Merry Christmas from the WRN

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our project partners. Thank you for your support and co-operation throughout the year without which the Welsh Repository Network Project would not have been as successful as it has been. Hopefully next year will be as much of a success with progress being made on the MDB and e-theses harvesting workpackages. We are also planning some new training programmes for the New Year that we hope you will find engaging and full of ideas that you can take back to apply at your institutions. We’re looking forward to coming to see you all soon but until then, best wishes for the festive break. The WRN Team. 

Official launch of Glyndŵr University Research Online (GURO)

23rd- 28th November was the official launch week of Glyndŵr University’s institutional repository GURO. Awareness of GURO was raised in the launch week by various methods, including:

• An all staff email containing a short introduction and link to the repository website


• Placement of a link to the repository on the University’s homepage


• Two drop in sessions held for academic staff to come and ask questions


• Distribution of promotional leaflets and posters


• Presentation at an academic research forum


• Attendance at a researcher’s breakfast group (think tank)


• An entry in the University’s general newsletter and the Library newsletter.

Positive responses were received by researchers, students and support workers in relation to the repository; and a snapshot look at the repository stats showed a 39% increase in item downloads during the week of the launch compared to the previous week.

If you would like to find out more about GURO please contact Misha Jepson, Repository Administrator at repository@glyndwr.ac.uk.

If you would like any help or ideas for what you could do to launch your repository or further raise its profile within your institution please contact the WRN team at wrnstaff@aber.ac.uk.

Open Access publication funds

The most recent issue of the Learned Publishing journal (23(10), January 2010) includes an article titled ‘Paying for open access? Institutional funding streams and OA publication charges,’ authored by Stephen Pinfield, Chief Information Officer at the University of Nottingham. The article made available to everyone via open access, looks at ‘the issue of institutional OA funds and summarizes the current UK situation.’ The paper also includes a 12 step guide for institutions considering implementing an OA fund based on the experiences at Nottingham, who have had an OA fund in place for the last three years.

The paper references a report co-authored by Universities UK and the Research Information Network (RIN) ‘Paying for open access charges,’ which also provides guidance to HEIs on the payment of OA publication fees.

A recent presentation by Stephen Pinfield at the OASPA 2009 conference on this topic was circulated via the UKCoRR e-mail list and a video of the presentation is available to view.

If you would like more information on OA publication funds please contact the WRN Team at wrnstaff@aber.ac.uk.

Dipping a toe into Twitter

Communication and building a sense of community are two concepts which lie at the heart of our activities within the Welsh Repository Network. Consequently, getting to grips with, and exploting, those Web 2.0 technologies which enable new forms of communication and community building form a central part of our project plan. In some areas (such as this blog) we are already up and running, but in others we are still very much at the explorer stage. I plan to offer a series of posts here on our blog about our experiences with some of these tools as we start to engage with them. First up, Twitter.

I have been registed in a personal capacity with Twitter for a wee while now but my own use of it has been patchy and my interest has phased in and out over time. I am a terrible lurker and enjoy reading occaisonal tweets from others, but I've never quite found the inspiration (or time!) to share my thoughts and activities with others - always assuming what I was up to was of little interest to the wider world. Then last month I had the opportunity of hearing Brian Kelly of UK Web Focus give a presentation about the use of Web 2.0 in Universities and I picked up all sorts of new ideas about how some of these tools could be used in the workplace. In particular Brian's message that we should all be monitoring our brand through Twitter struck a chord and I headed back to the office with renewed vigour to look at this again.

So, gradually I am coming round to the idea of using Twitter for work purposes. I've started to use TweetDeck on a daily basis. TweetDeck is software which offers users a better way of managing tweets, allowing you to monitor searches, create groups of tweets and store the tweet traffic in a more organised fashion than that offered by the single stream interface you get on the Twitter home page. Then last week we launched the first of our WRN learning object and within minutes of our message hitting the mailing lists we were creating a little buzz in Twitterland with several people tweeting about our new resource! I was able to monitor this 'buzz' in TweetDeck and now have evidence of how widely our message is reaching. This will be very useful when it comes to reporting back to JISC. What struck me was that it was people external to our project who were doing the tweeting about our resources; while this was very welcome shouldn't we have got in there first and included tweeting the resource as part of our communications plan for the launch? Hmm, yes I think so. So we now have a Twitter username - wrnstaff - and plan to include tweeting into our communication strategy for future project deliverables. It is going to take some time and effort to maintain the mindset required to share more information in this way, but as our project starts to deliver more tangible outputs I think it will become easier to include tweeting in our thinking. It will also take time for us to build up the connections and followers required to find our place in the community so please do consider following us if you use Twitter.

Finally, the whole topic of Twitter is generating some interesting discussions within the repository community. There is a useful round up on the UKCoRR blog, while for more detailed information about tweeting repository deposits see the Enlighten blog.

