Most people recognize that the name of the month of January derives from that of the Roman god Janus. What fewer people realize is that Janus is not the god of the new year, but rather of all beginnings, entrances, and particularly transitions, such as harvests and adulthood. The theme of beginnings is an important one in many regards for 2018.
On a related note, NISO has launched a new website for our community. The process of transforming our website and moving it to a new platform has taken some time, as these things often do. Our old site, launched back in 2007 with the support of the Mellon Foundation, took us from our initial mid-1990s design and a bespoke association and balloting system to the onset of cloud-based management for our committee and organizational support systems. With this new system, we are shifting again in many ways both large and small. Of course, the design is updated, making content more accessible and visible as well as interlinked in a more rational way.
More importantly, we will extend and invigorate the information that is provided via our new site. We've moved away from print distribution of both standards and ISQ. Now we will truly begin to leverage the opportunities of a web-based publication platform. In the coming year, we plan to expand the content types available on the platform, including more audio and video, as well as bring more voices of community members into the process. Our aim is to create a single source for a wide range of content focused on information technology, publications, library services, and standards and best practices that relate to our diverse community. In the coming months, it will even impact how you receive and consume Newsline. We welcome your feedback as we roll out this new system.
Related to our work at NISO, another important new beginning will be the April launch in Europe of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This will be a significant change for any organization that provides digital services or collects and manages the personal data of Europeans. The regulation impacts nearly every publisher and digital service provider to some extent. Each business will have to adapt its systems and data protection guidelines in some fashion to tighten its control of personal data. NISO has done a lot of privacy-related work over the past few years, and we have been exploring the impact of these increased privacy rules on the sharing of research data as well as on authentication systems as part of the RA21 effort. Later this year, we will unveil the outputs of both the joint project with the Research Data Alliance on privacy and research data and the effort with the International STM Association on Resource Access. Both projects will continue after the initial output documents are made available, as we build out and move to implement the initial work.
I hope that your plans for the New Year are robust and full of grand ideas. With luck and hard work, both your plans and NISO's will see successful implementation.
Sincerely,
Todd Carpenter
Executive Director, NISO
NISO Reports
Media Stories
Nexus LAB Initiative Leadership Development Resources Published
The Nexus "Leading Across Boundaries" (LAB) initiative was funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and hosted by the Educopia Institute. The initiative allowed archivists, librarians, and museum professionals to collaborate on four leadership development resources: Layers of Leadership, Core Curriculum, Evaluation, and Trainers Network.
Does the General Use of Search Engines in the Research Process Pose Serious Risk to Accurate Academic and Scientific Work?
"Research amongst engineering professors, researchers and librarians shows concern that students and researchers may be risking the validity, relevance and complexity of their research in favour of a 'simplistic attitude to search.'"
Putting Big Data to "Good" Use
The Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Festival of Social Science took place across the UK in November. In this SAGE video taken at a panel debate during the festival, Katie Metzler, Head of Methods Innovation at SAGE Publishing; Dr. Maria Fasli, Director of the Institute for Analytics and Data Science at the University of Essex; Dr. Slava Mikhaylov, Professor of Public Policy and Data Science at the University of Essex; Dr. Jonathan Gray, Lecturer in Critical Infrastructure Studies at Kings College London; and Ian Mulvany, Head of Product Innovation at SAGE Publishing, discuss how a skills gap prevents social scientists from taking full advantage of big data.
7 Cybersecurity Predictions for 2018
Experts at the University of Maryland weigh in here on what's next for cybersecurity. Some of the predictions are conservative; for example, Ajay Gupta, program chair of Computer Networks and Cybersecurity, says that "until we make measurable advances in training professionals who are equipped to mitigate risk across the digital enterprise, we will see no change." Others are more alarming, with Bruce deGrazia, program chair and collegiate professor of Cybersecurity, forecasting unsecured toys and other smaller devices as "the next frontier."
NISO Note: The University of Maryland is a NISO LSA member.
Digital Humanities Research at Stanford
Digital humanities scholarship is an active area of work at several divisions of Stanford University, including the libraries (which are collectively a NISO LSA member), the Stanford Humanities Center, and the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA).
In a new post at the Stanford News site, Alex Shashkevich gathers articles on various related institutes and initiatives, including Stanford University Press's digital publishing program; the school's annotation platform, Lacuna; the David Rumsey Map Center; and the university's digital humanities minor, which was launched in September.
New and Proposed Specs and Standards
W3C Releases Video Introducing Web Accessibility and W3C Standards
A new video by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) describes the importance of accessible websites and the related guidelines developed by the organization. The video is presented in nontechnical language, making it useful for presentations to library boards and other groups that are relatively unfamiliar with web standards.
New NIST Forensic Tests Help Ensure High-Quality Copies of Digital Evidence
NIST has developed a new suite of software called the federated testing tools. The software is designed to assist law enforcement professionals who are tasked with copying the data from a suspect's seized phone or other electronic device. With the new tools, the process is standardized so that when it is time for a court case, the prosecution and defense can agree that the copied data is exactly what was on the device.
CEN and CENELEC Release 2018 Work Program
The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) have released their proposed work program for the coming year. The report discusses the work ahead in 14 business sectors, one of which is "digital society." The document also describes the organizations' outreach activities, including assisting businesses with the move to digital processes, and addresses accessibility and smart technologies in their own sections.
Current ISO Ballots
NISO Voting Members participate in the development, revision, and evaluation of standards. Voting Members are able to influence the standards process and mold the future of the industry. The following ballots are open and will close before the next issue of Newsline. If you are a NISO Voting Member, log into your NISO page and you'll see the ballots linked there.
SHORT-TERM BALLOT - Skip CD ballot for ISO/WD 30301
In accordance with Annex SS of the ISO Directives Part 1, the members of WG8 have agreed to request a ballot to skip the CD stage for ISO/WD 30301.
Therefore, members of ISO/TC46/SC11 are asked to approve skipping the committee draft stage for ISO/WD 30301 "Information and documentation - Management systems for records - Requirements" and to circulate the current draft for DIS (enquiry) ballot.
This ballot closes on January 15, 2018.
Resolution to Revise ISO 13008:2012
The results of the Systematic Review on ISO 13008:2012 were inconclusive. Following consultation with the Chair, TC46/SC11 is proposing an out of session resolution to revise ISO 13008 as follows:
ISO/TC46/SC11 resolves to revise ISO 13008-2012 Information and documentation - Digital records conversion and migration process.
Further details for the revision will be discussed at the ISO/TC46/SC11 meeting in Lisbon in May 2018.
This ballot closes on January 24, 2018.
Ballot on New Members of ISO 3166/MA
Following the call for P-NMB wanting to participate in ISO 3166/MA, two candidatures from Australia and Canada were received.
The members are elected for a 2-year term mandate 2018-2019.
This ballot closes on January 24, 2018.
TC46 Approval by Resolution - Chairperson of ISO 3166/MA
A new vote by correspondence for TC46 members on ISO 3166/MA Secretary proposal to renew the nomination of Ms. Kate Dolan as Chair of ISO 3166/MA.
The ISO/TC46 "Information and documentation", in accordance with clauses 4.4.1 of the ToR for 3166/MA (N815), approves the appointment of Ms. Kate Dolan as chairperson of ISO 3166/MA for a 3-year term from 2018 to 2020, and asks its secretary to inform ISO 3166/MA secretary accordingly.
This ballot closes on January 24, 2018.
About Newsline
Publication date
ISSN 1559-2774
