Inherent Tensions in Adopting New Scholarly Practices

Presentation given as part of a Roundtable on Collaboration at the 61st Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials, in Charlottesville, VA, USA.

http://salalm.org/Conf/

Transcript

1. Inherent Tensions in Adopting New Scholarly Practices Juan Pablo Alperin juancommander SALALM, May 9, 2016 @
2. Scholarly Communication Latin America Collaboration Fields
3. Kramer, Bianca; Bosman, Jeroen (2015): 101 Innovations in Scholarly Communication - the Changing Research Workflow. figshare. https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1286826.v1 some innovations
4. across workflow phases Kramer, Bianca; Bosman, Jeroen (2015): 101 Innovations in Scholarly Communication - the Changing Research Workflow. figshare. https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1286826.v1
5. • social discovery tools • data driven & crowdsourced science • collaborative online writing • Open Access & data publication • scholarly social media • article level (alt)metrics Trends Kramer, Bianca; Bosman, Jeroen (2015): 101 Innovations in Scholarly Communication - the Changing Research Workflow. figshare. https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1286826.v1
6. it’s always the same: developed in the North, adopted in the South then
7. but it is problematic always trying to catch up, with: different material conditions for other incentive structures in other languages for a different culture
8. there’s a certain sexiness to working on the latest. no matter how close you get, you’ll always be a little behind... but like Zeno’s paradox...
9. adopt and be subjugated to Northern approaches ignore and fall further “behind”
10. Field Theory “Field theory is a more or less coherent approach in the social sciences whose essence is the explanation of regularities in individual action by recourse to position vis-a-vis others. Position in the field indicates the potential for a force exerted on the person, but a force that impinges ‘from the inside’ as opposed to external compulsion.” Levi-Martin, J. (2003). What is field theory. American Journal of Sociology, 109(1), 1–49.
11. Field Theory Our context and those around us impose constraints on us, but we each have our individual motivations and use our social skills to succeed within those constraints.
12. adopt resist early-mover (risk/reward) shape developments (be at the table) become a bridge innovations not yet rewarded developments not context sensitive strengthen regional approaches
13. let’s do our own approaches to strengthen the region. After all, Latin America is unique. let’s do what the North does. After all, it is a global world.
14. both are problematic so, how do we resolve the tension?
15. so how do we innovate across North/South? collaborate
16. remove the tension
17. Create spaces where the innovations can be considered, discussed, and transformed to be appropriate for the local context. 1. Southern Epistemological Approach
18. “Instead of copying foreign ideas there is a tendency to create new ones and re-elaborate them with an anticipatory view and an accent on Global South localism. A critical mass and part of the political class adopts the neo-liberal policies initially, and then immediately afterwards it commits anthropophagi—it digests what it finds useful, regurgitates what does not concern it, and absorbs what will do it some good.” Leite, D., 2010, ‘Brazilian higher education from a post-colonial perspective’, Globalisation, Societies and Education, 8(2), 219–233. Southern Epistemology
19. Create spaces where Latin American innovations are recognized so that they might be adopted as the dominant narrative in the North. 2. Field Reorientation Approach
20. large-scale open access cooperative models publicly oriented scholarship it can already happen: }Latin America has expertise here
21. As strategic actors working in our fields, we can benefit by finding spaces for Latin American ideas in the North. From the field theory perspective:
22. We can strategically use the resources, tools, and models from the North to create those spaces. That is:
23. we accept a global view, without giving up regionalism. By doing so:
24. juan@alperin.ca @juancommander Thank you.