metrics: the new black?
DESCRIPTION
How will the proliferation of altmetrics (ALMs) change our understanding of user behavior in scholarly publishing?TRANSCRIPT
Metrics:
The New Black?
Kristen Fisher Ratan
NFAIS 2012
The web is getting personal
Can Web Metrics Indicate Research Impact?
Metrics:
The New Black?
Kristen Fisher Ratan
NFAIS 2012
Research Dissemination IS
Research Impact
•Citations •Web usage •Star Ratings •Social bookmarking •Community rating •Media/blog coverage •Commenting activity •and more…
Dissemination creates indicators of impact
Dissemination Publication
Article Level Metrics (ALMs)
ALMs: Two Traditional Use Cases
Author
Measure the impact and reach of their work
Benchmark article performance against others
Evaluate publication decisions to maximize the impact of their work
Understand readership
Communicate impact of research to employers, funders, potential collaborators
Researcher/Writer/Journalist
Gauge value of any article with post-publication peer review
Conduct custom searches that account for research impact
Collect relevant articles and organize based upon array of criteria
Gain insight into article’s impact within context of related research
Analyze trends/behaviors across a database of academic literature
Self-Metrics Research & Discovery
The Third? Meta-analysis using large
datasets of ALMs
Beyond the Article
1595 Tweets
Usage isn’t always indicative
Inside the Article
Powerpoint download feature inadvertently tracked sub-article usage
New feature may be able to track cut/paste activities
90%
To Measure is to Know
Let’s get tracking
• Cut/paste
• Figures opened, downloaded
• Links clicked
• Time spent on article page
• Supplemental info viewed
• Authors’ info viewed
• Pathways that info travels
• ALMs viewed and used
To understand true use of context
What Might Data Drive?
• Tenure and promotion
• Grants
• Reputation
• Discovery
• Prioritization
Attention: the new currency
$
Caveats and concerns
• Missed citation data
• Data sources aren’t reliable
• Digital addresses change
• Usage doesn’t mean useful
• Deliberate gaming
• Context
Next: Context-Mining
Thank You!
Kristen Fisher Ratan [email protected]