Interview with FUTURE HISTORY

1. Briefly introduce each member and their role in

the band.



*Dirty Rascal 'The Truth' (real name,Wandile Themba) - one of two

rappers in the FH Fam. Truth brings incredible energy onstage.

*'Makzol' (Mxolisi Mpho Lepele) - Not just a rapper but what we call a

wordsmith. When Mak's on the mic, make certain you listen. He's also a

fully qualified sound engineer & is studying the trumpet.

*Qairo - FH vocalist. A strong musical background ensures that she

brings a melodic contribution rarely heard on the scene. Has intense

stage presence.

*Malcom - FH Pianist/Keyboardist, however an immensely talented

musician (also plays trombone) who manages to pull the music together

& arranges the band's horn section harmonies that have become

signature sounds of FH music.

*Senzo - A master bassist of the FH family, whether double bass or

electric. He drives the band sound & truly adds an element that most

bassist aspires to. Also incredibly strong & accurate on the drums.

*Kgori - A talented drummer who's immensely creative with rhythm &

brings colour to hip-hop played by FH. You could find him sliding tunes

on trombone as well.

*Oscar 'hangova' - If FH is on stage & you hear the most soulful alto

saxophone improves, it's probably Oscar. Has a confident & real melodic

approach to FUTURE HISTORY music. Has an amazingly sharp ear for hot

sound!

*Hlubi - Also on alto sax, he's your fast-paced be-bop quick thinking'

musician & brings that variety to the band. He has an amazing ability

to tend to sound like he's singing' on his instrument & on a crazy solo

Hlubi can climax a song & turn it inside out at its crescendo! He can

hold down some ill chords on keys too.

*S'bu - On the tenor sax, he’s the smoothest member of the band. Laid

back with a beautiful tone that rounds off harmonies in FH

arrangements. All while making truly intelligent music seem

effortless.

*Tumelo 'genius' - The trumpeter in the band. He contributes the

highest notes in most horn harmonies & possesses a personality wrapped

in pure fun. Has explosive energy during performances.





2. Are you each the instruments that you play?

I assume this is a metaphorical question and the answer to that is

never definite. With so many personalities of one family which consists

of multi-instrumentalists who can never be put into a box by

definition of instrument title, it's hard to say. Furthermore, some of

us are engineers, graphic designers & fine artists. However, music is

the only language we audibly understand collectively when we pick up

our instruments to play.



3. Do you think you are part of the ever changing & ever growing Soweto; if so

Why?

We definitely think we are although development is never as constant

as we'd love it to be. However, In terms of the sub-cultures & that

some of FH band members belong to the Soweto community, we've observed

a lot of brands, projects & events growing. When we constantly get

invited back to display our work and progress, it motivates us as much

as the next to know that we once performed at perhaps a venue that

wasn't much when it started out & now being proud that they helped

grow us and our crowd as much as we helped grow them and their

following. It's mutual benefit to both brands and that's all positive.

4. Who is your favorite Jazz artist?

That's a difficult question when we consider all legends concerned and

the fact that a band of 10 can’t have one favorite. All FUTURE HISTORY

members are well schooled in jazz so opinions may vary also according

to the chosen instrument/s of the individual. Albeit, some of the names

you might hear us quote are Miles Davis, Charlie Parker,Roy

Hargrove,Bradford Marsallis, Chet Baker,John Coltrane, Thelonious

Monk,Bheki Mseleku,Winston Mankunku and the list goes on forever...



5. Why is hip hop dead if you consider that it

might be?

Oh gosh! There are such mixed emotions on this topic, but each to his/her

own opinion. On one hand, a lot of what's now being dubbed as hip hop

really doesn't belong to hip hop culture (maybe pop), hence why we feel

that's the element that's killing an honest art form. Then again, the

purist says this, while others adapt & conform to change & accept that

this is now the present-day hip hop sound so how is it dead. Maybe it's

simply evolution & as all trends go, it’ll come back full circle, who

knows. Our (FUTURE HISTORY's) approach is simply to do what we do best

& that's being musical. If we wanna rap to mbaqanga, jazz, funk, soul or

maskandi we simply do that coz it's timeless music & we put an edge to

it. If Africa's still mimicking the prescribed style of hip hop from

international influences without embracing who we are musically, then

we might as well attend hip hop's funeral. For now, perhaps it's not

dead...just comatose, waiting for inspiration efana ne FUTURE HISTORY

so. LOL



6. When is the album or EP coming out?

Next year sometime. We’re still recording & since its 2 concurrent

projects, dates are not set yet. Every now and then though, we’ll hand

a free track to our audience at shows so they got something' to

anticipate.



7. Does South Africa have a room for your sound or

do think there is a bigger audience internationally?

