Publications Scenario
From LiquidPubWiki
Contents |
Introduction
The scientific publications are developed with the motivation of solving a problem or communicating an idea. In this context, it is proposed an approach that defines i) how to represent scientific knowledge, ii) the process through which this knowledge evolves, and iii) the people and roles that contribute in the knowledge creation. Thus, the resulting notion of Liquid Publications is used to describe evolutionary, collaborative, multi-faceted knowledge objects that can be composed and consumed at different levels of detail[1].
In this scenario, there are no special roles at the level of the group working on publications. Instead, there are permissions assigned to the community members over specific publications or artifacts . Thus, each publication has its own working mode: open (wiki-like collaboration), closed community and any other variation thereof . Moreover, publications will have associated a license that defines authorship and the way in which credits of the work are distributed.
The scientific community takes an important role in this new approach for producing scientific publications. That is, community members will be able to collaborate in the development and evaluation of publications. This will be possible thanks to the novel methods for assigning value to contributions, evaluating the work and authors.
Regarding to the types of scientific publications that can be produced, the research results can take the form of: a) white papers, b) technical reports, c) posters and others. These documents could also have different presentation or formats and can be composed of extra information, according to the submission venue. For instance, some conferences could ask for the test code used to generate the results, results data and extra explanations in order to verify the authenticity of the results. Although much information (e.g. code, results, article, etc) comprises the new knowledge, just part of it is made public. So, we can say that the work is mostly unstructured and hence requires some special structures to provide organization, primitive support for reusability and encourage collaboration.
The lifecycle of the scientific publications involves an iterative cycle of research, develop, experiment and share/communicate phases. Conceptually this scenario is free in the sense that there are not predefined dates for solving a problem although it is constrained by the feasibility, opportunity and budget. Hence, at a given time a deadline comes and the paper is prepared based on the specific requirements of the current communication phase.
Regarding to the communication phase, there are many modalities depending on the form in which the scientific article is wanted to be published: book chapter, journal, white paper, thesis. However, it is not necessary to stick to any format: the publication could be open to the community directly.
Roles
In this scenario there are no special roles at the project level. In fact, we could say that there is just a plain role for all the project members (persons working on the publication). Nonetheless, depending on the paper, the user can acquire access rights to perform certain operations related to a lower level notion of role. Thus, the project members are given the required access rights to co-author papers, collaborate on code or tests, and perform reviews. These responsibilities may overlap.
Artifacts
There are many artifacts (knowledge objects) that could be developed as part of a research, being the most important one the scientific publication. However, as a complex artifact, the scientific publication is composed of different kinds of artifacts, which are evolved at different points of the publication life cycle. These artifacts are described in the following subsections.
The scientific publication
The scientific publication is the main artifact of this scenario. It is composed of different kinds of knowledge and it can take different forms, for example: white paper, technical report, book chapter, thesis, or poster. This artifact can be subject to different processes:
- Elaboration: the elaboration process corresponds to scientific artifact creation and evolution. Main phases of this process are: elaboration, reviewing, and communication phases. During this process, the following operations must be allowed by the artifact: Creation, Inheritance, Connection, Merge, Split, Composition, Decomposition, Total and Partial Solidification, Update, Drop, Publication, Tag and Rank. See liquid object's operations.
The scientific publication evolves in the phases of elaboration and reviewing while in the communication phase it is solidified. - Review: this process is composed of the phases of reviewer selection, paper assignment, reviewing, labeling of results and assessment. Operations allowed: Update, Rank.
- Publication: the publication process covers the communication phases. The following operations are allowed: Update, Publication.
General documents
General documents can be developed as part of the research life cycle. These documentes may require: elaboration, review, approval and publication phases. Examples of general documents are presentations (slides), proposals, letters.
Code
It is normal to write some code or to develop an application as part of the validation of an approach, to generate results, or to automate operation that conducts the research. This artifact is subject to the software development process.
Experiments
Experiments are another example of complex artifacts, as they include the experiment design, code and results. As such, an experiment is an evolving activity that depends on the results obtained.
The research
The research itself can be viewed as a complex artifact being evolved through its life cycle.
Data model
Functional requirements
Uses cases
Test cases
References
See also
- Requirements main article
