Leveraging Grey Literature – Capitalizing on Value and the Return on Investment: A Cumulative Case Stud
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Computer animation
Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:01
Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Domenic Ferrisi, and on behalf of my colleague, Jerry Fransen from GrayNet International, Stefania Biaggioni and Carlo Carlesi from ISTE CNR in Italy, and Christian Stok from INEAST CNRS in France, we'd like to introduce the title of our presentation,
00:23
Leveraging Gray Literature, Capitalizing on Value, and Return on Investment, a cumulative case study. Leveraging gray literature not only seeks to capitalize on its value for science and the public good,
00:41
but also anticipates a return on investments in some measure. In an attempt to assess GrayNet's return on investment in gray literature, this study identifies and reviews efforts made to leverage its own information products and services since its relaunch in 2003.
01:03
The method of approach is a cumulative case study from 2003 onwards of a select number of information products and services provided by GrayNet. Each were introduced to serve the interests of the gray literature community, and their production and supply remained sustained.
01:23
The first step in the study provides a brief description of GrayNet's types of stakeholders and the nine selected resources intended to serve the gray literature community. Available statistics and data corresponding to the resources are also incorporated here.
01:42
The second step is the design and implementation of an online survey among GrayNet stakeholders in an effort to determine their involvement. And in the third and final step, an analysis carried out as to the observed uses of the information resources in step one,
02:02
with the results of the survey conducted among GrayNet stakeholders in step two. Results from this study seek to establish an accepted level of disparity among the intended purposes, observed uses, and the involvement of stakeholders.
02:21
The outcome hopes to better enable GrayNet to leverage its information resources, ensuring its positional advantage and enabling it to function more effectively. This considered a benefit to the reader when the terms leveraging and disparity are defined early on in the paper,
02:43
thus ensuring their purposeful meaning throughout the steps carried out in the case study. Leveraging implies the effective use of a cognitive tool applied in order to improve and or enhance an organization's positional advantage.
03:01
It is the power to act effectively on behalf of one's stakeholders by using its key resources to their maximum advantage. For a business, this may be interpreted by an increase in profit. For a nonprofit organization, it may rather imply meeting costs, matching funds, and or increased use
03:24
and application of its information products and services. Disparity implies apparent differences or inconsistencies when the statistics and data compiled on the key sustained resources
03:40
do not correlate with the results of the stakeholder survey carried out in this study. Now, let's look at step one in our study, the identification of stakeholders and key sustained resources. Granite's Business Report 2015 served as the primary
04:03
source for the identification of both the stakeholders as well as the sustained information resources selected in this study. It should be mentioned that the stakeholders are not identified by name, but rather by their type of affiliation with GrayNet.
04:20
Seven types of stakeholders were labeled, organizational member, recognized partner, conference host and or sponsor, author and or researcher, service provider, committee member, associate journal editor. It should also be mentioned that an individual
04:42
can be classified in one or more of the seven types of stakeholders indicated. If we turn to the sustained information resources, from 2003 to 2013, nine sustained information resources
05:00
were selected for this case study. In order to qualify the term sustained, each of the selected sources would have to have been at least two years publicly accessible and consecutively accessible from the year of their implementation.
05:20
The nine sustained resources are the relaunch of the graynet.org, the relaunch of the GL Conference Series, the GrayNet Annual Award, the Gray Journal, TGJ, Conference Preprints in the OpenSeedler Repository,
05:42
later renamed Open Gray, GrayNet Workshop Series, GrayNet Social Media, GrayNet Datasets housed in the Downs Data Archive, and the GrayGuide, the repository of GrayNet,
06:01
its web access portal. The first two resources listed above are the GrayNet website and the text release website, which powers GrayNet and the GL Conference Series. In 2003, both of these resources were relaunched
06:22
after a three-year interval. In 2004, the GrayNet Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Gray Literature became an annual dinner event. And that following year, the Gray Journal, TGJ, was launched as the flagship journal
06:40
for the international gray literature community. In 2007, GrayNet became open access compliant by making its comprehensive collection of full-text conference preprints online, accessible via the OpenSeedler repository,
07:00
later renamed Open Gray. In 2009, GrayNet offered its first summer workshop series which was later joined by the Gray Forum Series, that is, workshops that focus on special topics and interest groups in gray literature.