There's absolutely a larger audience outside of home no doubt, but we

believe in home audience 1st so that they have something to be proud

of by the time we receive international appreciation. As artists we

all should be internationally known & locally accepted. SA knows music

so let 'em give you that green light that you can represent your

country well out there.



8. What should we look forward to on this coming performance at the TSJS?

Y’all will enjoy so much on our set!

Look forward to your favorite multi dimensional band to bring you an

array of sounds played over rhythmic funk-infused tunes with a jazz

influence. As well as lyrics that constitute what we've pioneered as

Grootman Rap. It's ahead of time yet nostalgic! We're there to shut it

down!

FUTURE HISTORY. "we're legends already made, our tales are already

framed. We're orchestratin' history"

Research 3.0 - How are digital technologies revolutionising research?

JISC has launching a year-long campaign called ‘Research 3.0 – driving the knowledge economy’, to debate how digital technologies are changing not only what research we do, but how it can be carried out. Key issues on the agenda for the next year will be how to share data, why collaborate and how to publish research work online.



A video has been made available on the campaign web site http://www.jisc.ac.uk/res3 and the THE (Times Higher Education) has published a ’Data Revolution’ supplement, highlighting how JISC is supporting universities and the Research Councils to advance in the ever-changing technology landscape.

JISC’s new Open Science report written by UKOLN at the University of Bath and the Digital Curation Centre, is stimulating discussion about the impact of open-ness (making methodologies, data and results available on the Internet, through transparent working practices), data driven science and citizen involvement on tomorrow’s research practice. Read the Open Science report at
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/opensciencerpt.aspx

Join the debate and add your views on the JISC Research 3.0 blog http://res3.jiscinvolve.org/

The Blue Finale

What is a Jam Session secret? Taking place in a boutique shop, seriously out of the ordinary. This super-soulful gathering continues to do-the-do. ''I have no idea why the concept of boutique music gathering works so well in Soweto'' confesses the ever-eclectic turntablist kid fonque. ''But that's the thing about.

Lounge/Soul/Nu Jazz/Break beat music scene, it's full of unique quirks...'' Its year End Tsjs will be hosting The Annual Grand Finale with a Twist this Time …Thee “Blue Finale”. Feeling blue that you never lived up to expectations or wistfully waiting for the last session of all fun and festive moods.

Heart broken or Dejected? Looking for comfort in beats that speak of your sorrow? Remember, sorrow is just a passing phase.

Either way, a little more heat in your lives is surely a good thing, and we plan to make the end as spectacular as humanly possible.

With an all star line-up, including Stand up Comedy plus a full live band expect

all the usual glitz and glamour of Jam Sessions Grand Finales, Kid Fonque headlining providing his usual brand of upfront, soul-inspired lounge House beats.

Merlot or Shiraz Khumza, showcasing with matured years in the industry, the sweeter the Kick becomes, the sweeter The Loop, The Lesson is Maturity in his set.

Future history jazz with Nu Jazz remixes. This group features a mix of original jazztronica/soul/funk tunes as well as remixes of music from hip hop and McCoy Tyner Jazzelicious, A perfect blend of modern rhythms, horns, and electronica.

Next generation of music Makers … The Layders

Omi & Wireless G Razing the volume up high…..as usual

Join us, notched up a peg or two to help wave a melancholy goodbye to feeling Blue that quite lived up to Expectations. And always remember …..When life hands you Lemons, ask for tequila and salt, and call me over!

WRN Learning Object launched

The WRN are pleased to announce the launch of their first learning object- ‘Multimedia Deposits: Complications and Considerations with Intellectual Property Rights.’

One of the aims and objectives for the WRN Enhancement Project is to create a series of learning objects relating to a range of repository management topics, to enable WRN partners and the wider repository community to continue their engagement with the repository agenda. It is understood that not everyone involved with repositories can dedicate the time and resources necessary to attend all of the current training opportunities available to them. It is hoped that these learning objects will go some way to filling in the gaps, offering training that can be delivered remotely, at a time convenient to an individual. Topics for future learning objects to be considered are: the application of metadata to varying repository item types; and issues surrounding e-theses.

We are looking for feedback on this learning object to aid us with the design and content of future learning objects we are looking to create. An online survey has been created for the evaluation of the learning object above, the link to which can be found within the last page of the learning object.

Interview with the Kid

So between everything that Kid does during the day, he managed to answer the questions that I had sent him. So I decided to share them with you guys. I tried to pick his brains as to know what does he think of various things.



1. Have you been there, done that & got the actual T-shirt?

I got loads of T-Shirts... Love them and you could say I have been there and done some of it :)

2. Do you produce music of your own? Unfortunately not, as I don’t have enough time at the moment. Maybe in the future.

3. What guides your musical path/set?"

Depends on my mood, but I am a big fan of interesting music of many genres. If I feel it I usually incorporate it into a set.

