What is Forward?
Forward is an initiative of the Social Change Lab to promote theoretical integration and innovation in the study of topics of interest in peace, democracy and the environment. It responds to the reality that the volume of academic publishing is so high that scholars can't keep up with the research literature in their own fields, let alone the vast interdisciplinary body of scholarly research.
Forward aims to create short digests summarising all scholarly work in any field that is published on a particular keyword relevant to our research interests in a given month. The aim is for the summary digest to appear 4 weeks after the production month. Each summary will be posted here, and you can sign up to have them emailed to you at socialchangelab.substack.com/.
The lofty aim of the project is to assist scholars to engage with the literature faster, wider (across more disciplines), and deeper - deeper because the digest will aim to communicate key themes and gaps on a rolling basis in the work that we see.
Report of the first trial
From November 2022 to January 2023 we engaged in a trial period for eight keywords that we are interested in, aiming to summarise the scholarly content for October - December 2022 for the first four, and the content for October and November for the last four. You can read the digests for the keywords below:
For each keyword, our process was: in week 1, undergraduates scour google scholar for the keyword, sort by date, and enter data from scholarly publications that appear in a given month into our publicly viewable FORWARD Database. We hope that over time this database itself would become a valuable resource. Scholarly books, book chapters, and journal articles are included, whereas other materials such as blog posts and student assignments are not.
Minimum data entered include the reference/citation details and apparent relevance to the keyword (because some refs are listed in the output for the search that are tangential or irrelevant), but when the publication is in a format we can access, and when time and energy permit, we also will aim to code a number of other variables, such as country and discipline of the authors, methodology, and key findings. Our first month showed we didn't have time for much coding; the coding scheme is still evolving however, and suggestions are welcome.
One keyword was planned to be covered for one day by one undergraduate who enters data, and the data then hypothetically could be checked on the second day by the other undergraduate. In the present trial, two keywords are covered in the week (Monday-Thursday) and Friday is for catching up. The students report there is not much time for checking under the present timeframe, however. For the trial period we completed in Nov 2022 - Jan 2023, our stalwart duo were Wing-Hei Hanna Ho and Montana Allan, and they were awarded summer scholarships at the University of Queensland to spend 10 weeks working on the project (i.e., three cycles for the first four keywords covered in weeks 1-2, 5-6, and 9-10, and two for the second set covered in weeks 3-4 and 7-8).
Every day the students meet with the supervising post-doctoral research fellow, Dr. Susilo Wibisono, for a check-in and to answer questions, and we also have a written protocol we developed which can be accessed here [file to be posted shortly].
In week 2, the undergraduates created draft summaries for each keyword, which seek to provide information about the papers published that month. We are still working on the structure of these and how to get the most data into the summary the time frame provided, plus develop some common expectations re content / headings, etc.. Each summary was created in two days, and then the other undergraduate aimed to provide feedback, although again we found the timing was pretty tight, particular as enthusiasm waned towards the end of the project.
In week 3, the supervising post-doctoral research fellow, Dr. Susilo Wibisono, reviewed the four summaries and does some editing and revising to strengthen and clarify the summary. The students would go on to start data collection for four other keywords.
In week 4, the supervising academic, presently Prof. Winnifred Louis, reviewed the four summaries in the first set, and tries to edit / revise with the same aim. We have all found the time pressure to be quite intense in this first trial however, limiting the amount of revision that could be achieved. Effectively the contributions by the senior people were editorial work without much substantive reflection or elaboration.
And then ... the digests were published! We published the digest online at this page each month of the trial period, and we have created a substack (socialchangelab.substack.com) that scholars, students, or community members can sign up to receive the digests by email. During the trial period it's all or none (all subscribers receive all digests); once we work out if it's feasible, you would be able to follow each keyword separately.
The trial period has finished in February 2023, when we will catch our breath and try to revise the process, and imagine how we can secure ongoing funding or make it sustainable. Perusal of the digests can provide readers with glimpses of the potential benefits, which are signficant, but we reckon more allocated time is going to be needed, and higher critical engagement early. Time is needed to differentiate the scholarly content and the non-scholarly content arising out of the keywords, to read the papers in depth, and to pull out key themes from the papers we read; overall it felt rushed in our trial. Another separate issue was that in many cases we found that publication date being in Google Scholar for a particular month could be long after original publication (e.g., because it was appearing in a repository) or even before, where it was released in an arxiv or informal repository.
If there is a proof of concept and once we have a grasp of how much work is required, we are hoping that groups or individuals or others might sign up to sponsor particular keywords, providing financial support for the roles of RAs or (if students / academics) stepping forward as volunteers for the roles.
It's a model we also hope other labs or organisations might be interested in copying / adapting / evolving as we all try to face the challenge of engaging the interdisciplinary tsunami of data and creativity coming our way each month.
All feedback is welcome for this project, to Winnifred Louis, w.louis@psy.uq.edu.au . Please feel free to suggest keywords. If you have funding to support a keyword we are interested in connecting, on the understanding that the database and the digests would remain open access and not become proprietary or paywalled, and also noting that our particular lab is most interested in research around peace, a sustainable world, and democracy.
Forward is an initiative of the Social Change Lab to promote theoretical integration and innovation in the study of topics of interest in peace, democracy and the environment. It responds to the reality that the volume of academic publishing is so high that scholars can't keep up with the research literature in their own fields, let alone the vast interdisciplinary body of scholarly research.
