I’ve been at ETD2009 #etd09 for half a day, and given my presentation. I’m going to feed back some impressions and some calls for action. It’s not based on much evidence – just a general feeling.
First – what I said (on “The Semantic Scientific Thesis”). I had 25 mins, and managed to give very brief accounts of SPECTRa-T – where we (especially Joe Townsend) explored the extraction of chemistry from theses. Very simply:
-
It’s hard and messy but not impossible
-
PDF makes it much much worse
and TheOREm – ORE for e-Theses – where the message is simple:
-
Do it.
-
You don’t have to give up your precious PDF. (there was a workshop by Adobe on how Adobe is wonderful and ideal for eTheses – I didn’t go. And there was a presentation by a graduate student who thanked Adobe profusely.) But just add semantic material in a sensible format AS WELL. Word2007 for the structure; and domain markup languages where possible; else ASCII files
I also said that unless faculty and libraries got their act together they will have lost the opportunity. The current generation of students is getting tired of their inaction and will hold them responsible for the failures of Openness. More later.
I was followed by Julia Blixrud of ARL (and sometime) SPARC who made the same point much better and at greater length. Students want action now. They are getting tired of faculty inaction and library dithering. Get them into position where they can make an effective contribution.
SPARC is actively encouraging student action through its Sparky awards.
In the evening we had presentations of ETD awards – and again evidence of the great creativity that students are putting into their theses – one thanked her faculty for allowing her to present material in non-page form. But there’s clearly a large block of conservatism which stands in the way of this innovation.
So, faculty and libraries, move quickly. The digital age moves in minutes, not years.