4. Do you think the lounge music industry has a big following in SA; if so why? Not really, I am not too proud of being under the ‘lounge umbrella’ as it brings images of cocktails and rich people which is completely the opposite of what I do and like. But I have been blessed to release albums of quality beats and will continue to do so under any name or pigeon hole... If its got soul, people will listen.

5. Who comes 1st? You/ crowd/people/ the corporate?

Me then the crowd depends on the gig. I can play a number of different sounds, as long as I like it and own it I will play it.

6. What was it like playing at the TSJS?

LOVE IT!!!! Really open minded folk. I really feel like I can be my musical self and explore different sounds with the crowd.

7. Who is your favorite all time performances / DJ’s you’ve worked with.

Has to be Gilles Peterson at Carfax. What a night!

8. Any chances of playing at the worldwide festival soon?

We can only dream.



So after all that, Kid gave me something that I want to share with you... Hope that you will enjoy it.





Click on the link below:





http://soundcloud.com/thesissocialjamsession



Album art cover, designed by Mpumelelo Macu ©.

euroCRIS Members Meeting

University of St. Andrews- November 11-13

Earlier in the month I attended the euroCRIS Members Meeting hosted at the University of St. Andrews. euroCRIS is a not-for-profit association and aims to be the internationally recognized point of reference for all matters relating to Current Research Information Systems (CRIS). The organisation are also charged by the EC as the custodians of CERIF (Common European Research Information Format) an international standard for interoperation of CRIS, and an EU recommendation to the member states.

The first day of the meeting provided an introduction to the group for new members like me, through short presentations on the group’s current activities. There was also a tutorial on CERIF, describing the conceptual model of how the ideal CRIS would be structured and what information should be held to describe every research activity and the relationships between the key entities. The CERIF model is standardized but it is up to the institution applying the model within their system as to which semantics are used to describe each element. This is recognized as a barrier to CRIS interoperability and the euroCRIS Board have begun to look at a Publication Type standardization list. CERIF is a standard and there are a handful of CRIS that are CERIF compliant. CERIF has also been prepared in XML format so it can be applied to a system being designed in- house.

The second day of the meeting began with presentations from a number of specially invited speakers from Scottish HEIs. Valerie McCutcheon gave an interesting presentation on the University of Glasgow’s in- house CRIS. The CRIS is fed by the University’s HR, finance and student records systems as well as their institutional repository Enlighten. The system then in turn feeds the finance and student records systems, the institutional repository and University department’s research mapping databases and academic’s webpages. The system can keep tabs on everyone involved in University research regardless of whether they are internal or external to the University, or whether they are a member of staff or a student. The system is also set up to e-mail the lead researcher of a project to remind them of forthcoming project milestones such as reporting deadlines. Glasgow are currently funded by JISC for their Enrich project, looking to improve the integration of Enlighten with the CRIS.

The second presentation came from Lisa Rogers, Heriot Watt University who is working on the journalTOCs project. The project has aggregated the table of contents’ RSS feeds of over 12,000 journal titles to provide a search and current awareness service for journal publications. The project has also created a number of APIs which can be embedded within a website. One API can offer a search on journal titles, another on article metadata. A third API can limit a search down to those journals subscribed to by an institution. It’s also possible to create a MyTOCs list of selected journal titles. Lisa discussed two possible use cases for the application of a journalTOC API for a repository manager: the first, to help identify new content for a repository; the second, to enhance the metadata of existing recently added items in the repository. It is also possible to set up an alert when a pre-print within a repository is finally published in a journal. I asked Lisa afterwards about the possibility of applying the API in a repository as a way of auto-completing metadata when making a submission to a repository. It was thought that with some developer’s magic this could be possible. The use of the API in this method with some of the commercial CRIS was also discussed as highlighted by the journlTOCs team in their blog post about their attendance at the meeting: Presentation at EUROCRIS.

In the afternoon a presentation was given by Marjan Vernooy, SURFfoundation in which she outlined the results of an investigation comparing three CRIS- PURE (Atira), CONVERIS (Avedas) and Metis. The study compared the three systems on a number of points such as: input and registration; output and reporting; adaptability; and pricing. Although all three systems scored similarly, PURE was the system that scored the highest on most points.

Another presentation of note was given by Mark Cox, Kings College London about their R4R (Readiness4REF) JISC project. The presentation focused specifically on the project objectives directly related to CERIF which are based on the development of a CERIF4REF profile. This profile would act as a wrapper around current CRIS data to make it compatible for REF reporting. The project is also looking to work with both publishers and RCUK to explore the use of CERIF4REF in importing/ exporting data. The application of CERIF4REF with ePrints, Dspace and Fedora repository systems is also being considered.

