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Engagement and impact through open access policy and practice research and resources
Amanda Lawrence, Research and Strategy Manager, [email protected]
Towards ‘evidence-informed’ policy and practice“The quality of public decision making depends significantly on the quality of analysis and advice provided through public organisations.” Brian Head, 2016
Reliable information, evidence and expertise is essential to good decision making
But the use of best available evidence in policy and practice is patchy
Political and ideological issues are part of this
Discovering, evaluating, analysing and applying research and information is also a huge issue...
Who produces policy and practice evidence?
Traditional publishing products – 28,000 peer-reviewed journals and 2.5 million articles published each year Trade and
academic book publishing
Academic journals
Organisation publishing/NTROS/“Grey literature”Published online and (historically/still) in print
Knowledge translation and dissemination - diversity is the keyHighlight: Five-line-Summary Report for Decision Makers - TweetBriefing: One-Page Summary Report for Decision MakersExecutive Summary: Tailored Executive Summary for Decision MakersMultimedia: Motion graphics, Video interviews with experts, Info graphics, PresentationsPolicy PaperJournal articleConcise Report presenting best practice policiesCase Study: Regional Case Study, Trends Report, Survey and DataExtended Summary: Comprehensive Abstract Report for Experts and ResearchersProject report: Full details of all activites and findingsTechnical Report: Status Report for Experts and ResearchersAnnexes and Data SeriesAssessment or field Reports
Adapted from Global Building Performance Network strategy: from report to a tweet gbpn.org
Data – increasing steadily but still a long way to go…
Source: Linked open data cloud diagram: lhttp://lod-cloud.net/
Most important materials used - by sector
Source: Lawrence, Houghton, Thomas and Weldon, 2014
How do users find out about new research and information for policy and practice? Most important alert services - %
Grey literature strategies 9
How often are the following services used to access information?
Grey literature strategies 10
Perceptual map of document types for policy research
Source: Amanda Lawrence
Issues users report with finding and accessing information they need for policy and practice
Grey literature strategies 12
Finding relevant resources, including knowing what exists and where to look, and the amount of time required to sift and the lack of collections are major issues for 45% of information users.
“With regard to grey literature, it is very hard to know what exists and how to find it…reports produced are generally held on individual websites and there is no way to search for particular subjects across separate websites other than search engines like Google but they also pick up a lot of chaff as well making it frustrating.”Information user, NGO sector
Issues users report with finding and accessing information they need for policy and practice
Grey literature strategies 13
Accessing resources, particularly the cost of journal articles and market research and problems accessing government content, are problematic for 43% of information users.
“University researchers who do not publish commissioned reports but hold this information back in favour of a peer-reviewed article at a later date. Local officials who fail to recognise the importance of open publishing of evaluative reports they have commissioned and keep them locked away in internal systems. Often metadata is not properly described - authors, dates etc.”Information user, NGO sector
Economic value of grey literature
Source: Lawrence, Houghton, Thomas and Weldon, 2014
APO apo.org.au
APO is
Not-for-profit
Open access
Digital research library &
Alert service
that provides free access to full text research sources that are essential for public policy development in Australia and New Zealand.
About usWe host publications sourced from close to 4000 organisations, by over 16,000 authors / creators
The content is mostly scholarly and practical research as well as commentary, video, audio, data, news, events, websites, book reviews, courses and jobs from universities, governments, NGOs, think tanks and journals.
Established in 2002, the APO database is continually updated with both new and historical resources.
