Tagged / website

Citizen journalism, hippos and Bio-Beach: Lots of great content on the research website

BU research, Research news, Training

I’ve just counted up what has been added to the new research website over the last week (Tuesday 27 May – Monday 2 June) and there have been 16 new pieces of content. That’s an average of three pieces of exciting BU research news being shared every day.

The new site was implemented at the end of 2013. As in any big organisation, changing processes or systems can take time, but I’m so pleased to see that colleagues are engaging with it and sharing their research through it. People are simply logging in and uploading their content themselves quickly and easily, rather than having to log a job and go through various other people.

The content is wide ranging and really interesting. Some colleagues are using the site to promote public engagement activity or give details of new publications. Some highlights from the last week include:

If you’re not familiar with the site yet you can log in herewith your usual BU username and password. There’s a very handy technical guide you can download from the first page you come to once you’re in the system.

I’m currently arranging some other training dates and we have a specific session with the Psychology department this month. If any other departments or research groups would like a session all to themselves, please let me know and we’ll get something booked in. Alternatively, if you think a one-to-one session would help then I’m happy to sit down with you and go through it. Just email me.

And remember, the site is externally facing, aimed at our research users, peers at other institutions, funders and members of the public. It is different from this blog, which is aimed at the internal BU research community. It’s worth just keeping this in mind when you’re deciding where to post your content.

Thank you again to everyone who has contributed content. It makes me happy!

Website training sessions

BU research, Training

Screen shot of new website

I just wanted to remind colleagues that we are hosting training sessions for the new research webpages on Friday 7 February and Friday 14 February.

These 90 minute sessions are open to all BU academic staff, post graduate research students and those supporting researchers in their communications activity.

During the session you will learn the following:

  • Why BU has new research webpages
  • How you can upload content to the website
  • How the site can be used most effectively to maximise exposure of BU research.

Sessions are informal and if they fall over lunchtime, do feel free to bring a sandwich!

To book on one of the following sessions please use the links below…

Friday 7 February 2014 12:00-13:30 – S103 Studland House, Lansdowne Campus

Friday 14 February 2014 10:00-11:30 – P131 Poole House, Talbot Campus

Friday 14 February 2014 14:30-16:00 – P131 Poole House, Talbot Campus

If you have any questions about the website or training sessions, please email the research website team.

 

Guidance on using the new research website

Research news, Training

Location of guides on research website admin dashboard

As promised, we have published two supporting documents to the new research website admin area. You can access this by logging into the site here with your usual BU username and password.

The first document is a technical guide, written by Matt Northam, which takes you through the process of uploading content to the main sections of the website and research centre pages. It provides a step by step explanation of what to do, as well as screen shots to give a visual aid.

The second provides guidance on writing style and image use. This is written by Mike O’Sullivan and me (Sally Gates). It provides stylistic suggestions, such as whether to write in the first person or third person. This document also provides information about how you can obtain images to accompany your content.

If you have a question that we haven’t covered here, please contact research@bournemouth.ac.uk. If it is likely to be a common question we’ll add it to the guide.

And lastly, a quick ‘save the date’… We have just booked two more web training sessions in Studland House, Lansdowne Campus on Friday 7 February 2014  10-11:30am and 12-1:30pm (bring sandwich for that one)! We will set up an Eventbrite page for you to book and will post the link on the blog later this week.

New Year’s Research Resolution #5 – contribute to the new research website

BU research, Guidance

Happy New Year to you all and welcome back to work!

Each day this week we’ll be posting a New Year’s Research Resolution to help you get back into the swing of things. Today’s resolution is to contribute to the new research website.

BU’s new research website was launched in beta (i.e. test version) in December and has a radically updated design, presenting our research around our eight society-focused Research Themes. In each section content is displayed by research news, research impact, public engagement and postgraduate research. It is also possible to view content by each REF Unit of Assessment and see details of our Research Centres.  You can access the new website here:  http://research.bournemouth.ac.uk.

One of the key reasons for the new research website is to ensure that our researchers are able to easily and frequently share their research online.  Everyone will be able to craft their own content and upload articles themselves.  The Research and Knowledge Exchange Office (R&KEO) will perform a light-touch check to ensure the correct tags are added and new content will go live on the site within 1-2 working days.  The webpages are yours to add content to!