With the forthcoming REF the implementation of CRIS within institutions has come to the fore. The euroCRIS group is a good point of reference for those interested in the benefits of a CRIS and their potential uses. euroCRIS can offer training in these areas and also hold biennial conferences on related topics. To take advantage of all of the group’s services it is necessary to take out an annual membership . Different membership types are available.

The Build up to the session is here...

THE BLUE FINALE: 6th December 2009

Unhappy: (ŭn-hăp'ē) - Not happy or joyful; sad or sorrowful

Synonyms: long-faced, down and out, miserable, depressed, saddened, blue, THE BLUES…

Yes, the Blues. Do you remember what that’s like? We at the Thesis Social Jam Sessions have forgotten. We’ve forgotten all about blue Mondays; baby blues; blue rooms and blue movies (well, hopefully). And instead, we remember a place. A place where we spread jam on musical sarmies to our heart’s content. Where music plays, people dance and strangers do what strangers do.

Sunday, the 6th is our finale, as we bid farewell to another great year of peanut butter and jam mixes. And true to our colours, we’ll have cold beer, slightly odd audience, a marquee, some blue couches and blue skies. You should come too. And because we believe blue is the colour of awesomeness, that’s exactly what we’ll be dishing up. Yes; it had to come; that’s the one!! The one that comes; after; yet; another year of great sessions. TSJS ain’t here to fool you, its here to give life times of music; friendships & memories of good times. . We perfectly happy to end our year with Kid Fonque; Omi; Khumza & Wireless G spinning me in the lounge; Dubstep; break-beat in House; Nu- jazzy kinda flavor. Right there; where we were is where we are now!!!!

Omi:

Akin to our audience, our resident Dj Omi has established himself as the eclectic type. His sets range from Bassnova; Nu-jazz to funk; Soulful Hip-Hop & Break beats with an easy and unwinding skill. Take time and pin your ears back to the ‘Take a Breather’ and Feiyue Mixes he has concocted.

Wireless G:

Also a resident Dj, this guy just wants to get the party pumping. His distinctive style of blending lounge with hip - hop really sets him apart. When he gets his hands on the decks, you can be sure the party will always close with a bang.

Khumza:

Another one of our resident Djs, some will describe Khumza’s beats as matured as aged wine. From Dub, to Funk and Lounge house beats. Come mellow out with his laid back style and make yourself at home.

Kid Fonque:

He may be a guest Dj, but his regular visits make Kid Fonque one of the TSJS clan. His style is soulful; jazzy and uhm, quite unpredictable, might we add. Ranging from Break Beats to Nu-Jazz and Funk, he has undeniably influenced a Dj or two from our TSJS stable.

The Layders:

Two peas in our TSJS pie. The duo will surely keep you guessing with their freestyle kinda Jam. Milky is on the decks & Mothusi is a band on his own. Confused? Don’t be! For 2nd time: open your mind to this brilliant performance by this crew.

Future History:

Gracing us for the 2nd time, Future History is a band with a difference. With nine members, one can only expect a staggering performance. Their music is hip-hop played over rhythmic funk infused tunes with a jazz influence.

Thapelo aka Kingflat, Thabiso & Motheo

Ok, here’s a part that will certainly put a smile on your face, well… more like a chuckle. Journeying from Pretoria, these three guys will have you ROFL-ing and take away all your awful blues. Frankly, this is a long time coming after our last comedian Big Mo.

With such a line up, the colour of blue has never been more splendid. It’s the coolest colour - literally!!!

PS: eh, what strangers do is meet. And oh, we won’t be serving blueberry muffins!

Citation Count APIs

A couple of weeks ago Stuart Lewis disseminated to the repository community some work he had been doing on a citation count API for use in repositories. The API created by Stuart creates a plug-in to a repository item record showing the citation count for that item in the SCOPUS bibliographic index. The API works by matching the DOI included in the repository item record with the DOI in the SCOPUS record for the same item. Discussion within the mailing lists however, highlighted that it would be fairly easy to extend the API to match with an item’s title/ author/ year etc. if DOIs are not consistently present within repository item records. A blog post about the API and how to implement it within a repository can be found within Stuart’s blog. Further examples of how the citation count API can be used are available from the SCOPUS website.

An example of the SCOPUS citation count API in action within a repository record can be seen from The HKU (University of Hong Kong) Scholars Hub . This item record example also has citation counts for the item within Web of Science. Through some Google searching I hunted down the following blog post by Jonathan Rochkind at John Hopkins University highlighting the application of the “Link Article Match Retrieval Service” (described at the bottom of the webpage). If your institution has a subscription to WoS, this API will provide you with the citation counts for an item matched by DOI/ author/ title for use within a repository record.

The use of citation counts within repository item records can be extremely useful within the forthcoming REF as a way of demonstrating the level of ‘Impact’ an item has had. It can also be a way of enabling institutions to select the publications they wish to put forward for the REF, highlighting a well received piece of research.

