Deadline extended until October 11!
At the FORCE11 conference last month, we had many stimulating conversations about innovation in scholarly communications, as well as the remaining challenges and opportunities to achieve a more connected and effective ecosystem of digital scholarship. One of the takeaways from the conference sessions was the power of community in driving positive change forward. FORCE11 aims to be a place where community members can come together and discuss concrete steps to catalyze change. Working Groups have been a key piece in our activities, I for one became involved with FORCE11 three years ago by co-leading a Working Group!
We want to energize the community to address emerging topics in scholarly communications by leading new FORCE11 Working Groups. Is there an emerging area that needs input from diverse groups on scholarly communications? Have you identified a topic where additional guidelines or resources are needed? Then make your proposal to bring this forward via a FORCE11 Working Group.
Why lead a FORCE11 Working Group?
We know that many in the community are having discussions with others in your networks about a number of areas of scholarly communications. A few examples that came up at last month’s conference relate to emerging trends in the use of persistent identifiers, recognition for research outputs beyond the traditional article, or challenges related to research integrity. A FORCE11 Working Group provides a great forum to explore such topics with other community members bringing a diversity of perspectives, while at the same time focusing on practical steps to advance community practices in those areas. As an example, the FORCE11 Data Citation principles were initially pitched as an idea at a FORCE11 conference, before becoming a Working Group that developed the set of principles.
Working Groups are free to create and FORCE11 will support you in setting up the group and recruiting members. We will also amplify the visibility of the group’s activities and milestones, by sharing group updates with the FORCE11 community of publishing professionals, librarians, researchers and research-supporting organizations.
What do FORCE11 Working Groups do?
The groups have autonomy and flexibility to choose the topic they will work on, and how broadly or narrowly they wish to scope their work. Working Group members will work together to produce outputs relevant to their topic, but individual groups can choose the collaboration format that best suits their needs. Some groups may meet regularly (e.g. once a month) while others may choose to do asynchronous work and meet on a per-needed basis. Working Groups should have two co-leads who will coordinate group activities. The co-leads can bring members into the group, and FORCE11 will also support recruitment of group members from across diverse communities.
Working Groups should be ready to start activities in January 2025 and will run for 18 months. We expect that Working Groups will be able to report on their activities at relevant FORCE11 events such as the conference or FSCI.
Sounds great, how can I start a Working Group?
We invite you to submit your proposals for FORCE11 Working Groups via this form by October 4 (Extended to October 11). The proposal may involve a plan to tackle a specific challenge, or just the inkling of a topic where you feel more detailed community discussion is needed. If you would like feedback or suggestions, that’s also fine! Please submit your idea via the form and we will follow up with you. For any questions about Working Groups, you can also get in touch at info@force11.org.
FORCE11 Working Groups are a great opportunity to transform ideas into practice, drive change, and shape the future of digital scholarship. Submit your proposal today and be a part of the community that’s transforming scholarly communications, one idea at a time!
