Looking for data?
The world is a labyrinth of data sources, and if it’s your job to seek out and interrogate those relevant to solve a specific problem, the task can be beyond daunting. If you work in scholarly publishing, one solution may delightfully surprise you.
In this data-driven age, it’s sometimes perplexing and overwhelming to find the data we need, let alone to analyze and curate it for our own purposes. Marketers know these problems well, but surely many others seeking to make strategic decisions, grow businesses, predict futures, will relate.
Delta Think’s Open Access Data and Analytics tool seeks to remove the anxiety of finding, evaluating, collating, analyzing, curating and continually updating data that relates to Open Access. Going a step further, I think the tool also helps to contextualize the Open Access data it collects from publisher surveys, industry reports, and other verified sources, within the broader context of all articles published, Seems like somewhat of a well kept secret - a living, breathing version of the kinds of OA market reports that are often read, retweeted, and forgotten until the next update becomes available. This is often years later.
There is a public version of the tool that Delta Think makes available here. It’s useful, though the premium version is much more in-depth, lifting the lid on article processing charges by publisher, as they relate to impact, and so on. Market dynamics are broken down into regional dynamics (what areas of the world publish OA most, and how does what they do publish OA stack up to their overall output of all articles regardless of license type?), publisher dynamics and subject dynamics (each fairly straightforward). Combined with market growth projections, and views into funding patterns and compliance with funder mandates by publisher, I think the tool should be thought of as a ‘one-stop shop’ for market data.
It’s also useful that the tool allows for ‘digging in’ to charts by clicking into them, redrawing them according to filter selections, revealing helpful information via mouseover, and with premium access, the ability to export for further customized analysis, joining with in-house or offline datasets, or making further custom visualizations (though the tool offers multiple chart type options).
I am no expert on Plan S, or the nuances of OA, still, I’d be happy to give you a demonstration of this tool. I see something new, and learn something new each time I click through it. I am learning based on listening for what different organization types are looking for in the tool, and I am stumbling on new data as frequent updates and enhancements within the tool are made continuously by the Delta Think team.
A view of the public access version of the tool rendering a chart highlighting, by subject area, volume trends for OA output vs. subscription content. Used by permission from Delta Think. © 2017-20.
The 2019 books
The best books I read this year, and found personally useful, loosely by genre.
Inspired by the Scholarly Kitchen Chefs, here are some books I read and found especially valuable this year:
Professional Development
Trust / Gert Tinggaard Svendsen
Peopleware / Timothy Lister and Tom DeMarco
Memoir
Fiction
Parenting
The Conscious Parent’s Guide to Childhood Anxiety / Sheriana Boyle
How to raise kind kids / Thomas Lickona
Just tell me what to say / Betsy Brown Braun
Children’s :)
As I read dozens of bedtime stories to the kids each week, I suppose while I’m here I can share a few highlights I’ve encountered in this category.
The “What do you do with a..” series / Kobi Yamada
The “I am” series / Susan Verde
Julian is a Mermaid / Jessica Love
Compiling this list was useful in helping me to identify the need to mix in some light reads, buoyant poetry or capricious fiction, even. Onward!
Alison McGonagle-O’Connell launches strategic marcomms and community development consultancy following management team role at Coko
Earliest client relationships include Delta Think, Book Sprints, and Coko.
Alison McGonagle-O’Connell announced the creation of O’Connell Strategic Consulting, a new consultancy focused on strategic marketing, business development, and community development for innovative technology organizations and publishers in scholarly communications and academia. This follows Alison’s successful transition from Coko management team member to advisory board participant on October 1.
Earliest client relationships include Delta Think, Book Sprints, and Coko.
For Delta Think, Alison joins the team to develop community around the Open Access Data & Analytics Tool. Alison will also support consulting engagements focused on innovating workflows and leveraging open source technologies.
For Book Sprints, Alison provides support in marketing and communications.
For Coko, Alison continues activities related to strategic public relations and business development.
Alison continues participating as co-chair of CRediT Program Committee, in addition to several initiatives and committees in the space.
“I’ve been very fortunate to develop a unique skill set working across extremely innovative and industry leading organizations, and I observe that everyone thrives and moves forward when collaborating in this way,” commented Alison. “My preference is to support organizations doing the most innovative work. I’m looking forward to leveraging a consultancy model to support helping organizations sustainably meet and exceed their growth goals related via strategic development activities.”
“As the scholarly communications landscape continues to evolve, start ups, emerging and existing players will benefit from leveraging Alison’s nuanced subject matter expertise and experience managing community development activities and interorganizational collaboration,” commented Richard Wynne, Founder of Rescognito, and former Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Aries Systems.
“I’m enthusiastic about continuing to collaborate with Alison in new contexts including within advisory capacities for Editoria and Coko,” commented Adam Hyde, Founder of Coko. “Alison’s many years in the industry make her an extremely efficient add to any team. She’s an excellent resource with deep subject matter expertise, many helpful connections, and a real passion for moving this industry forward.”
“We are excited about leveraging Alison‘s expertise for quickly generating fresh content for Book Sprints’ content distribution channels,” commented Barbara Rühling, CEO of Book Sprints. “Alison‘s is an interesting multifaceted perspective on the publishing industry and open technology that she brings forward in everything she does. We are excited to integrate her work into our messaging.”
About O’Connell Strategic Consulting | https://alisonmcg.com
Alison McGonagle-O’Connell is a strategic development consultant with more than fifteen years of experience working for scholarly publishers, proprietary software as a service vendors, and open source organizations, as well as supporting project based initiatives in this space. Most immediately prior to founding O’Connell Strategic Consulting, Alison led community development at Coko as a member of the management team.