Contributing to the new website is easy!  Content is added via WordPress (the same as adding posts to the BU Research Blog) and can be done by clicking on this link (your logon will be your BU network logon): http://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/login.  We want you to add content about your research projects, the research collaborations you are involved with, the research your PhD students are undertaking, your public engagement and outreach activities, news about you, your research and your research centre, etc.

All BU staff automatically have access to add content using their network logon. Once you have logged in for the first time we can give you additional access to edit and contribute to relevant research centres as well. Email research@bournemouth.ac.uk to request additional admin rights.

If you would like training in how to add content to the new website then sessions are available.  There are some workshops taking place next week (you can book online here). Further sessions are currently being scheduled. Please contact Sally Gates for more information..

Adding content is quick and easy, and shows the external world how vibrant and exciting research is at BU!  And that’s why your New Year’s Research Resolution #5 is to add content to the new website!

Research website training sessions

BU research, Research news, Training

On Monday many of you will have seen Rebecca Edwards’ blog post giving more information about the new research website. It explains why BU is developing it, when the site will be live, how it will work and addresses some frequently asked questions that have cropped up in discussions.

If you missed this post you can view it here.

The new website will have a host of additional features, making it easier for you to update and add your own content. It provides a considerably improved platform for integrating a wider variety of content, such as image galleries and videos.

Research website screengrabTraining sessions are taking place over the next two months. You can book a session online or contact Rebecca Edwards for more information.

Using the website is surprisingly easy and in the sessions you’ll learn how to upload, edit and tag content. Rather than carrying out training sessions with ‘dummy’ test material, we would like to use the time for you to upload relevant content to your research theme.

We’d be grateful if you could please have something available that you can upload during the training session. Examples could include:

–          New or recent images

–          Videos

–          Details of a new research project

–          Details of successful grant applications

–          A profile of a post graduate researcher

–          Information about planned or recent public engagement activity

Rebecca Edwards or I will be happy to answer any questions in the meantime, so do get in touch. We look forward to seeing you at one of the training sessions.

BU’s keywords for research – is everything included? Part 2

Guidance

A couple of weeks ago I added version 3 of the BU research ontology to the blog and asked for your advice as to whether this adequately reflected the breadth of your disciplines and expertise (see BU’s keywords for research – is everything included?). Thank you to everyone who responded to this – all of your comments and suggestions have been incorporated into version 4.

Rather than using the rigid 3-level structure, Version 4 includes the first attempt of mapping the keywords to the four broad areas of:

  • Business & Management
  • Media & Culture
  • Health & Society
  • Science & Technology

These areas will then map to the 8 emerging BU research themes. The aim of this is to provide a more flexible ontology that is adaptable to the complexities of inter- and multi-disciplinary research and that can be used to make relationships between people and disciplines (and therefore news stories, projects, outputs, etc) internally and also via the new external research webpages.

You can access Version 4 here: Research ontology v4

We’re very interested in your feedback as to whether the mapping in Version 4 is fit for purpose or whether any changes need to be made. Please add your comments to this post by Friday 2 September 🙂

Thanks to Katarzyna Musial for her help in visualising how this could work.

BU’s keywords for research – is everything included?

Guidance

In May/June there was some discussion on the blog about developing keywords for research (research ontology/vocabulary/taxonomy) which would be used to classify BU research in future.

See previous blog posts here:

Looking to the future the finalised ontology will be extremely important in structuring how research at BU is presented, internally and externally, particularly on the external research webpages and the directory of expertise.

Responses received via the Blog indicated that the Science-Metrix ontology was too broad and that the Library of Congress ontology was too granular, so it seems that neither is a perfect fit for BU.

Using the Library of Congress ontology as a starting point we have worked with the Deputy Deans (R&E)/equivalent, Research Centre Directors and UOA Leaders to list the key specialisms applicable to BU. The resulting list is now available – you can read this by following the link below:

BU research ontology v3

We need to finalise the list by 19 August 2011. But before we finalise the list we’d very much appreciate your advice as to whether these keywords adequately cover your disciplines. If you’d like to suggest any changes to the list please could you add a comment to this post by 19 August?

