summary of e-Humanities Group enhanced publication project

1. Enhancing Scholarly Publishing in the Humanities and Social
Sciences:
Innovation through Hybrid Forms of Publication
Project Overview
KNAW e-Humanities Group
[Successor to the Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and Social Sciences (VKS),
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, KNAW]
Cruquiusweg 31
1019 AT Amsterdam, NL
T: +3120 8500470
F: +3120 8500271
Project Participants
Nicholas W. Jankowski (project coordinator), Visiting Fellow, VKS / KNAW e-Humanities Group
<nick.jankowski@vks.knaw.nl>
Anne Beaulieu, Senior Research Fellow, VKS / KNAW e-Humanities Group
<anne.beaulieu@vks.knaw.nl >
Clifford Tatum, Digital Scholarship Fellow, VKS / KNAW e-Humanities Group
<clifford.tatum@vks.knaw.nl>
Andrea Scharnhorst, Senior Research Fellow, DANS/ VKS / KNAW e-Humanities Group
<andrea.scharnhorst@vks.knaw.nl>
Project Web site: Digital Scholarship
Date of preparation: 30 January 2011
This document summarizes the objectives and activities planned by members of the KNAW e-
Humanities Group in preparing a series of scholarly book titles as enhanced publications. The
overview of this project is extracted from a more extensive proposal submitted to and approved for
funding by the SURFfoundation. The full proposal of the project may be found on a Web site
maintained by the e-Humanities Group, Digital Scholarship; this site also contains a blog established
for the project.
Much has been written about the meaning of ‘enhanced publication’ of scholarly work (see
references in the full proposal of this project), but the general characteristics involve publication in a
Web environment with interlinking of the various ‘objects’ of that publication: data on which the
publication is based, supplementary materials, and post-publication reactions and analyses. Where
possible, these objects are identified in a manner facilitating access and involve utilization of a
uniform standard of identification. The objects are suitably dated and prepared for archiving in an
institutional repository that ensures durability of the components of the publication.
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2. The primary objective of the project is to develop hybrid forms of scholarly book publications. These
will consist of Web sites to complement four books originally or currently being prepared as printed
volumes for commercial and university-based publishers. These Web sites will contain a broad range
of features that are designed to enhance the printed versions of these books with regard to:
 supplementary resources (e.g., links, blogs, chapter appendices, author profiles);
 chapter visualizations (e.g., animations, figures, tables) in color;
 hyperlinks, both internal and external to the book texts;
 author updating of site materials;
 options for search within and between objects.
The second objective is to develop a database that allows for aggregation of content across the
individual book Web sites, such that relationships, underpinnings, and contextual factors are made
explicit. Together with a user interface, this database and related features is designed to support ad-
hoc queries and real-time visualizations of discursive threads on the Web sites. Fundamental to this
objective is an understanding of the Web as an environment that is dynamic and evolving. While
there is significant value in archiving scholarly work available on the Web, this aspect is not
accentuated in this project. Instead, the activities in this project focus on engagement with emerging
new scholarly practices, particularly in the realm of informal scholarly communication. In sum, the
aim is to introduce book-related texts, and associated materials, as digital proxies of scholarship.
The third objective is to disseminate the results of the project experiences in preparing enhanced
publications. This objective involves sharing those experiences through the networks of the host
institution and participating staff, and with the readership of the enhanced publications. Conference
panels and workshops are also planned to facilitate this objective. Further, a proposal is to be
developed to engage discussion with scholarly publishers in the values of hybrid forms of publication.
Web sites for the following four books are to be prepared during the project:
 Jankowski, N. W. (ed.), e-Research: Transformation in Scholarly Practice. New York:
Routledge, 2009.
 Wouters, P., Beaulieu, A., Scharnhorst, A., & Wyatt, S. (eds.), Virtual Knowledge (submitted to
MIT Press, Nov. 2010).
 Jankowski, N. W. Digital Media: Concepts & Issues, Research & Resources, (to be submitted to
Polity Press, part of Digital Media and Society series, forthcoming 2011).
 Park, D., Jankowski, N. W., & Jones (eds.), The Long History of New Media: Technology,
Historiography, and Newness Contextualized (submitted to Peter Lang Publisher, part of
Digital Formations series, forthcoming 2011).
The project commenced in January 2011 and will be completed by June 2011. The final report, as well
as links to the Web sites accompanying the four volumes, is to be made available on the project Web
site Digital Scholarship.
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