The APIs described above will give you the total citation counts for the item within those specific bibliographic databases. For some institutional reporting the citation counts per year are necessary but specific subscriptions to WoS and SCOPUS services are necessary to access these.


If you would like more information about the use and implementation of citation count APIs within your repository please contact the WRN Team at wrnstaff@aber.ac.uk.

Statistics follow up

Following on from previous posts about statistics and how to use them there have been a few more ideas circulating the community which I thought we'd share with you:

Firstly, Jenny Delasalle from Warwick has posted some further thoughts on using Google Analytics on the WRAP Repository Blog . The idea of sending out monthly email communications to the authors of the top downloads from within the repository is an inspiring way of generating institutional awareness of your content.

Secondly, William Nixon of Enlighten has shared the methods he uses with Google Analytics to create a top 100 list of search terms and phrases which they then promote on their repository. Full details appeared on the UKCoRR mailing list.

Please contact us via wrnstaff@aber.ac.uk if you'd like to learn more about using Google Analytics with your repository.

News round up

A round up of a few news items for your attention ...

Welsh Repository Network - now on Wikipedia!
In order to increase our online presence and engage with Web 2.0 methods of communication we have now added a page all about the WRN to Wikipedia.

Study on links between repositories and OPACS
A new study has been published on the links between repositories and OPACS. The JISC-funded ‘Online catalogue and repository interoperability study’ carried out by the Centre for Digital Library Research at the University of Strathclyde suggests that although there is overlap between the types of information resources recorded in library catalogues and repositories, these overlaps are rarely apparent to the information seeker. This is because both types of system need to be searched separately as there is no interlinking. The study offers practical advice for universities looking to make improvements in this area.

Article on Open Access in the Times Higher
Learning to share
12 November 2009
By Zoë Corbyn, Matthew Reisz

This major and potentially significant article on the Open Access debate appeared in the Times Higher last week. (Link may need a subscription to the THE)

Buli's Crazy Tuesday

So Gee is @ home writing this because he love’s Buli to bit’s.

She don’t know that she is on here but, we as the Thesis Social Jam Sessions woul love to wish her a very blessed Happy Birthday. May she see many more.

Like we do… It’s was a crazy Tuesday down @ the concept store.

Happy Birthday Buli.

Jumble Rumble Round 7

News just in… Thesis will be involved at the Jumble Rumble round 7 taking place at the Nike Gallery on 4^th this Saturday the 7^thof November. What’s that?????

Jumble Rumble is the brainchild of Mome (Cream Cartel. Vuzu) and Mkay, who both work at the Gallery on 4^th. This event is like a flea market that is specifically aimed at showcasing street brands in JHB. This helps in brand awareness (awe ala dushie style) and gives people a chance to interact with their brands. Thesis is glad that it’s a part of this… Hope to see you there. The is an after party (Mome’s Birthday party). So you can shake that ass after buying that class_ic t-shirt from you local brand.

More information on the flier.

Shafiq Husayn_En' A-Free Kah

This is our first review… Musically that’s it.

Shafiq Husayn is 1/3 of the world renowned collective Sa-Ra creative. Just recently, Erykah Badu enlisted Shafiq to produce and guide her latest album New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War), which has garnered the singer the most critical praise since her debut. As the official song writer of Erykah Badu, Shafiq’s music is full of spiritual messages. Over the years Husayn has worked with Afrika Bambatta, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Jurassic 5 and many more. He was also a member of Ice T’s Rhyme Syndicate. This is his first album away from the collective. What he delivers is a highly acclaimed album that is highly recommended by most dj’s like Benji B and Lefto. There are more than 30 contributors on the record including Bilal, Count Bass D, Fatima, and Sonny Coates. The end result is the work of an artist at the top of his game. The track Nirvana also has a Mark de Clive lowe remix that should see the light of day soon.

If you are crazy about music and the whole funk, hip hop and soul vibe, then this is a must have album. It will calm you down… Oh we know that you like getting down.

Text Mining for Scholarly Communications and Repositories Joint Workshop

The Text Mining workshop was held in Manchester on 28-29th October 2009 and focused on the challenges and priorities associated with integrating text mining technologies in applications to support scholarly communication and repository initiatives. With the vast amounts of information now available on the internet, the benefits provided by text mining for discovering relevant documents have become increasingly significant.

Professor Tony Hey presented the keynote and he spoke about the need for more intelligent data discovery in a multi-disciplinary and collaborative way for Science to move from data and information towards knowledge (DIKW). These complex technologies have been applied successfully to the Science domains, particularly chemistry and medicine and are being adopted by BioMedCentral and Elsevier. Rafael Sidi from Elsevier again spoke of information overload and the importance of building applications on top of content using open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). This would allow interoperability and collaboration between publishers' collections and the potential for free access to content with subscriptions for the added services.

