A Brief History of Force11, and Some Thoughts on Community Building

Anita de Waard, VP Research Data Collaborations, Elsevier

A Brief History of Force11:• 2008/2009:

– Elsevier Grand challenge: ‘describe and prototype a tool to improve the interpretation and identification of meaning in journals and databases’

– 71 heterogeneous submissions; 8 judges, great enthusiasm/momentum:– An interdisciplinary, international community is interested in discussing

the Future of Science Publishing

• 2010: – Found & connected to Phil Bourne– Planned Dagstuhl meeting

• 2011:– January: Beyond the PDF, San Diego: 97 Attendees, electric/debate:

‘Application of emergent technologies to measurably improve the way that scholarship is conveyed and comprehended’

– August: Force11 at Dagstuhl: 34 attendees– November: Manifesto is published >> Force11!

Research Communication

Founding Force11• 2012: Funding Sloan Foundation to take this to the

next step: – Establish Web platform – Codevelop proposals – Appoint Director (Maryann Martone)

• 2013: Beyond the PDF2, Amsterdam: – 148 attendees, great discussion

• 2014: Working groups take off: – Data Citation Principles Working group– Resource Identifier Working group

• 2015: Force15, Oxford: – 257 attendees, next level!

Checks and Balances

What worked well:• We managed to get over 1000

members, many quite active• We have a good ‘return-on-

investment’ for a mostly volunteer-led organisation

• We are the only organisation of its kind that includes scientists, librarians, publishers, software developers

• We discuss the full range of scholarly output

• We are international

What we can still improve:• The format of the research

paper!• We didn’t make a ‘new journal’

– would like to, not sure how• We are still struggling to know

‘what we are about’: advocacy? Change? How?

• We are still not as inclusive as we would like to be: – ‘The Global South’ is represented

well enough– Young researchers are not as

engaged as we’d like them to be

Five things Force11 did to enhance community engagement:

1. Be inclusive: – Anyone can join Force11: you just need to sign up. – Anyone can start a working group: just a web form. – Anyone can join the meetings.

2. Be clear:– Our Manifesto is up-front on the web site, as is our legal status– Bylaws, election etc: getting organised, hope to have that up soon– What is membership and how is it attained?

3. Be organized (and spend money on that):– Our funding pays for a) an excellent managing director who is able to keep us inline, on

task, on time, communicating b) a webmaster, whom she manages – Meetings have (changing) schedules, set up by working group, but MD + webmaster

4. Have open discussions about difficult issues: – 1K challenge: up for discussion! … Great idea came up.

5. Be willing to change: – Currently wondering where we will head: how can we change scholarly

communication? – How can we attract new members?

Some ideas on creating a more diverse organisation:

• Count. – YES, it matters how many women, how many non-Caucasian people, how many Early

Career Researchers, how many non-US, how many people you don’t know are on the boards, the committees, in the planning group, on the mast head, at the NSF presentations…

• Ask. – If you come across someone who is markedly different from yourself (age, gender,

background, ethnicity, …) ask them if they feel represented, if their views are heard, if they feel comfortable speaking up.

• Check.– This is not a one-time effort: before you know it, you are the dominant force. – So keep asking: keep offering opportunities for interaction, for countercultures, for

jumping in.

• Act. – This means actually having some of your buddies (or you) leave positions of power,

to create a more well-balanced board/committee/leadership panel. – It means inviting people you don’t know to say things you might not be used to.

Who knows? You might hear or meet something or someone new!

Some thoughts for the NDSC:

• Jump in:– The goal is to create a community: this cannot be done

top-down• Speak up: – Make sure your voice is heard– Don’t talk in the hall – talk on the floor

• Plan for change:– In data science– But also in creating effective communities that enable

deep change to occur– Who knows where it might lead?