Research projects and individual researchers in all disciplines are exploring new modes of scholarly communication in order to engage a wider audience, obtain developmental impact, boost visibility, meet funder requirements, and maximise the return on research investment. Added to this, new trends around communicating a broad range of artefacts from the research process are playing an important role in fostering collaboration and professionalising different aspects of the overall research lifecycle. In short, the publishing or dissemination process can no longer be left solely to formal publishers and there is a need to develop internal capacity in order to engage more optimally with communication activity. This can be daunting for researchers who lack the time and expertise to engage meaningfully with this area of work.

Michelle Wilmers
Michelle Willmers has a background in academic and scholarly publishing and has worked as a consultant and institutional project manager in scholarly communication, with a focus on the African and developing country context, since 2008. Prior to that, she worked as an academic journal editor and publishing manager. She was a senior team member in the University of Cape Town Open Educational Resources initiative, Programme Manager of the Scholarly Communication in Africa Programme, and Project Manager of the OpenUCT Initiative. She recently served as a project manager and researcher in the World Wide Web Foundation's Open Data in Developing Countries initiative, and is currently the Curation and Dissemination Manager of the Global South Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D) project.

Topics | Presentation

The 2-hour webinar will address the following topics:

(1) Strategic approach in terms of
-core mission
-stakeholder analysis, and
-contractual /grant framework.
(2) The curation process, with an introduction to Intellectual Property/copyright component, repositories, use of Colaboratorio, and metadata.
(3) Packaging research, mostly with a focus on editorial/language considerations and utilising different research products for different purpose.
(4) Dissemination, identifying channels, utilising repository and Colaboratorio infrastructure, self-publishing, and establishing a conversation around your research.
(5) Tracking usage and reporting.

Outcomes
Participants will be equipped with a variety of approaches to communicate the outputs of their work in more visible and available ways to various audiences
(e.g policy makers, stakeholders, funders, and media)

Proyecto Apoyado por FONCICYT