You have a chance to ask your most pressing questions about research metrics today, May 10, 2016, by 10 am PDT. Here’s more about the panelist for this discussion, Stacy Konkiel, from her Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) introduction,
Hi, I am Stacy Konkiel, Outreach & Engagement Manager at Altmetric, and I’m here to talk about whether the metrics and indicators we like to rely upon in science (impact factor, altmetrics, citation counts, etc) to understand “broader impact” and “intellectual merit” are actually measuring what we purport they measure.
I’m not sure they do. Instead, I think that right now we’re just using rough proxies to understand influence and attention, and that we’re in danger of abusing the metrics that are supposed to save us all–altmetrics–just like science has done with the journal impact factor.
But altmetrics and other research metrics don’t have to be Taylorist tools of control. I love the promise they hold for scientists who want to truly understand how their research is truly changing the world.
I especially appreciate the fact that newer metrics allow the “invisible work” that’s being done in science (the data curators, the software developers, etc) can be recognized on its standalone merits, rather than as a byproduct of the publication process. That’s been my favorite part of working for Altmetric and, previously, Impactstory–that I can help others to better value the work of grad students, librarians, data scientists, etc.
Today, I want to talk about better measuring research impact, but I’m also open to taking other relevant questions. There will also be some live tweeting from @Altmetric and @digitalsci and questions using the #askstacyaltmetric hashtag.
My favourite question so far is this (it’s a long one),
gocsick 1 point
I hope you get there in time, if not, perhaps someone else has asked the question for you. I look forward to seeing the answers.