Joint ASIST (European Chapter) - Association of Internet Researchers workshop

[Mike Thelwall]

** Call for abstracts and participation **

Workshop at the AoIR conference, 19-22nd September 2004 http://aoir.org/2004/

TITLE: The web as a mirror of scientific and technical achievements: issues
in access and measurement

Organisers:
Mike Thelwall (University of Wolverhampton, UK), m.thelwall at wlv.ac.uk
Andrea Scharnhorst (Nerdi/NIWI, The Netherlands)
Irene Berkowitz (Temple University, USA)
Lennart Björneborn (Royal School of Library and Information Science, Denmark)
Christine Hine (University of Surrey, UK)
Michael Nentwich (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Technology
Assessment)
Steve Schneider (SUNY Institute of Technology, USA)
Henry Small (Chief Scientist of Thomson ISI, USA)
Liwen Vaughan (University of Western Ontario, Canada)
Michel J. Menou (ASIS&T international liaison officer)

Co-sponsored by:
The European Chapter of the American Society for Information Science &
Technology - ASIS&T/EC (www.asis.org/Chapters/europe/)
The European Union funded project WISER - Web Indicators for Science,
Technology & Innovation Research (www.webindicators.org)
The Communication and Information Technology section of the American
Sociological Association
The academic journals Cybermetrics and Online Information Review

Scope and objectives
The web has changed the way in which many researchers conduct research,
communicate their findings and share data. In some research fields, such as
high-energy physics, online posting of preprints is standard practice. In
others, such as astronomy, the maintenance of large shared online data banks
is common, fundamentally changing the way in which scientists operate. Other
changes are less dramatic, but more universal, such as the widespread
creation of public home pages for individual researchers and research
groups. There is a need for assessing the impact of the myriad web uses and
for the identification of the potential and actual impact of the web.
This workshop will provide an opportunity to discuss quantitative and
quantitative approaches to studying academic web use. The themes of the
conference will be:
* Scientific collaboration and communication on the Web: new opportunities,
new social organisation.
* Measuring science on the web: new techniques.
* Publishing research online: adaptation and innovation.
* Disciplinary differences in web use.
* Individual case studies.
* Large scale analyses.

Submission Process
The structure of the workshop is different from the usual format. The aim is
to create a lively discussion about relevant topics rather than to be based
around a few speakers giving presentations. The following procedure is
therefore proposed. Those interested in participating should submit to Mike
Thelwall m.thelwall at wlv.ac.uk by June 26, 2004 an abstract (750 words
maximum) of a position paper dealing with any aspect of the above topics.
Abstracts will be refereed. Authors of accepted contributions will be
notified by July 31, 2004. They will be invited to provide an expanded
abstract or short paper (2500 words maximum) and to register for the
workshop on the conference web site by August 31, 2004.

Expanded abstracts and short papers will be circulated among workshop
participants (and possibly posted on the ASIS&T/EC web site) with a view to
allow for an advance discussion that will take place on the ASIS&T/EC
listserv. At the workshop the discussion will be arranged around 3 main topics:
scientific collaboration and communication, measuring science on the web,
and publishing research online. For each one, participants will be invited
to very briefly summarize their positions before a general discussion takes
place. We anticipate that most participants will have the opportunity to
present.
Participants wishing to distribute their position statements as handouts or
posters are welcome to do so. Summaries of the sessions will be published in
Cybermetrics and Online Information Review