Emma Tonkin's overview of the FixRep Project at UKOLN that is examining text mining techniques for automated metadata extraction was particularly relevant to the repository world. Presentations are now available online at The National Centre for Text Mining.

Thesis Social Jam Sessions #14

It's all about giving homage to the DJ’s. 14 Months. In the House seems to be bringing a whole more decennial landmarks, once of which happens to be our much lauded collection of Dope Flayers, with Nu- breed Jazz podcast released just last month, to celebrate this quite extraordinary boutique music series.

Yes they take pride in the music that they play, some would even have highly paid, trendy, scene attending, music consultants to carefully select the tracks that their beloved customers are treated to. It's an important part of networking experience and ambience to get the music just right, so can a CD from a boutique music series. Create this vibe and be a palatable experience too?

Unsurprisingly - There's only one event on everyone's lips and hips this weekend Thesis Social jam Session. This month sees two extra special TSJS giving homage to DJ’s event. Firstly, remember their newly found breed Ricardo! Returns home to Jam sessions for the first time in more than 10 months.

Ricardo! Dub /Dance hall Groove Foundation return 'That Feeling' to the dance floors for 2009. He reworks those recognizable Dance hall drums adding a slick vocal for good measure, alongside accapellas. Look out for part 2 with mixes from Bennie Man and Sizzler on the Beat means this is hot

Omi- a magical mystery tour guider, driving us through different venues every time his on the decks, going thru worlds most creative, innovative and credible labels significant to people.

37mph-This South African born producer has been given credit by international heavy weights from Shady Records Senior a&R – Riggs Morales and music legend Wyclef Jean. Music connoisseurs will savor different sounds namely classical, lounge, acid jazz, drum & bass, jungle and hip-hop soul. This masterpiece will be accompanied with a live band and an 8 string section.

Words do no justice to truly describing the beauty and art in the music 37mph makes, one simply has to lay back and just experience it....

Wireless_G is one of those very rare DJ's that competently straddles the treacherous ground between Souls to breaks. A guy influenced as much by Jazz and Afro Beats as he is with Deep House. This Soweto born DJ’s has built up a reputation as being a leader in the contemporary down tempo sound and many following faithfully….. Twittering

A line-up that defies belief . Strictly Rhythm favorites...

FROM SHANGHAI TO SOWETO

For those who are into exclusive shoe collection and sneakerholics. Who have been looking for something fresh in the buyers market. Then search no further because something hip, funky and freshly mind-blowing has hit the Jozi ground.Feiyue sneakers have finally landed in Soweto.

Pronounced Fei-ue; in Chinese. Feiyue sneakers originate in Shanghai in the 1920s, then crossed continent to Europe in 2006. Now crossing continents to Africa for the first time and arriving in Johannesburg Soweto in 2009. By bringing the shoe across continents, came the opportunity to bring diversity and something new into the community and grow the sneaker culture in the country.

Launched on the 18^th October 2009 to create brand awareness and help establish the sneaker, the Thesis social jam session team was hard at work to create the ultimate Asian theme party ever hosted in Soweto. The theme “from shanghai to Soweto” which takes the concept of putting the sneaker into travel became the motive of the party (Refer to pictures on flickr): http://www.flickr.com/photos/thesissocialjamsessions/. A photo shoot using the BRT system that’s being introduced in the city, we used the same concept to introduce something new to our people.

The venue was converted into a mini Shanghai with the use of paper jets, Chinese paper balls and shanghai landscape photos to create the image of shanghai in Soweto. The Djs Ben, Omi, playkstat and the Wireless G serenaded the crowd with music varying from nu-jazz, futuristic soul, break beats, tribal and neo soul

Both the (brands TSJS and Feiyue) are inspired by urban art, music and travel. It became no surprise that the sneaker settled well in this part of the African continent, it was well received by the audience who attended the launch.

So if you are a sneakerholic and are looking for the next best collection, don’t hesitate to bring Feiyue to your home.

ResearchScope

Research Scope is federated harvesting and discovery service that provides an appealing and useful single point of access to open access research in Ireland.

It works by harvesting information from research repositories across the country; by re-presenting them via ResearchScope as well as the original home repositories, the information is made more visible to web search engines. ResearchScope is powered by a piece of open source software called Harvester, produced by the Public Knowledge Project, a Canadian group based in Simon Frasier University. A video presentation about ResearchScope is available via YouTube.

This is a useful and interesting model for the Welsh Repository Network to consider and we will look at this in more detail in our next business meeting.

Welcome to I-WIRE Project Staff

Welcome to Scott Hill, Project Manager and Louise Harrington, Project Support Officer who have joined the team at Cardiff University's I-WIRE Project.

