Speaking

STM Week 2020

STM Week returns as a digital event this year, and HighWire is thrilled to be taking part in this pivotal event in the industry calendar with a session on preprints and the acceleration of science.

You can hear from us on Day 2 of the event, as part of the digital publishing program.

Seminar Co Directors:
Janine Burr-Willans, Director of Platform Delivery, Deanta Global
Nancy RobertsFounder, Business Inclusivity

Like all aspects of the industry, production operations have undergone significant changes this year.

During this day we will explore how the sudden transition to working from home has accelerated change, and the impacts – both positive and negative – that technology has had on us all in 2020.

We’ll also look forward and consider how the steep learning curve we’ve all undergone may produce some new innovations and positive new directions for the future

Programme

14:00 – Opening

14:05 – Transforming business models

Moderated by: Copyright Clearance Center

Opening Panel Discussion: Flexibility and Freedom in Scaling Transformative Agreements

Join us for an honest and insightful discussion about the practical solutions that publishers, institutions and other stakeholders are implementing to remove friction from the processes that support this monumental transition.

Speakers will include a representative from Copyright Clearance Center, one from Publishing, and one from an Institution.

14:30 – Integrating and preserving conference content into the publication workflow

Lauren Kane, Chief Strategy Officer, Morressier

Tammy Hanna, Ph.D., Director, Professional Development & Education Products, Sales, Marketing, & New Product Innovation,   American Chemical Society

Meetings and publications departments of most societies have historically operated quite separately and with little opportunity for collaboration. With COVID19 and the current necessity of fully virtual meetings (and likely long-term shift to hybrid formats) comes the opportunity for digital publishing teams to work in closer alignment with their meetings counterparts. Conference content (posters, presentations, videos) that was once ephemeral is now being produced for long-term digital consumption, and thus with it, the opportunity to fully integrate these artifacts within the society’s overarching publications program and digital library. In this session,  we’ll hear how societies like the American Chemical Society with SciMeetings are taking advantage of this shift and successfully integrating and preserving conference content into their offerings, benefitting their member and attendee audiences, as well as creating new growth opportunities.

14:55 – Break

13:05 – Innovations in Production

Demonstrating bringing publications to life via an End-to-end XML publishing platform

Scott Edmunds, GigaScience Press, BGI Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

COVID-19 has underlined the importance of open, rapid dissemination of trusted research information. Aiming to tackle this challenge, GigaScience has been helping develop a new custom-built platform and workflow using end-to-end publishing technology. Tackling the challenges of speed, handling the supporting data and software, and bringing the results to life through embedded features, the end products of this approach will be showcased with a demo showcasing the first peer reviewed articles to have passed through the system.

15:20 – Panel discussion: Getting Ahead of the Curve: Accelerated Science in the time of Coronavirus

Moderated by: John Sack, Founding Director, HighWire
John Inglis, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
Theodora Bloom, Executive Editor, BMJ

The pandemic has pushed us to move faster to publish and disseminate scientific findings, as demonstrated not only by the exponential growth of preprints during the past nine months but also in the pressure on publishers to rapidly release statements, blogs, and collected content (e.g. Rapid Reviews, Curbside Consults, information hubs). In this panel, we will discuss:

  • Is our current system of communications, where it can take 8-9 months for articles to go from acceptance to publication, fit for purpose?
  • Will the changes brought by COVID, particularly in the adoption and ongoing embrace of preprints, impact positively in accelerating the wider research and publication lifecycle – or are we sleepwalking into inadvertently enabling an age of dubious science and fake news?
  • How can we shift production models to enable faster publication while maintaining academic rigor in a time where trust, truth and transparency are paramount?

15:45 – Personal commitment and fearless experimentation – key strategies in the roadmap for digital transformation

Sam Herbert, Co-Founder, 67 Bricks

When the foundations of the publisher is steeped in hundreds of years of history, culture and ingrained processes, where and how do you start the process of rethinking the role of the publisher? During this talk 67 Bricks co-founder Sam Herbert will discuss the above and introduce a comprehensive roadmap for digital transformation, a tool used by 67 Bricks to help publishers on their journey. The roadmap provides a clear route from where publishers are now – traditional producers of content – to a future where they have the flexibility to deliver valuable tailored user-led products and services.

15:55 – Break

16:05 – Innovations in process and workflow

Power of Searchability and Discoverability: True Digital First Workflows right from Submission Stage

Narendra Kumar, CTO, MPS Limited

The industry has undergone a shift from print focused to a digitally driven environment, providing the advantages of searchability and reusability of content. This shift brings with it a greater opportunity for content to be delivered right the first time with granular structuring, linking, and validation. Here we will explore how early XML can be made available during the workflow, enabling authors, reviewers, editorial teams, and production teams to work collaboratively using integrated XML-aware intuitive platforms thereby reducing time to publish.

16:20 – The Future of Hyper-Connectivity

Darren Ryan, Founder & CEO, Deanta Global

Digital initiatives can no longer be ignored.  Publishers need to refocus their traditional and digital operations before it is too late.  Many small to medium sized publishers are failing to invest in technology and adapt and evolve into digitized organisations.  As academic publishers wrestle to adopt a new mindset and become open to digital transformation strategies, Deanta’s expert team have been looking into the impact of COVID-19 across a range of organisations to understand how it might act as a catalyst for this vital and necessary change.  We will give an introduction to the concept of the “”hyper-connected enterprise”, a possible framework for organisational change, utilising digital connectivity to drive productivity and innovation across all levels of their organisation.

16:35 – 2020 Update on standards

Expert speaker Bill Kasdorf, Kasdorf & Associates, will provide his regular round up of new and developing standards in the production workflow.

16:50 – Closing Remarks

We are grateful to the work by the Programme Committee:
Program Committee 2020

Kaveh Bazargan (River Valley Technologies)
Janine Burr-Willans (Deanta)
Tony O’Rourke (Enago)
Nancy Roberts (Maverick)

More Info