS is an electronic service of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for Instructional Technology. Each month the CIT's Information Resources Consultant monitors and selects from a number of information and instructional technology sources that come to her attention and provides brief notes for electronic dissemination to educators. ...................................................................... Distance Learning Report from UNESCO MIT Launches Digital Repository Columbia University Press Takes Over Journal of Electronic Publishing Journal Boycott Group Announces Its New Public Journals Syllabus Radio New Studies on Enterprise Systems and Distance Learning Recommended Reading ...................................................................... DISTANCE LEARNING REPORT FROM UNESCO This December the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Division of Higher Education published a report: "Open And Distance Learning: Trends, Policy And Strategy Consideration." The paper's objective is "to review open and distance learning in the context of present challenges and opportunities, examine relevant concepts and contributions, outline current global and regional trends, suggest policy and strategy considerations, and identify UNESCO's initiatives in open and distance learning, including its role in capacity-building and international co-operation." The complete report is available online (in PDF format) at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001284/128463e.pdf The paper also reflects a commitment to the goals of the Dakar Framework for Action which was adopted by the World Education Forum held at Dakar, Senegal, in April 2000. For more information about the Dakar Framework for Action, go to http://www2.unesco.org/wef/en-conf/dakfram.shtm UNESCO was established in 1945. Its main objective is "to contribute to peace and security in the world by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science, culture, and communication in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language, or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations." For more information, go to http://www.unesco.org/ For more information about UNESCO's education divisions, go to http://www.unesco.org/education/index.shtml ...................................................................... MIT LAUNCHES DIGITAL REPOSITORY The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has launched DSpace, an institutional digital repository "that captures, preserves and communicates the intellectual output [preprints, technical reports, working papers, conference papers, images] of MIT's faculty and researchers." DSpace is organized by "communities": academic departments, laboratories, and research centers. Communities can develop their own policies of what is included in the repository and who has access to the materials. At this time, the following communities have been established: -- Center for Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development -- Department of Ocean Engineering -- Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems -- MIT Press Out of Print Books (MIT-only access) -- Sloan School of Management Check out DSpace at http://www.dspace.org/ For more information about DSpace and similar projects, see: "'Superarchives' Could Hold All Scholarly Output" by Jeffrey R. Young THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, July 5, 2002 http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i43/43a02901.htm "College Archives 'Dig' Deeper" by Kendra Mayfield WIRED NEWS, August 3, 2002 http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,54229,00.html ...................................................................... COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS TAKES OVER JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING The University of Michigan has published the JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING (JEP) since 1995. JEP will be on hiatus until spring when it will be taken over by Columbia University Press and will feature a new design, augmented content, and enhanced search capabilities. All archives of the journal will be moved to Columbia, and calls to the old URL addresses will be automatically redirected to JEP's new home at Columbia. Articles in the current issue include: "What Are the Alternatives to Peer Review? Quality Control in Scholarly Publishing on the Web" by William Y. Arms "Writing Electronically: The Effects of Computers on Traditional Writing" by Sharmila Pixy Ferris "Locally Controlled Scholarly Publishing via the Internet: The Guild Model" by Rob Kling, Lisa Spector, and Geoff McKim Journal of Electronic Publishing [ISSN 1080-2711] is available online at no cost at its current address of http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/ ...................................................................... JOURNAL BOYCOTT GROUP ANNOUNCES ITS NEW PUBLIC JOURNALS A group of scholars who had urged a boycott of expensive scientific journals have formed the Public Library of Science. PLoS is a non-profit organization of scientists "committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource." PLoS announced that they will publish two new online scholarly journals -- PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE BIOLOGY and PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE MEDICINE -- in the second half of 2003. The PLoS journals will be "controlled and run by scientists, and will retain all of the important features of scientific