In addition we are interested to know whether the proposed level structure is useful or whether one list of keywords would be preferable? Let us know your views by commenting on this post!

Peer to Patent website aims to strengthen applications

Research news

The Intellectual Property Office launched a Peer to Patent website on 1 June, enabling the science and technology community to view and comment on patent applications.  The office will upload some 200 applications in computing during a six-month pilot scheme, commentating that a similar scheme has been successfully run in the US and Australia. 

“Patent applications granted after using the Peer to Patent website review will be potentially stronger, giving businesses better protection to grow their innovative ideas. This will give the IPO access to a wider body of knowledge when deciding whether a patent should be granted,” said IP minister Judith Wilcox in a statement.  “The pilot will give experts the opportunity to comment on patent applications and share their vital expertise before patents are granted. It will also mean that inventions already known in the wider community will be filtered out more readily,” she added.

Keywords for Research

Guidance

Matthew’s previous blog post (Research Ontology of Find an Expert!) introduced the concept of using the Science-Metrix ontology as the starting point for how BU will classify research in the future.

To date we have not received any responses from BU staff as to whether you think these keywords are suitable, or any suggestions for alternative keywords.

These keywords will be extremely important going forwards as they will be the words used to classify your research expertise in the future, both internally and externally.

The ontology is based on 176 discipline sub-fields which can be viewed here. We are aware these might not be a finished product for BU’s needs but we need your input to further refine them for our use.

Your comments and ideas are very welcome and should be added as comments to the blog post.

Research Ontology or Find an Expert!

Guidance

The new publication management system will be introduced over the summer and become the single user interface for academics with their web profiles and such things as BURO.  This project is in syncs with the introduction of the new content management system within BU which will transform our web presence.  As part of both these projects we plan to introduce a ‘find an expert’ function both for internal and external use.  We need to liberate academics to collaborate openly and freely within BU.  One of the inhibitors at the moment is actually finding someone to collaborate with!  So the find an expert function will have real power to help staff find potential expertise within BU with which to work.

The problem is that any such system is only as good as the keywords used to describe each individual’s research; we all refer to ourselves and our work via a plethora of different terms.  A basic ontology of subjects and research fields provides on solution.  Staff pick the words within the ontology which best fits their expertise.  There are lots of research ontology’s we could use as the starting point.  For example the Library of Congress Subject Headings is one of the best with good coverage of all subjects but is very granular for BU.  There are 150 different types of sociology for example!  Another option is the Science-Metrix which has three levels and 176 sub-fields.  This is much more manageable and could be modified to incorporate our own terms such as the ten BU Research Themes.

I would be interested to have your thoughts on this matter.  A list of the 176 sub-fields from the Science-Metrix ontology is shown below.  How would you describe your own research via such a system?  Are there alternative ontology’s we could use?  Your comments and ideas would be very welcome, but soon please since we have to take a decision on this shortly!

Future BU research themes – have your say!

BU research

Following the current refresh of Vision & Values led by the Vice Chancellor Professor John Vinney the intention is to look again at the research and enterprise strategy for BU.

There are likely to be two big elements of change: one is a shift to talking about research as an all embracing term for not only the creation of knowledge but also its dissemination through enterprise and professional practice, and the other is a move towards a more outward facing approach led by the large societal themes both of the day and of the future.  This will position BU to respond more effectively to the big research questions; those associated with the funding and societal impact.  As the first step towards this we are trying to identify a series of broad themes or communities of interest around which we can focus and foster a more collegial and collaborative research mission. 

Identifying these themes or communities is something we wish to engage all staff in.  In the short term these themes and communities will be used to promote our research via the web through a shift to a more narrative based approach rather than one based on our internal structures as at present. 

To start this process off we looked first at the key funding themes for the research councils and other large funders and then ‘road-tested’ them via the BU Professoriate to come up with a long list of possible research themes or communities of interest.  I am now seeking your input via a survey; what themes speak to you? What themes would your research fit under? What are we are missing?  The survey takes less than two minutes to complete. Your participation is very much appreciated and will help directly shape not only the way in which we promote our research via the BU website but also our future research strategy.

To complete the survey click here!

 The survey is open until Monday 2 May.

 

Matthew Bennett

PVC (Research, Enterprise & Internationalisation)