[Web4lib] _Leonardo_: New [P&T] Criteria for New Media

[McKiernan, Gerard [LIB]]

_Leonardo_: New Criteria for New Media 

 

Colleagues/

 

The Paradigm Are A'Changin ... .

 

/Gerry 

 

University of Maine's criteria for New Media achievement serve as a
model for faculty at other institutions.

 

Academia's goal may be the free exchange of ideas, but up to now many
universities have been wary--if not downright dismissive--of their
professors using the Internet and other digital media to supercharge
that exchange, especially in the arts and humanities. 

 

Peer review committees are supposed to assess a researcher's standing in
the field, but to date most have ignored reputations established by
blogging, publishing DVDs, or contributing to email lists. 

 

In a signal that some universities are warming to digital scholarship,
however, the winter 2009 issue of MIT's Leonardo magazine--itself a
traditional peer review journal, though known for experimenting with
networked media--has published a feature on the changing criteria for
excellence in the Internet age.

 

To make its point as concretely as possible, the feature includes the
recently approved promotion and tenure guidelines of the University of
Maine's New Media Department, together with an argument for expanding
recognition entitled "New Criteria for New Media." 

 

Rather than throw time-honored benchmarks for excellence out the window,
"New Criteria for New Media" tries to extend them into the 21st century.
To supplement the "closed" peer review process familiar from traditional
journals, .... [University Of Maine's ] criteria recognize the value of
the "open peer review" employed in recognition metrics such as
ThoughtMesh and The Pool.

 

As the name suggests, open peer review allows contributions from any
community member rather than a group of experts, and all reviews are
public; when combined with an appropriate recognition metric, the result
is much faster evaluations than possible via the customary approach.

 

"New Criteria for New Media" also urges academic reviews to reward
collaboration in new media research; valuable roles include conceptual
architect, designer, engineer, or even matchmaker (e.g., introducing two
other researchers whose collaboration results in a publication).

 

Because the University of Maine hopes other institutions will adopt
these criteria and adapt them to their own needs, it is releasing them
under a Creative Commons (CC-by) license. [snip]

 

The new criteria have already been sought after by individual tenure
candidates and cited in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

 

You can find them in Leonardo's winter 2009 issue (vol. 42 no. 1) /
Leonardo: New Criteria for New Media

 

Abstract / This paper argues for redefining evaluation criteria for
faculty working in new media research and makes specific recommendations
for promotion and tenure committees in U.S. universities.

 

Links To Profiles Of The Pool and ThoughMesh As Well As The P&T Source
Documents, Including ThoughMesh Versions Are Available At

 

[ http://tinyurl.com/c5zkx6 ]

 

Enjoy!

 

/Gerry 

 

Gerry McKiernan

Associate Professor

Science and Technology Librarian

Iowa State University Library

Ames IA 50011

 

gerrymck at iastate.edu    

 

There is Nothing More Powerful Than An Idea Whose Time Has Come / Victor
Hugo 

[ http://www.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490 ]

 

Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West Wind Blows 

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