journals, including rigorous peer-review and high editorial and production standards, but will employ a new publishing model that will allow PLoS to make all published works immediately available online, with no charges for access or restrictions on subsequent redistribution or use." For more information, see the PLoS website at http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org/ For past Infobits articles on the journal boycott, see: "Online Debate on Scholarly Publishing" CIT Infobits, April 2001 http://its.unc.edu/tl/infobits/bitapr01.html#1 "Scholarly Journal Boycott a Bust" CIT Infobits, May 2002 http://its.unc.edu/tl/infobits/bitmay02.html#4 Also see: "Scientists Plan 2 Online Journals to Make Articles Available 'Freely and Universally'" by Andrea L. Foster THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, December 18, 2002 http://chronicle.com/free/2002/12/2002121801t.htm ...................................................................... SYLLABUS RADIO Syllabus magazine has launched Syllabus Radio, a feature that allows you to listen to education technology experts from around the country. Current selections include: "Guiding Principles for Building Success in Online Education" -- Steven F. Tello and Jacqueline Moloney, University of Massachusetts-Lowell "Hybrid Courses: From Pilot to Program" -- Alicia Russell, director, Educational Technology Center, Northeastern University "Putting a Faculty Face on Distance Education: The Role of the Facilitator" -- William H. Riffee, University of Florida "Using Technology to Create Collaborative Workspaces" -- Michael Giordano, Manager, Instructional Development Center, University of New Hampshire "Smart Use of Smart Classrooms" -- James Kulich, Elmhurst College To hear these and other interviews, go to http://www.syllabus.com/radio/index.asp Syllabus [ISSN 1089-5914] is published monthly by 101communications, LLC, 9121 Oakdale Avenue, Suite 101, Chatsworth, CA 91311 USA; tel: 650-941-1765; fax: 650-941-1785; email: info@syllabus.com; Web: http://www.syllabus.com/ Annual subscriptions are free to individuals who work in colleges, universities, and high schools in the U.S.; go to http://subscribe.101com.com/syllabus/ for more information. ...................................................................... NEW STUDIES ON ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS AND DISTANCE LEARNING The EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) announced the publications of two new comprehensive research studies, one on enterprise systems (ERP) and the other on distance learning. "The Promise and Performance of Enterprise Systems" by Robert B. Kvavik of the University of Minnesota and senior fellow of ECAR; Richard N. Katz, EDUCAUSE vice president and ECAR director; and ECAR associates The publication "incorporates nearly 500 college and university survey responses, and over 100 interviews with ERP suppliers and leaders. The study evaluates why institutions invested heavily to renew systems between 1997 and 2002, what affected the outcomes of these projects, implementers' levels of satisfaction, the role these systems will play in future campus IT architectures, and how they will enhance institutional performance." You can download the summary of key findings (in PDF format) from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ecar_so/ers/ers0204/EKF0204.pdf "Strategies for Supporting Off-Campus Growth" by Adam Newman, Abigail Callahan, and Sean Gallagher of Eduventures The publication "analyzes strategies for establishing and evaluating distance learning programs by campus-based colleges and universities. Based on qualitative interviews, the study covers four critical elements: mission, financial goals, market reach and brand, and institutional competencies for success. Extensive case studies illustrate successful strategies and competencies." You can download the summary of key findings (in PDF format) at http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ecar_so/ers/ers0203/ekf0203.pdf For more information on ECAR and its other research products and activities, see http://www.educause.edu/ecar/ EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. Learn more about EDUCAUSE at http://www.educause.edu/ ...................................................................... RECOMMENDED READING "Recommended Reading" lists items that have been recommended to me or that Infobits readers have found particularly interesting and/or useful, including books, articles, and websites published by Infobits subscribers. Send your recommendations to carolyn_kotlas@unc.edu for possible inclusion in this column. Two popular EDUCAUSE publications are now accessible online in PDF format: WEB PORTALS AND HIGHER EDUCATION The book focuses on technology issues related to portals and their implications for colleges and universities. http://www.educause.edu/asp/doclib/abstract.asp?id=pub5006 2002 POCKET GUIDE TO U.S. HIGHER EDUCATION The guide is a useful introduction to higher education today, with current statistical data and listings of key associations and resources. http://www.educause.edu/asp/doclib/abstract.asp?ID=PUB2201 ...................................................................... To Subscribe CIT INFOBITS is published by the Center for Instructional Technology. The CIT supports the interests of faculty members at UNC-Chapel Hill who are exploring the use of Internet and video projects. Services include both consultation on appropriate uses and technical support. 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