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Pocket Library for Open Content: Untapping the Potential of Green Open Access for Research

Nataliia Sokolovska - Alexander von Humboldt Institut für Internet und Gesellschaft and Rodger Burmeister - FZI Research Center for Information Technology

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Abstract:
We are developing the pocket library for open content (ploc) which is a mobile application and a complementary backend service designed for researchers and a research-interested audience. With this tool we aim to add value to repositories, to foster the dissemination of green open access publications and offer new ways of quality assurance through low-key expert feedback. Having these intentions in mind, three core functions are being presented and discussed:

  1. A personalized publication feed that recommends new and relevant Open Access content in your field, gives the possibility to skim through titles and abstracts and organize collections according to the users’ interest.
  2. An expert search that allows identifying and connecting with experts in one’s field.
  3. A transparent and open feedback system on top of preprint repositories that allows to exchange feedback on early stages of research.

During the Open Science Fair, we intend to demonstrate the prototype of ploc and discuss the relevance of the three core functions with researchers and infrastructure operators (e.g. academic librarians). The feedback from the audience will help us to further adapt workflows to users' needs and improve future deployments. Furthermore, we will make our prototype freely available and release it under an open source license at the end of this year. We believe that our preliminary findings and our open source prototype contribute to the discussion on open review and feedback practices and also indicate ways to digitize them.

Our research contributions and ploc are both parts of the project DREAM (Digital Research Mining) that is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the scope of the German Open Access strategy that aims to promote Open Access innovations.