This study aims to build a better understanding of researcher needs regarding support for data that you create, store, and/or manage using an electronic lab notebook (ELN), also…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to build a better understanding of researcher needs regarding support for data that you create, store, and/or manage using an electronic lab notebook (ELN), also referred to as electronic research notebook (ERN). The study also articulates the need for risk assessment for ELN products used by researchers for both open data and sensitive data that require standards.
Design/methodology/approach
The author used a participatory action research mixed-methods approach. A working group was formed from an ELN initial meeting. The working group team investigated several institutional ERN solutions by setting up trials, speaking with representatives from other research universities with ERN solutions and conducting internal and external research. This culminated in a broader-scale survey exploration.
Findings
Findings reveal there is no single institutional ELN license solution to satisfy all scientific disciplines. There is a need to develop foundational tools needed by all, provide additional tools and uses cases with best practices that can be tailored to various labs and research processes and develop a how-to guide on how to assemble the parts to create a useful ELN solution.
Research limitations/implications
The research implications include providing support for researchers selecting an ERN solution through a combination of online guides, short tutorials and training. There is a need to develop foundational tools, uses cases with best practices that can be tailored to various labs and research processes and how-to guide on how to assemble the parts to create a useful hybrid-ELN solution.
Practical implications
Practical implications include aligning available ERN solutions with other institution provided technologies across the research life cycle to provide researchers a suite of tools to conduct and manage their research. Further investigating educational license discounts for courses using eLabJournal, RSpace, Protocols.io, Open Science Framework, LabArchives or other ERNs currently funded by student course fees via grant funded projects are key implications.
Social implications
Social implications include the research computing environments of researchers that use ELN solutions approved through institutional risk assessment for open data are in compliance with university regulatory frameworks for use of the software in research.
Originality/value
The originality of this study includes risk assessments of ELNs solutions to better guide researchers in the selection process. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this survey was the first exploration of ELN on campus resulting in a final report to senior stakeholders. This study also highlights a developing grant proposal to further develop support across labs and campus.
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The purpose of this project was to develop research support services that address local and external research data management (RDM) support drivers within the existing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this project was to develop research support services that address local and external research data management (RDM) support drivers within the existing organizational culture at the University of Florida. The goal was to prompt organization change to support a campus-wide electronic lab notebook.
Design/methodology/approach
This project used a mixed-methods research approach to cultivate an organizational change program that support technological infrastructure to benefit researchers. The mixed-methods research involved participation action research integrated with a stakeholder approach.
Findings
The development of the grant proposal which was unfunded led to development of continued project goals. This project confirmed the development for support for an institution-wide electronic research notebook (ERN) solution requires adherence to the summary of five key actions for developing RDM services. Failure to complete all of the key actions engenders fragmentation culture.
Research limitations/implications
This project includes implications for institutions to develop grant proposals with integrated budgets for research support services of funded projects; and to use the summary of key actions for developing RDM services articulated by Jones et al. (2013) in “How to Develop RDM Services – a guide for HEIs.” Both are need to support findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable data for researchers.
Practical implications
This project has practical implications for higher education institutions interested in leveraging socio-technical processes to advance the role of libraries as collaborator, partner and stakeholder in developing institution-wide adoption, support and training for ERN as a research support service to RDM.
Social implications
This paper contributes to the body of developing literature on ERN as support services to RDM lead by academic research libraries.
Originality/value
This project contributed to the change in organization culture resulting in the successful collaboration between the Research Office and College of Medicine to support an institution-wide ERN technological infrastructure for one year as a pilot at a large academic research institution in the southeast USA.
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Plato Smith II, Tanu Malik and Gary Berg-Cross
The EarthCube Technology and Architecture Committee working groups needed current information on the development of existing EarthCube-funded projects (e.g. building blocks…
Abstract
Purpose
The EarthCube Technology and Architecture Committee working groups needed current information on the development of existing EarthCube-funded projects (e.g. building blocks, conceptual designs, and research coordination networks) to fulfill the goals of the working groups (e.g. gap analysis, use cases, standards bodies and testbed). The aims of this study include a compilation of planned outcomes, an assessment of current work and an investigation of interests in research collaboration among select EarthCube-funded projects.
Design/methodology/approach
Twenty-four principal investigators of 24 different EarthCube projects completed the Funded Projects Questionnaire composed of 35 questions in March and April 2015.
Findings
The survey response rate was 100 per cent and included a diversity of results ranging from planning stages to early development to final development. The funded projects in this study received awards in 2013 and 2014.
Research limitations/implications
The results are EarthCube-specific and are not generalizable. Suggestions for future research include integration of crosscutting disciplines and perspectives, best practices, guidelines and standards for broader impact.
Practical implications
This study identified potential collaboration opportunities, use cases and gaps (e.g. unmet architectural, functional, operational, organizational and/or technical needs).
