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From the September 2005 AN Multivalent Networking is Indispensable to Communicating Information Stacy Lathrop In April 2005 the AAA launched a confidential survey to its full membership to seek information about members’ current practices for communicating electronically about the association and their research. For example, how do members organize and develop scholarly sessions for upcoming annual meetings? How do they provide comments and feedback on scholarly research, or communicate electronically about common anthropological concerns? How do members evaluate the electronic communications channels now available? What additional forms would improve their ability to conduct association business and communicate about their research? Finally, the survey sought to assess members’ perceptions about AnthroCommons, the virtual conference facility for the exchange and discussion of conference papers introduced for the first time prior to the 2004 annual meeting. Communication Practices and Needs
Strong suggestion was made that current means of electronic communication, specifically the AAA website, need to be “cleaned up” before investing in developing new, interactive communication formats. It was also strongly suggested that AAA strengthen and facilitate the development of networks of anthropologists, and encourage leaders in these networks to serve as brokers of AAA information. Although there is a wide recognition of the usefulness of posting conference papers and supplementary materials online, there is minimal willingness to post one’s own work, and there is even less willingness to submit online comments on annual meeting papers. This is true regardless of age or employment status of the respondent. Some respondents stated they already have avenues to receive and make comments on preliminary work amongst colleagues in their networks. Respondents indicated they would likely access annual meeting abstracts and papers several times during the year; respondents were as likely to never use as to use infrequently online message bulletin boards, interactive discussion forums and other interactive forums. Most respondents prefer to have abstracts posted in the months prior to the meeting. If respondents were to post papers and other substantive materials online, which they do not think should be mandatory, they would prefer to do so either after the annual meeting or in the month preceding it; they would also find such submitted materials most useful during this time. There is marked interest in annual meeting papers and abstracts being electronically accessible indefinitely, coupled with little interest in the preservation of online bulletin boards and interactive discussion forums for more than four months. In terms of who should be permitted access to material related to AAA annual meetings, most believe that session information and abstracts should be made available in searchable format online to the general public. Yet, papers, works-in-progress and comments should be limited to session participants, and perhaps AAA members. Use of AnthroCommons
Open comment suggests that the main reasons for the lack of use of these interactive features are that respondents have busy schedules, deem it unnecessary to do so, have other means to receive comment and feedback on their work (for example, their established networks), and that it is still too early to trust this format as a means to facilitate scholarly communication. Respondents were asked about Creative Commons licensing options available through AnthroCommons (these options range from the “all rights reserved” of traditional copyright to a voluntary “some rights reserved” copyright), and their views on Open Access models. (Open Access is a movement to grant access to a large variety of up-to-date information sources, electronically, for free.) Results suggest that respondents value the idea of Creative Commons and the Open Access model (such as AnthroCommons); yet, only a third of the respondents who completed this survey, or roughly the number who accessed AnthroCommons, completed this question. Also of those five people who responded that they had actually posted material, three respondents selected a Creative Commons license and two a traditional “all rights reserved” copyright option. Whether the licensing options influenced decisions to post material to AnthroCommons is uncertain; while 92% of the respondents to this question answered “no,” only five of the respondents to this survey actually posted materials, and eight respondents to this question answered that the options influenced their decision. Whether this question was answered in terms of ideology or actual/potential practice is unclear. Also, it could be that respondents did not pay close attention to the options, nor are they fully aware of this publishing model, given that 84% of respondents answered that they did not review the literature about the options. Respondents who used AnthroCommons rated it “good” (on a 5-pt scale) in terms of its accessibility, functionality and information support. Only 19% of respondents found AnthroCommons very useful or necessary; although 43% did find it useful. Based on comments and other questions, respondents find AnthroCommons most useful as a centralized location to search for information on anthropological topics (by searching for keywords in abstracts). Still, respondents also commented that AnthroCommons could be improved by a better search engine and the inclusion of more material. Many respondents indicated it is still too early to evaluate AnthroCommons. The full report of the AAA Electronic Communications Survey is available through the AAA website, www.aaanet.org. Usage Statistics for
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