Forward aims to create short digests summarising all scholarly work in any field that is published on a particular keyword relevant to our research interests in a given month. The aim is for the summary digest to appear 4 weeks after the production month. Each summary will be posted here, and you can sign up to have them emailed to you at socialchangelab.substack.com/.
The lofty aim of the project is to assist scholars to engage with the literature faster, wider (across more disciplines), and deeper - deeper because the digest will aim to communicate key themes and gaps on a rolling basis in the work that we see.
Report of the first trial
From November 2022 to January 2023 we engaged in a trial period for eight keywords that we are interested in, aiming to summarise the scholarly content for October - December 2022 for the first four, and the content for October and November for the last four. You can read the digests for the keywords below:
- Democratic activism - October 2022 |November 2022|December 2022
- Peace activism - October 2022 |November 2022|December 2022
- Environmental collective action - October 2022 |November 2022|December 2022
- Political repression - October 2022 |November 2022|December 2022
- Contact theory Allport - October 2022|November 2022
- Political corruption - October 2022|November 2022
- Radicalisation / Radicalization - October 2022|November 2022
- Countering violent extremism - October 2022|November 2022
For each keyword, our process was: in week 1, undergraduates scour google scholar for the keyword, sort by date, and enter data from scholarly publications that appear in a given month into our publicly viewable FORWARD Database. We hope that over time this database itself would become a valuable resource. Scholarly books, book chapters, and journal articles are included, whereas other materials such as blog posts and student assignments are not.
Minimum data entered include the reference/citation details and apparent relevance to the keyword (because some refs are listed in the output for the search that are tangential or irrelevant), but when the publication is in a format we can access, and when time and energy permit, we also will aim to code a number of other variables, such as country and discipline of the authors, methodology, and key findings. Our first month showed we didn't have time for much coding; the coding scheme is still evolving however, and suggestions are welcome.
One keyword was planned to be covered for one day by one undergraduate who enters data, and the data then hypothetically could be checked on the second day by the other undergraduate. In the present trial, two keywords are covered in the week (Monday-Thursday) and Friday is for catching up. The students report there is not much time for checking under the present timeframe, however. For the trial period we completed in Nov 2022 - Jan 2023, our stalwart duo were Wing-Hei Hanna Ho and Montana Allan, and they were awarded summer scholarships at the University of Queensland to spend 10 weeks working on the project (i.e., three cycles for the first four keywords covered in weeks 1-2, 5-6, and 9-10, and two for the second set covered in weeks 3-4 and 7-8).
Every day the students meet with the supervising post-doctoral research fellow, Dr. Susilo Wibisono, for a check-in and to answer questions, and we also have a written protocol we developed which can be accessed here [file to be posted shortly].
In week 2, the undergraduates created draft summaries for each keyword, which seek to provide information about the papers published that month. We are still working on the structure of these and how to get the most data into the summary the time frame provided, plus develop some common expectations re content / headings, etc.. Each summary was created in two days, and then the other undergraduate aimed to provide feedback, although again we found the timing was pretty tight, particular as enthusiasm waned towards the end of the project.
In week 3, the supervising post-doctoral research fellow, Dr. Susilo Wibisono, reviewed the four summaries and does some editing and revising to strengthen and clarify the summary. The students would go on to start data collection for four other keywords.
In week 4, the supervising academic, presently Prof. Winnifred Louis, reviewed the four summaries in the first set, and tries to edit / revise with the same aim. We have all found the time pressure to be quite intense in this first trial however, limiting the amount of revision that could be achieved. Effectively the contributions by the senior people were editorial work without much substantive reflection or elaboration.
And then ... the digests were published! We published the digest online at this page each month of the trial period, and we have created a substack (socialchangelab.substack.com) that scholars, students, or community members can sign up to receive the digests by email. During the trial period it's all or none (all subscribers receive all digests); once we work out if it's feasible, you would be able to follow each keyword separately.
The trial period has finished in February 2023, when we will catch our breath and try to revise the process, and imagine how we can secure ongoing funding or make it sustainable. Perusal of the digests can provide readers with glimpses of the potential benefits, which are signficant, but we reckon more allocated time is going to be needed, and higher critical engagement early. Time is needed to differentiate the scholarly content and the non-scholarly content arising out of the keywords, to read the papers in depth, and to pull out key themes from the papers we read; overall it felt rushed in our trial. Another separate issue was that in many cases we found that publication date being in Google Scholar for a particular month could be long after original publication (e.g., because it was appearing in a repository) or even before, where it was released in an arxiv or informal repository.
If there is a proof of concept and once we have a grasp of how much work is required, we are hoping that groups or individuals or others might sign up to sponsor particular keywords, providing financial support for the roles of RAs or (if students / academics) stepping forward as volunteers for the roles.
It's a model we also hope other labs or organisations might be interested in copying / adapting / evolving as we all try to face the challenge of engaging the interdisciplinary tsunami of data and creativity coming our way each month.
All feedback is welcome for this project, to Winnifred Louis, w.louis@psy.uq.edu.au . Please feel free to suggest keywords. If you have funding to support a keyword we are interested in connecting, on the understanding that the database and the digests would remain open access and not become proprietary or paywalled, and also noting that our particular lab is most interested in research around peace, a sustainable world, and democracy.
