Publishing in the Post-Web World:

Some organizations think outside the box.

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John Sack HighWire Press Stanford University November, 2010

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Thinking outside the box

Scientific Publishing has (mostly) rethought the distribution box The rest of the box is pretty comfortable!

Whats not to love about the box??

Apple Computer Google Search Amazon Books

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Library Stacks Web Browser Mobile Phone Cable TV News Paper Digital Video

Recorder

Research Journal Scholarly Article Content Website Electronic Book Information Technology
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Communication Internet Web

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Apple Computer Google Search Amazon Books

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Innovations
Email tables of contents Institutional site-wide access PubMed free Reference linking Full text search engines Publish ahead of print Online letters to the editor Topical browsing Online manuscript systems Customized alerts Supplemental data

Mobile fits well

Do Articles, Issues, Journals, Books fit well?

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Original Set of Interviews (Spring 2010) Position Department Chair Assistant Professor Postdoc Postdoc Postdoc Postdoc Postdoc Graduate Student Department School of Medicine Cell & Molecular Biology Neuroscience Neuroscience Cell Biology Cell Biology Biology (Ecology) Biology (Ecology)

Additional Interviews (Summer 2010) Position Professor Professor Associate Professor Associate Professor Assistant Professor Research Scientist Lecturer Department Radiology Mathematics Statistics Statistics Geological & Environmental Sciences Computer Science Chemical Engineering

Additional Interviews (Fall 2010)

Position Postdoc Graduate Student Graduate Student Professor Professor Graduate Student Department Chemistry Mechanical Engineering Chemical Engineering Chemistry Education Center for Russian, East European & Euroasian Studies Mechanical Engineering

Graduate Student

Additional Interviews (Fall 2010)

Position Graduate Student Professor Visiting Scholar Department Engineering & Economics History Eastern European Studies

upcoming upcoming upcoming upcoming

Humanities, additional interviews Social Sciences, additional interviews Clinics Clinical Research

RESEARCHERS

& READERS

Communication and Devices

Computer Devices: Laptops, and (some) only laptops Smartphones: 3 of 8 (37%): all iPhones Communications: Skype

Discovery Tools: Retrieval

PubMed Web of Science Google Scholar Google

I use Google to vacuum around the edges of the carpet.

Discovery Tools: Retrieval

PubMed Central has the look and feel of a government website Amazon is a discovery tool for books Google Books is really revolutionary Books are used for unfamiliar topics Google

is like crushing rock. You lose the delight of discovery in grinding through stuff to find a few good articles.

Keeping Current: Macro View

More automated Reading journals Annotated TOCs Gossip Missing: thematic connections RSS feeds, but

if the abstract is interesting, Ill email the link to myself and then Ill never look at it.

Keeping Current: Macro View

I dont review journals, I search databases The email TOCs that I get on Sunday morning thats when I read them. Some of us grad students at a conference made a Facebook group to share questions and answers. Missing: discovery, browsing, serendipity When I read a journal I get in the mail, it is leisure time.

when Im reading on my computer it is work.

The new process is efficient, but I have lost discovery and serendipity. I cant browse online. Because of keyword search, I see only what Im working on right now.

I dont read journals, I read articles.

I dont read books, I work with them.

Finding content is easy. Reading takes a lot of time.

Reading: micro view

Generally, I dont read entire articles.
The problem of the shallows

How do I decide to read further?

The first thing I do is check to see if they cited me.

Reading: micro view

Print the PDF to read, store for reference Online for information and links, offline for reading Abstract, figures, figure caption, introduction, conclusion, subheadings, are skimmers touch-points Key points summary desirable Supplemental data:

important, inconvenient.

Reading: micro view

Reading is an opportunity to get away from the computer.

Information v. articles/chapters
Some information doesnt fit in Some information is hard to extract out

Run that thought experiment again: the author and the reader in a room

High-impact journals have the greatest space constraints, so my best work has to be reported in the shortest articles. I dont get to say what I want to say.

The article is a static way of publishing that the next generation wont be happy with.

Using new media saves a lot of time. I cant read on my commute, but I can listen to podcasts, so updates fit my schedule better.

I read HTML if Im looking for information in the article, and PDFs if I want to read the full article.

HTML is marginalized:
It doesnt seem like a real paper in HTML. It cant be saved like a PDF. Visual cues are lacking. HTML is really ugly to read.

HTML looks so cheap. Like the thought isnt as good.

Keeping track of reading

Multi-level piecemeal, individual systems, dis-integrated Annotation: print, scribble, file Laptop=mobile: to read and work anywhere

I dont want to become one of those old professors buried in papers

Facilitate selection of what to read

Information extraction and skimming

Integrated literature management

Supplemental data management Portable annotation

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Surprises?

Consistency!

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Action items? Not yet But I have some recommendations:

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Play Well With Others

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SEARCH and SEND

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Open

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Integrate

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Experiment

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Mobilize

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John Sack sack@stanford.edu

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