Scott and Louise joined the team last week, bringing the core project team to full capacity, and are now in the process of putting project controls in place and progressing the first of the Work Packages.

The I-WIRE (Integrated Workflow for Institutional Repository Enhancement) Project is funded by the JISC Information Environment 2009-2011 (INF11) programme. The project will develop a workflow and toolset, integrated into a portal environment, for the submission, indexing, and re-purposing of research outputs in Cardiff University’s Institutional Repository ORCA. This will be based on requirements gathered from academic Schools and administrative Directorates in the University.

The I-WIRE project BLOG is at: http://blogs.cf.ac.uk/iwire/.

If you would like any more information about the project please get in touch with either Scott (HillSC@Cardiff.ac.uk) or Louise (HarringtonLE1@Cardiff.ac.uk).

CADAIR Repository Advisor new UKCoRR Secretary

Congratulations to Dr. Nicky Cashman, CADAIR Repository Advisor, Aberystwyth University, who is the newly appointed Secrteary of UKCoRR, ‘the professional organisation for UK open access repository administrators and managers.’

Speaking about her nomination, Nicky said “I have the enthusiasm to positively promote UKCoRR that stems from a desire to become an integral part of an ever-increasing repository community. I am in contact with several publishers, have a good working relationship with both university management and academic staff and thus have a comprehensive understanding of how present repository issues affect individuals such as ourselves”.

Any individual whose work is directly involved with a repository can become a member of UKCoRR and it is a really good forum to obtain advice and good practice from other repository staff. If you would like to become a member of UKCoRR, please visit http://www.ukcorr.org/membership/index.php and follow the instructions on the page.

Open Access Week Underway

Open Access Week is now underway and here in the WRN offices we've been gathering together some of the news stories we've seen...

Open Access for UK research: JISC’s contributions - Summary of achievements
This new booklet on Open Access ,published to co-incide with OA week, promotes the work JISC have been doing in this field and includes a nice name check for the Welsh Repository Network - see the purple box on the left of page 4 in the pdf version.

New Open Access website encourages exchange of research data
SURF, the higher education and research partnership for network services and ICT in the Netherlands, has launched a website to provide structured information about Open Access to research results and the advantages that Open Access has. Practical examples are used to illustrate the possibilities opened up by the Internet for innovations in scholarly communication.

University of Glasgow - Enlighten News Stories
The University of Glasgow are celebrating OA week by publicly recognising different people within the University who have been working hard to make their repository Enlighten successful. They will be featuring a different person (or people!) each day of the week with a news story on their site.

Institutional Repository Bibliography
To celebrate Open Access Week Digital Scholarship is releasing version one of the Institutional Repository Bibliography. This bibliography presents over 620 selected English-language articles, books, and other scholarly textual sources that are useful in understanding institutional repositories.

RSP Deposit Competition
The RSP is running a competition to find the institution with the greatest number of fulltext, open access items deposited in its repository during open access week. The top institution wins a fabulous RSP iPod!

It would be nice to gather together any stories from around Wales to do our own bit of OA promotion, so please do get in touch with the team via wrnstaff@aber.ac.uk if you have done anything to promote OA week.

More on impact and value

This is just a quick update to pass on a useful article about repositories and impact. Colin Smith of Open Research Online has recently posted an article on his blog outlining the benefits of an IR when it comes to impact and demonstrating value for the REF. Definately well worth a quick read!

JISC Deposit Show & Tell

I attended the JISC Deposit Show & Tell event held at Birkbeck, London on Monday 12th October. The aim of the event was to identify deposit tools or combinations of tools that would clearly benefit repository users and to plot a path for those tools toward widespread and sustainable take-up. JISC's funding roadmap includes provision for sustained improvements to the 'deposit' process and it is hoped that the outcomes from the event will inform JISC's planning.

The first half of the day provided a stage for developers to 'show & tell' the deposit tools they have been working on so that a list of features/functions that have been used in a real end user deposit processes could be created. The second half of the day was spent mock prototyping projects that could further build and distribute the next generation of deposit tools to specific end users.

Stuart Lewis from Auckland University presented an interesting GenericDeposit via email (and SWORD). The aim is to provide academics and researchers with a familiar interface - an email is sent to the 'repository' with the title in the subject heading, an abstract in the body and files for deposit are attached. The author is assumed to be the sender and an email reply is then received on the status of the deposit. Very neat and very simple!

EMLoader, demonstrated by Fred Howel enables easier deposit of research papers through bulk upload of bibliographic metadata. The functionality again uses SWORD and connects two existing services: the Depot, a UK repository for researchers who do not have other provision, and PublicationsList.org, a web site for researchers to build a web page listing their publications.

The day was well attended and brought developers together from a range of projects in a productive session - JISC will issue a call for funding based on some of these ideas.