NMC 2009 - Using Multi-Media for Scholarly Communication (pre-conference workshop)

I attended this pre-conference workshop on using multimedia for scholarly writing. This would include scholarly journals, theses, white papers, and other formal writing that has always been done on paper until recent years. Using embedded media in scholarly writing is starting to catch on, but still has some resistance. Online journals especially have been leading the way. Some examples include:

 • http://www.scivee.tv - Research publication via video, podcasts, postercasts

 • http://ijlm.net - International Journal of Learning and Media

 • http://www.jove.com - Journal of Visualized Experiments

Media is being peer-reviewed as scholarly work, but it is also introducing new problems like setting standards for citing examples used. What happens if the peer-reviewer goes to check out the embedded work, but it is no longer available on the Internet? Do we need to embed the media instead of just linking to it to assure it will still be there? Is this a copyright violation if we do? There is an extended conversation going on at Academic Intersections http://www.academicintersections.com/ about these issues. They also showed the Apple Learning Interchange http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/ which I thought might be a good replacement for our MTO project repository. However, as I have read on their discussion board, some people have been waiting for weeks and months for their submissions to get approved. It must be one guy reviewing everything.

The instructors of the workshop went on to outline the components of a published work (at least their standards, that is). It can be broken down into the following:

1. Abstract

2. Intro

3. Body (3-4 sections of content)

4. Future Directions or Conclusion

5. Acknowledgements

6. Bibliography

7. Author's Statement

Peer reviews were discussed. Even the online journals have problems with editing and proofreading. A person in the class pointed out a typo in one of the published articles that spell check would not have caught. The peer review criteria should make sure that the work:

• Is related to the journal's purpose

• Presents a media-rich academic/creative work

• Is grounded in the literature in a manner that is relevant and accurate with respect to the expectations of the home discipline

• Provides adequate documentation

• Not published elsewhere in its present form

• presents new perspectives, new techniques, new pedagogy

• Is not a commercial