Social implications
The impact on society include an improved understanding of the various EarthCube-funded projects and potential for collaboration within and across multiple disciplines.
Originality/value
This study contributed to the development of select outputs for EarthCube-funded projects’ presentations, Tech Hands Meeting, 2015 All Hands Meeting, select working groups’ outcomes and EarthCube Strategic Technology Plan and is of value to stakeholders, scientists and users.
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This paper aims to clarify the relationship between researcher, digital librarian, and cataloger supporting collection building in institutional repository (IR). It also aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to clarify the relationship between researcher, digital librarian, and cataloger supporting collection building in institutional repository (IR). It also aims to propose modeling the collaborative process and outline why and how cooperative partnership is important throughout the IR content building process. The study seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge of IR collection building by including a faculty‐centered approach and level of data curation aspects than is normally found in IR content building literature.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper opted for an experimental approach of IR collection building, including several interviews and one expert group discussion with faculty representing the department of anthropology. The data were complemented by digital collection description and accessibility in IR, online public access catalog (OPAC) and OCLC WorldCat.
Findings
The paper provides empirical insights about how faculty contribution is brought about during IR content building. It suggests that digital librarians act as “integrating forces” on two levels: integrating the elements of level of data curation for digital objects representation and discoverability, and mediating between digital objects description and the researcher.
Research limitations/implications
Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack general application. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test proposed propositions further.
Practical implications
The paper includes implications for the development of a mature and fully realized IR, the development of “data curators” and for managing the balance between participation and content.
Originality/value
This paper fulfills an identified need to study how levels of data curation can be enabled.
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Economics was closely entwined with ethics up to the 1930s when this weakened subsequently. Amartya Sen first sketched this historical relationship in his book, On Ethics and…
Abstract
Purpose
Economics was closely entwined with ethics up to the 1930s when this weakened subsequently. Amartya Sen first sketched this historical relationship in his book, On Ethics and Economics. This paper is in broad agreement with Sen. It aims to explore the ethical foundations of economics in ancient Greece, focussing on Plato's Republic.
Design/methodology/approach
Key aspects of Sen's ethical framework (ethical motivation, human well‐being, and social achievement) are used as a template to re‐investigate Plato's work. A close reading of Plato's Republic is undertaken in order to demonstrate the foundations of economics as an ethical enterprise.
Findings
First, Plato argues that there is a range of motivations and behaviors along an ethical scale. For Plato, the goal is to try to establish what constitutes ethical behavior and then seek conditions suitable to bring it about. Second, in the Republic, one sees an outline of Plato's understanding of human well‐being. Human functioning (physical and mental flourishing, including friendship), and gender equality are key parts of his picture. Third, Plato is painting the picture of a utopian society in the Republic. In discussions of the ideal society, the economy, laws, and other policies must be set within an ethical framework. In several respects, Plato anticipates Sen's capabilities approach to economics.
Originality/value
In recent years, great efforts have been devoted to developing and extending Sen's Capability Framework. Part of that work has been devoted to tracing the origins of Sen's approach back to Aristotle. This paper represents the first attempt to trace that framework back further, to Plato's Republic.
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A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balanceeconomics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary toman′s finding the good life and society enduring…
Abstract
A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.
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The purpose of this paper is to circumscribe the various philosophical connections between the classical and the modern notion of corruption from Enlightenment to post-modernity.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to circumscribe the various philosophical connections between the classical and the modern notion of corruption from Enlightenment to post-modernity.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzed to what extent the classical notion of corruption (Plato, Aristotle and Cicero) still influenced the way philosophers perceived the phenomenon of corruption during the Enlightenment (1625-1832), the transition period (1833-1900) and the post-modernity (1901 onward). Taking those historical periods as reference points, the author will see how literature about historical, social and political conditioning factors of corruption could convey the presence/absence of the classical or the modern notion of corruption.
Findings
The paper finds that the classical notion of corruption implies the degeneration of human relationships (Plato and Hegel), the degeneration of the body-and-mind unity (Aristotle, Pascal and Thomas Mann) or the degeneration of collective morality (Cicero, Locke, Rousseau, Hume and Kant). The modern notion of corruption as bribery was mainly introduced by Adam Smith. Nietzsche (and Musil) looked at corruption as degeneration of the will-to-power. The classical notion of corruption put the emphasis on the effects rather than on the cause itself (effects-based thinking). The modern notion of corruption as bribery insists on the cause rather than on the effects (cause-based thinking).
Research limitations/implications
In this paper, the author has taken into account the main representatives of the three historical periods. Future research could also analyze the works of other philosophers and novelists to see to what extent their philosophical and literary works are unveiling the classical or the modern notion of corruption.
Originality/value
The paper presents a philosophical and historical perspective about corruption. It sheds light on the way philosophers (and sometimes novelists) deal with the issue of corruption, whether it is from an effects-based or from a cause-based perspective.
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Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely…
Abstract
Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.