APO is a free, open access knowledge commons
APO operations supported by:
Partnerships
Grants and funding
Community advertising
Projects and services
User contributed content, volunteers and inkind collaborations
Current Partners
New Grants and Projects 2016
ARC LIEF Grant 2016
High Value Collections Project 2016
CRC LCL Knowledge Hub Project 2016 - 2018
DiscoverNew reports posted daily
Browse
• Broad topic areas
• Special collections
• 1000s of topics based on an internationally interoperable subject taxonomy
• User generated keywords
• Geographic coverage terms
• Wide range of content types – reports, papers, events, jobs, audio, data etc
Pages for
• Authors and creators
• Publishing organisations
Search
• Faceted search
• Filters by date, content type, authors, topics, keywords, source
• Full text search
Historical reports digitised
Collections● apo.org.au/collections
● Growing area● Variously funded ● Variously curated● Active & archive● Smallest 33 items● Largest 2460 items
Feature Collection● Fully funded● Searchable● Curated by APO● Content vetted by partner● Featured across APO● Mindfully attended
Child Protection CollectionSupported by UniSA’s Australian Centre for Child Protection (ACCP) Global network of researchers wanting to create an evidence-base of quality grey literature resources
Project or conference Collection● Minimal cost● Fully seachable● Modular design ● Controlled content● Expandable as needed
Keyword Collection● Free● User generated by tags● Augmented by summary● Mentioned in newsletter● Open to group additions● Massive scope for
user-generated collections
Powering new Knowledge Hubs
Faceted search http://apo.org.au/topics/marketingFilter searches by topic, date, author, organisation, country, resource type etc.
APO Briefingshttp://apo.org.au/files/apo_briefing_9_august_2016.htm
APO provides a free, bi-weekly newsletter sent out to over 16,000 subscribers interested in keeping up to date with the latest policy research.
Six weekly topic-focussed newsletters also offer subscribers customised content to suit their interests.
APO also offers a weekly newsletter of New Zealand-related content.
Metrics
Google Analytics
Customdimensions
APO ToolsThe tools currently working on APO for registered users:
● Submit Content - Resources & Creators● Profile Page - Username● Dashboard● Bookmarks● Lists and shareable widgets of lists● Customisable menu toolbar● Request a DOI (permission based)● Metric blocks on dash and profile pages. Metric Page● Report Broken links● Tag content - free tagging● Share on social media….● Citation tools● My org metrics dashboard (APO assigned)
Document and data hostingBuilt in Drupal open source CMS software – extended its capability to be a repository using exisitng modules
Full text document storage and access
Deadlink fixing and uploading of full text
DOIs and long term management
Orcid integration
Currently developing data hosting capability with the integration of CKAN data storage software
New metadata schema to integrate publication and data
Linking between data and publications
Interoperability: OAI, API, RSS, XML, TXT citations
Research Management and discovery systems
Citation exports
How you can work with usDo you have researchers needing to bring together key online resources on a particular topic of public or practice interest? Help them in 3 easy steps
1.Register
2.Start uploading interesting research or other useful content
3.Tag it with whatever name you want and share the link
You’ve just created your own specialist grey literature collection!
From there we can do lots more: embed on your site, create a special gateway page, mint DOIs, link to Orcid IDs, provide metrics etc.
What’s next for APO?Visual redesign and logo launching in 2017 - and a new name! Analysis and Policy Online
Research translation and publishing tools
Expanding collections and geographical coverage internationally and into specialised knowledge hubs eg: Latin America, Africa, eHealth, Low Carbon Living and other topics
New tools and visualisations for accessing the collections and creating policy networks and mappings
Increased text mining for machine augmented metadata
Collaborations with other projects and organisations in Australia and internationally
Integration with data collections to link documents and data
Digitisation collaboration with internet archive
First Internet archive table top scribe in Australia
Non-destructive scanning of print documents
APO collection on IA and freefull text access from APO
Scanners available to other organisations on application
Enables new forms of analysis of historical textual documents
In progress: Policy network mapping with APO data
Source: Mapping global media policy
Policy issues for public interest publishing Copyright – need for Fair Use principles
Participation in the Research Infrastructure Roadmap review being run by the Dept of Innovation and the Chief Scientist
New NFP Business models for research infrastructure projects
Need for coordinating body to support whole research and communication system – not just data. Better support to improve researchers’ knowledge and skills for effectively participating in the scholarly and public communication.
Access to information campaign and strategies for Gov publications and funded research materials. Has to be included in funding agreements for ALL publicly funded information. Open Government Partnership could play a role.
Thanks and questionsGet in touch if you would like to get involved in any way
Amanda Lawrence [email protected]
We also have volunteers and internships and lots of ways in which you can learn and contribute to digital curation of policy and practice resources. Email Penelope Aitken: [email protected]
