Towards Strategic Dissemination Management

Change Laboratory Workshop withSouthern African Labour and Development Unit (SALDRU) University of Cape Town15 March 2012

The story so far …1. Activity-system articulation2. Articulation of dissemination ambitions3. Policy brief roundtable4. Newsletter production5. Content management situational analysis

What’s next?• Dissemination strategy• Indexing content• Tracking mechanisms• Website integration• Content stimulus (2012 Policy Brief)

SCAP Programme Activity

1. SALDRU Scholarly Communication Activity System

Research: SALDRU scholarly communication (1) Research Communication Practice

- Survey- Interviews- Observational study- Research log

(2) Values Study(3) Impact(4) Cost

2. SALDRU Dissemination Strategy

Strategic principle:Do outputs serve the objective?

Outputs- Conducting policy-relevant, empirically-based applied research- Enhanced system of scholarly communication facilitating visibility, accessibility and translation of research

Outcomes- Input to government policy processes addressing the problems of the urban poor, especially with regard to areas of SALDRU expertise (employment and unemployment, migration, wage negotiation, common goods and resource-sharing)- Improved links with civil organisations and broader public facilitating information gathering, survey effectiveness and providing additional sources of data- Improved institutional and public identity

SALDRU Dissemination Workflow

Life after publication …

• Web (content aggregation, etc.)• Mailing (email and snail mail)• Media• Stakeholder groups and networks

Individual action• Personal websites• Social media activity

IP Considerations

Creative Commons licensing of content in the public domain enables control over:•Commercialisation by third party•Right to produce derivatives•Ensuring attribution

Discussion

• Formalising workflow, gatekeeping processes and division of labour for publishing:– Journal articles– Working papers– Policy briefs– Other (Reports & studies, Carnegie papers, SALDRU@30, Clippings

• Life after publishing (dissemination):– Web (content aggregation, etc.)– Mailing (email and snail mail)– Media– Stakeholder groups and networks

• Exploration of licensing mechanisms?

3. Policy Brief Review

Policy Brief Process11 Nov 2011: Informal meeting – clarification on the papers 24 Nov 2011: First round table (half-day). Policy background, identifying key messages, implications for policy1 December 2011: Second round table (half-day). Based on a first outline, decisions on results to include, graphs and tables5 January 2012: First draft15 January 2012: Publication

Required ResourcesTotal cost: R50 000

R38 000 Charmaine and Loris timeR5 000 Children’s Institute general costsR7 000 Printing

Policy Brief 2012• Are we satisfied with the process, the final output, and the work of Children’s Institute? How could we improve?• Do we want to try and generate other types of popular writings (newspaper editorials?)• What’s next?

4. Content Management

Taxonomy: What is it and why is it important?• Resource discovery – via search and browse services• Logical organisation of resources – easy navigation of website/portal• Interoperability – through standardised naming scheme (e.g. RePEc)• Controlled vocabulary – uniformity of naming/classification of resources

Taxonomy: Search Criteria• Theme (e.g. education, labor markets …)• Author• Data (e.g. CAPS, NIDS …)• Projects (e.g. fertility, data quality, NIDS)• Time period (e.g. 2000-2005, 2005-2010)• Type of document (e.g. WP, publication, policy brief)+ Keywords+ JEL classification

Taxonomy: Themes (up to 3 per article)

• Education• Labor market• Health• Population• Poverty and Inequality• Social groups• Political economy• Empirical methods• Public policy

Taxonomy:Project differentiationCurrent Projects - NIDS (National Income Dynamics Study) - Family Support - Data Quality - Fertility, Intergenerational Transfers and Economics Development - Evaluation of Public Works Programmes - Analytical Reports for the OECD - Analysis of Social Grants - Wage Subsidy - Demand for Tertiary Education in South Africa since 2000 - J-PAL Africa - South Africa Persistent Inequality ResearchCompleted Projects - Quality of Life - Poverty and Inequality Node - Environment and Poverty - Financial Diaries Project - Trade and Poverty ProjectHistorical Projects - The SALDRU Clippings Collection 1975 - 2000

Taxonomy:JEL First-Level Classification Codes1. General Economics and Teaching (A)2. History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches (B)3. Mathematical and Quantitative Methods: General (C)4. Microeconomics: General (D)5. Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics: General (E)6. International Economics: General (F)7. Financial Economics: General (G)8. Public Economics: General (H)9. Health, Education, and Welfare: General (I)10. Labor and Demographic Economics: General (J)11. Law and Economics: General (K)12. Industrial Organization: General (L)13. Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting: General (M)14. Economic History: General (N)15. Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth (O)16. Economic Systems: General (P)17. Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics: General (Q)18. Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Economics: General (R)19. Other Special Topics: General (Z)

Taxonomy:Keywords and publication types

• Keywords: More specific individual author keyword tagging (#hashtags as personal social-media tagging system)

• Publication types: Journal articles, working papers, policy briefs and ‘other’

Taxonomy: Implications on publication workflowEach WP/publication has to have metadata properly filled by the authors.

Create a small form to join at the time of submission? PDF with dropdown menus?

Consistency is key for the visibility of the research. Alison will be asked to turn down papers that do not comply.

How to make sure journal publications are also visible on the website?

Tracking Usage and Collaboration

Step 1: URL ‘handle’www.goo.gl

Step 2: Tweet

Step 3: Goo.gl Analytics

Step 4: Total Impactwww.total-impact.org

(Extended) Total Impact

Addressing scholarly footprint

Website Development• Search technology (e.g. ElasticSearch)• Usage-data tracking mechanisms

Newsletter ProcessContacts by type of organisation

Contacts by geographical area

Newsletter ProcessHow to expand the SALDRU network? Should sharing >10 names become a requirement for being a SALDRU associate?

Newsletter as derivative from website – minimise need for editing?

Decision on “Top story” and “From the Director’s desk” – Exec decision every quarter?

Alison prepares new issue, submits to SALDRU Director for approval, and off it goes.

Is that a good process?

5. 2012 ObjectivesDissemination strategy

Indexing contentTracking mechanismsWebsite integrationContent stimulus (2012 Policy Brief)

And experimentation.