FORCE11 and The Future we can’t Avoid

It gives me much pleasure to come across the FORCE11 movement. I call it a movement as this represents our collective will to embrace the inevitable future we all must come to. It is better believed on time that it is not going to be business as usual as technology continues to emerge and ravage our modern world. So, we must all be proactive and be ready not only to accept the challenge technology will throw at us but to see how we can adapt to make it work for us. Although, the newer models of research communication are emerging yet the pace remains slow as traditional models still hold sway. The Open access movement is gaining momentum but there is still much to be done. In my opinion, part of that much left to be done is what FORCE11 has come to achieve, taking head-on the future of research communication and e-scholarship to the center burner of scholarly discuss. And we all must join hands; librarians, researchers, publishers and all stakeholders to do this.

Information and communication technology (ICT) continues to exact its telling impact on virtually everything. It has not spared scholarship. Doing research and communicating same has been hugely affected. Going are the days one had to wait twice a year to see the articles of a biennial journal or wait a whole year to see the next conference of a scholarly society organized. The e (electronic-) is taking over. E-conferences, e-seminars (webinars), e-journals and lots more are taking over to further underscore the impact of ICT. In fact, with Open Access and complementary technologies like the Institutional Repository (IR) libraries are even becoming publishers themselves. The social networking technology has also added a new twist to the whole show. Academic Social Networks (Mendeley, ResearchGate, Academia.Edu, etc) gaining strength from open access are also expanding the frontier of research communication in the digital era.

But one other emerging technology that should be considered for the great impact it will have on e-scholarship and research communication in times to come are the Virtual Research Environments (VREs). The VREs are other areas of technology I will like to direct our attention to as we consider the future of research communication and e-scholarship. The VRE is like an amalgamation of several technologies like wikis, blogs, and lots more. The VRE handles well every stage of the research process, from conceptualization to communication. The VRE, allows, within a digital environment the collaboration of researchers beyond the limit of physical borders. 

The VRE like HubZero, Open Science Framework (OSF) and others gives room for collective research. They are good platforms for research collaboration and peer review. In fact, you can see the contribution of every collaborator to the project or research work within a VRE. And real life sharing of research findings is possible within the VRE. This is what I will desire we consider, how the VRE can be used with growing emerging technologies to take us to the future we are envisaging for research communication and e-scholarship. 

I am a librarian with interest in emerging technologies and anything e. I am also passionate about open access. I am a member of the Open Access Week and regular commemorator of the International Open Access Week since I know about it. I am equally a PhD student with interest in Institutional repository. I have gone through the FORCE11 manifesto and convinced that I have a movement to join. Attending the conference will in no small measure grant me first hand information on the future of research communication and enable me to abreast of global efforts being taken in e-scholarship. It will in no doubt enhance my advocacy skill as a librarian with interest in emerging technology in scholarship. It will also empower me to mobilize support for the movement in Nigeria and Africa at large.

I hereby desire to be part of the FORCE2016 in Portland and future activities of the FORCE11 movement.

Kindly consider me for the Travel Fellowship as this will greatly enhance my participation.

The future we can’t avoid is really here; let’s go and consider the FUTURE of research communication!

Thank you.