Scholarly knowledge production and communication practices

The advent of digital information and communication forums brings about changes in scholarly reading, publishing communication, collaboration and practices. A key research area in the department of ALM is the mutual shaping of information infrastructures and scholarly work, knowledge production, collaboration and documentation practices.

Original research data from across different institutions and sites from around the world are being accumulated into digital databases. This holds promise for posing, sharing and answering research questions that could not be asked before within the confines oflocal short-lived research projects. As new forms of research, collaboration and communication evolve, research is needed regarding issues around epistemic communities and domain practices. Domains each have their unique requirements as regards using, organizing and sharing both research data and outcomes from research. Optimal sharing methods and practices need to be studied and developed through empirical and theoretical research. A closely related research area concerns issues of document representation, knowledge organization, data sharing and collaborative knowledge construction in digital information environments. Web 2.0 technologies not only offer increased opportunities for data sharing and collaborative research but also increased possibilities for citizen participation in knowledge production and research projects.

The research topics pursued within the department of ALM in this area include:

• Research on theories of information, knowledge and information technology; academic cultures and domain specific knowledge production practices
• The changing governance of the sciences and changes in publication cultures; authoring of documents as instruments of communication and knowledge production.
• Scholarly practices and citation patterns within domains. How bibliometric methods can be used to reach insights into the social and intellectual organization of academic fields. Publication practices and issues of governance and evaluation of academic research.
• Academic cultures and teaching and supervision in higher education on topics relating to documents, documentation and publication cultures.
• Visual knowledge and the organizational, social and epistemological elements which inform visualization. Visual knowledge has become central in knowledge production and expressing beliefs not only within specific scholarly communities but also in culture more generally aided by technological advances. In science, some very central categories like nature and culture have shifted in relation to what is seen as stronger, more accurate visualization accountings of the world.