Category: Content Areas

Iguanas from Above

Photo: Dr. Amy MacLeod

The marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) is a charismatic and endemic species of the Galápagos Islands that is threatened with extinction. The species consists of 11 subspecies, each of which is unique and important for the survival of the species as a whole. Since the marine iguana is endemic, it is not found anywhere else on earth (not even in zoos!). If it is lost from the Galápagos Islands, then it is lost forever.

We are collecting photographs from the coastlines of the Galapagos Islands. From these images, we can count marine iguanas to greatly improve their conservation – and you can help.

Links: About the project; Participation

Pressemitteilung (deutsch)

The Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities

The Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities is one of the eight members of the German Union of Academies. It is based in Leipzig, financed by the Saxon State Ministry for Science and the Arts and covers research projects from the federal states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. Most of the endeavors have a long-term duration, covering sometimes more than two decades of research in three branches: STEM (“Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Klasse”), Humanities (“Philologisch-historische Klasse”), and IT/Engineering (“technikwissenschaftliche Klasse”).

Most of the projects offer digital outputs (databases, open access publications etc.) – see here and here . The academy houses several endeavors in Digital Humanities (Pudel, KompetenzwerkD) and is member of the NFDI initiative, SaxFDM, FDHL and more initiatives promoting open science.

Link: https://www.saw-leipzig.de

KompetenzwerkD – Sächsisches Forschungszentrum und Kompetenznetzwerk für Digitale Geisteswissenschaften und Kulturelles Erbe

The KompetenzwerkD – Saxon Research Center and Competence Network for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage was founded in 2020 to foster research in the following six institutions in Saxony:

The KompetenzwerkD has the following goals:

  • to promote open Access, open data, open source and open science in humanities research in Saxony
  • to optimize findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of research data in the humanities (FAIR data principles)
  • to bundle local competencies and methodological know-how in the Digital Humanities
  • to establish long-term resources
  • to cluster resources and develop technical competences

Link: https://www.saw-leipzig.de/de/akademie-digital/akademie-digital/kompetenzwerkd-saechsisches-forschungszentrum-und-kompetenznetzwerk-fuer-digitale-geisteswissenschaften-und-kulturelles-erbe
Contact: kompetenzwerkd(at)saw-leipzig.de

SaxFDM-Fokusprojekt: Publikationsdienst für wissenschaftliche Datenmodelle und Vokabulare (Pudel)

The Pudel Project – is a SaxFDM focus project for the duration of 2022. Its goal is to create an online publication service for ontologies and vocabularies in the humanities.

Link: https://www.saw-leipzig.de/de/projekte/publikationsdienst-fuer-wissenschaftliche-datenmodelle-und-vokabulare-sax-fdm-fokusprojekt
Contact: Anja Becker; becker(at)saw-leipzig.de

Denkströme – Das Journal der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften

„Denkströme“ is an open access journal of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Next to articles and reports from research projects of the Academy, statements addressing current issues in academia are published. The journal’s scope are academics of the respective disciplines and a broader audience.

Link: http://www.denkstroeme.de/
Contact: denkstroeme@saw-leipzig.de

Statistical Rethinking Course (Winter 2022 Edition)

This course teaches data analysis, but it focuses on scientific models first. The unfortunate truth about data is that nothing much can be done with it, until we say what caused it. We will prioritize conceptual, causal models and precise questions about those models. We will use Bayesian data analysis to connect scientific models to evidence. And we will learn powerful computational tools for coping with high-dimension, imperfect data of the kind that biologists and social scientists face.

Links: Website, Lectures on YouTube

Open Access Publishing at HTWK Leipzig

The HTWK Library provides information on Open Access and offers services to support researchers in the publishing process such as:

  • advisory service and training
  • options for funding Open Access publications
  • publishing on the repository Qucosa

Website: https://bibliothek.htwk-leipzig.de/publizieren/open-access/

HTWK Leipzig Open Access Representative: Astrid Schiemichen (astrid.schiemichen@htwk-leipzig.de)

OA-HVerlag: Open Access University Press

The OA-HVerlag research project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) from 2018 to 2020. The aim of the project was to construct and develop a media-neutral, sustainable, and cost- and staff-efficient publishing workflow for the production and dissemination of OA monographs. The results were published in the handbook “Open Access Publication Workflow for Academic Books: A Handbook for Colleges and Universities”.

Currently, the OA-HVerlag is supervised by students as part of their bachelor studies in publishing technology. As part of this, the project team publishes a monthly Open Access newsletter.

Research project: fim.htwk-leipzig.de/forschung/forschungsthemen/open-access-hochschulverlag/
Handbook: DOI 10.33968/9783966270175-00

OA-HVerlag: oa-hochschulverlag.htwk-leipzig.de
Twitter: @OAHVerlag
Newsletter: oa-hochschulverlag.htwk-leipzig.de/de/newsletter/

OA-STRUKTKOMM: Open Access Structured Communication

The research team of OA-STRUKTKOMM deals with the question of how data exchange between individual actors and systems of Open Access publishing can be made more robust and compatible. In addition to the development of a communication structure for systems involved in the workflow, the further development of an out-of-the-box publication server is taking place. Furthermore, in order to establish the present Open Access workflow model, knowledge transfer will be realized in order to support university publishers in deciding on individually suitable workflow strategies.

Website: oa-struktkomm.htwk-leipzig.de

Twitter: @oa_struktkomm

Contact: oa-struktkomm@htwk-leipzig.de