07:20
In 2010, GrayNet expanded further its presence via social media by initiating a LinkedIn discussion group, followed more recently by Twitter and Netvibes. In 2012, GrayNet became actively involved
07:41
in the collection and archiving of its data by way of a project on enhanced publication, whereby datasets were cross-linked to their corresponding conference preprints. And in 2013, the Gray Guide repository of good practices
08:00
in gray literature was launched, later to become GrayNet's web access portal. Some of the sources of data and statistics are available upon which this paper is based. And they are drawn from a number of sources, namely GrayNet's in-house Excel and Outlook files,
08:25
conference evaluation forms, web statistics from Network Solutions, licensed journal statistics from EBSCO Publishing, service provider statistics from Open Gray,
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Dons, and Gray Guide. Finally, also GrayNet's social media, LinkedIn, and Twitter provided statistics. In the remainder of step one, current statistics and data that were compiled and which correspond to sustained information resources
09:01
selected for this study are presented. While six of the nine resources in this study could not be presented in a similar table format available data on the other three resources did easily lend themselves in this way
09:23
and were thus presented. In step two of our study, we turn to the design and implementation of an online stakeholder survey.
09:40
This second step in the study was the design and implementation of GrayNet stakeholders in an effort to determine their involvement and outward satisfaction with the information resources provided. The online questionnaire was carried out over a 12-day period via SurveyMonkey.
10:01
It was disseminated by GrayNet's in-house distribution list, as well as its LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. There was a total of 77 respondents, 18 of whom did not identify themselves as a GrayNet stakeholder based on the seven categories provided.
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38% of the respondents chose to enter their email address in the 10th and final question of the survey, while the other 62% remained anonymous. Responses to each of the 10 survey questions varied from 100% to 81%.
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In step three of the study, a comparison of the use of sustained resources was made with the survey responses. Comparison of findings from steps one and two indicate that data and statistics
11:00
from five of the nine resources in the study are consistent with responses from at least 50% of the survey respondents. However, data and statistics from the other four resources appear less consistent with resources from the survey.
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In an attempt to explain the disparity regarding the four resources, we find ourselves tasked with establishing an accepted level of disparity as opposed to an unaccepted level of disparity due to inconsistencies between the statistics and the survey responses.
11:43
It is thought that in so doing, we are then in a position to better identify those information resources that first and foremost require leveraging. If we look at two resources demonstrating an accepted level of disparity,
12:03
we turn to question two, where a near 53% of the survey respondents never participated in one of the 16 GL conferences, while statistics and data related to the conference series demonstrate increases.
12:21
The wording of the question may have been the cause for the disparity. Researchers and co-authors, while physically absent from a conference, are considered to have participated via their content contribution to the program. In question three,
12:40
a near 53% of the survey respondents could not name one of the past GrayNet award recipients. Here also, the wording of the question may have been cause for disparity. Perhaps the question should have been directed more to the respondent's awareness that an annual award for outstanding achievement
13:02
in the field of gray literature is presented. Now, if we look at two resources demonstrating an unaccepted level of disparity, we look at question six, where over 67% of the survey respondents
13:20
had not posted, shared, or liked content via one of GrayNet's channels of social media, while data indicates an increasing number of members and a steady number of new postings. This apparent discrepancy can be explained by the fact that only a relative few stakeholders
13:42
provide content and feedback via GrayNet social media. The significant majority can then be characterized as passive recipients. However, they remain potential contributors. In question seven,
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80% of the survey respondents had not accessed one of GrayNet's datasets found in the Don's Easy Archive or in another data archive. This perhaps can be explained by the fact that only 21 of the 344
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full text conference preprints are currently cross-linked to accompanying data files. Now that the acquisition of data has become part of GrayNet's workflow, there is more potential to increased access and use of the data.
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Let's look at some closing comments. In order to maintain and improve its positional advantage and ability to act effectively on behalf of its stakeholders, GrayNet will have to explore better ways to leverage its social media, as well as the data issuing from the GL conference series.
15:04
Since the close of the stakeholder survey, a Facebook account has been added to GrayNet's LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. However, this in itself will not ensure that more content and discussion will arise via social media.
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Likewise, since the close of the survey, a poster was presented at GL 17 in order to better inform the authors on how they can enter their research data in the Don's data archive. However, such a demonstration requires a much needed follow-up.
15:44
While the results of this study may have produced a method of approach in identifying GrayNet's information resources that require leveraging, the work ahead to accomplish this remains a challenge, a challenge that will not only confront GrayNet,
16:02
but other gray literature communities as well. Thank you for your listening. And if you have any comments or recommendations, please address them to info at graynet.org.
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