Revised Proposal: Edit Swap

1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Posting original blog post, both edited and amended to include the system description in the “Proposed Approach” section, the “Environmental Scan” section, and the appendix.

2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0  

3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 What is It?

4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 An online editing platform where users request edits for their papers and edit other user’s papers with an incentivized currency system.

5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 As the digital age rapidly advances and facilitates the evolution of sharing scholarship and academic discussion, online editing has yet to be perfected. It remains in development through various platforms that seem to neglect a means of sustainability. However, this isn’t intentional abandonment, it is a lack of a developed platform to facilitate user interaction and growth. As the humanities grow to incorporate digital methodologies, simple editing and review at the discretion of other scholars in its various disciplines require a new platform. This project will construct and establish a new approach to online editing – one that accounts for previous attempts at the formula while accounting for needs across more than a single institution.

6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 This project looks to challenge the voluntary model of paper editing and provide a new platform in which editing is incentivized, while retaining academic merit. This project looks to eliminate the need for pay to edit services, and it provides remote academics, busy academics, or even scholars with disabilities to have their work edited by credible sources without the need for transit to an institution. It doesn’t completely eliminate institutional investment, but rather acts as an alternative potentially in conjunction with the mentioned method.

7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0 The humanities at its core stand to be representative of the entire human experience. As the humanities trends toward technology, it’s important that technology is utilized to the largest degree in accordance with the humanities. New methods of facilitating not only the humanities’ core discussions but its basic building blocks of papers and editing is essential, as it is the true foundation of the entire experience.

8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 Narrative

9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0 A plethora of paid services currently exist on the web to facilitate the editing of academic papers, theses, and dissertations. Of course, most institutions offer resource centers featuring these services, but a remote academic may not necessarily be able to access them. The aforementioned web services are typically expensive, and some cannot even guarantee that the work will be viewed by an academic in a field relevant to your paper. This work isn’t looking to necessarily replace university editing centers, but rather act as a supplement to the process through facilitating remote discussions and editing exchanges. A platform currently does not exist in which academics can submit their work for editing in exchange for their own editorial services, which this project aims to provide.

10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 0 Systems that currently look to achieve this goal operate under a gift economy. The problem of a system that operates under a gift economy is its sustainability due to required participation in a user to user relationship. This gift economy system might seem generous initially, but the rate at which feedback is generated might drop, debilitating the platform in the process as an open tool. In facilitated settings, these platforms might have success, but for natural individualized feedback outside of the classroom, there must exist a degree of incentive. What this project looks to promote is a barter economy across all of the various disciplines in the humanities. Editing would remain within a particular discipline, but the platform would incorporate spaces for papers from any field of study in the humanities to create an open accessibility environment. This platform’s goal is not to replace the peer review system, but rather facilitate stylistic and structural critiques of academic writing across the humanities by fellow academics.

11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 0 Environmental Scan

12 Leave a comment on paragraph 12 0 The development of this project stemmed from an evaluation of editing services available to academics and the discussion of the future of peer review. One of the many concerns of aspiring academics is the existence of a place in which their work can be scrutinized for further review, and is convenient to suit their schedule and the potential recipients of their writing. This platform offers a unique approach to the traditional editing process through digital means.

13 Leave a comment on paragraph 13 0 This project looks to challenge the pay-for-edit services that exist and build upon already existing editing platforms. Social Paper and The Public Philosophy Journal facilitate academic discussion and editing through their respective platforms. However, they are both proprietary and limited in functionality when searching for an editing platform with consistency and accessibility.

14 Leave a comment on paragraph 14 0 Social Paper was one of the first ambitious examples of a facilitated online editing platform. It used The Graduate Center’s Academic Commons system, allowed public papers to be edited by the entire Commons user base, private papers to be edited by specific users or groups, and a modified version of CommentPress for feedback. The system is helpful for classes or groups that encourage a level of participation and feedback but doesn’t assist scholars outside of that structure. Also, the platform is contained within the Commons system, creating a degree of difficulty for any scholar not integrated within it.

15 Leave a comment on paragraph 15 0 Similar to Social Paper, The Public Philosophy Journal is a system designed to provide feedback and inspire discussions by allowing an open forum for ongoing projects. The project operates under a “current” system in which content is curated and originates on other websites. On items within this “current,” users can comment on, rate, and mark the piece as a “must read.” However, this space looks less toward editing and more toward general feedback. Another pitfall is a lack of user information or developed profiles, leaving anyone open to critique from anyone on the internet. It is also a proprietary platform geared towards philosophy, which closes the door to any other humanities discipline.

16 Leave a comment on paragraph 16 0 Edit Swap looks to take the basis of those two systems, create a new shared economy to keep the platform populated and open it up to any scholar in the humanities disciplines. It will use the same backend as Social Paper to allow users to make edits while containing it within a user to user incentivized relationship. Hopefully, through the incentivized method provided, user activity will continually increase, furthering both academia through editing and academic discussion in response to a plethora of topics in the content of submitted papers.

17 Leave a comment on paragraph 17 0 Proposed Approach

18 Leave a comment on paragraph 18 0 Users will initially sign up for the platform by providing academic credentials and affiliations. The credentials will exist as a part of their profile and they cannot sign up for the platform without developing a profile inclusive to their accolades, associated institutions, and publish works. The profile will be viewable through a searchable index and will be featured when looking to request edits, or when looking to edit a paper. Their profile will also feature feedback from other users that they are involved with in regards to either editing or requesting edits.

19 Leave a comment on paragraph 19 0 The work involves the balance between two roles of an academic in relation to editing: a requestor and an editor. The currency system within the platform operates through a credit system built on editing papers. Every page submitted by a requestor within a paper will require a credit while each page edited by an editor will gain a credit if accepted. A requestor can add the number of requested editors for a paper based on the amount of credits they possess. For example, a requestor with twenty credits can request two editors for a ten-page paper.

20 Leave a comment on paragraph 20 0 Page count will be held to certain word-count standards by the platform to ensure that no user attempts to place more for editing than allowable. The paper will be set with a deadline window, and once edited, the requestor will be able to accept or reject the edits. If accepted, the editor will receive the proper amount of credits, but if rejected, the editor must edit again to either be accepted for full credit, or rejected for partial credit. The administration of the platform will assume no liability for the decisions of the requestors, but a feedback system will factor into the decision of whether or not an editor would like to work with a requestor and vice versa.

21 Leave a comment on paragraph 21 0 Major Roles and Responsibilities

22 Leave a comment on paragraph 22 0 Project Manager

23 Leave a comment on paragraph 23 0 The project manager will be responsible for coordinating with the team to ensure that the project is delivered in accordance with the provided grant. The manager will also set dates and timelines not just for the development of the project, but the testing and execution of it as well.

24 Leave a comment on paragraph 24 0 Social Media Outreach

25 Leave a comment on paragraph 25 0 The social media outreach coordinator will be directly in charge of the promotion of the final product through a variety of outlets, as well as be responsible for answering questio

26 Leave a comment on paragraph 26 0 ns about the development of the platform. The social media outreach coordinator will be familiar with Facebook and Twitter ad campaigns, and also has knowledge of Google AdWords.

27 Leave a comment on paragraph 27 0 WordPress Developer

28 Leave a comment on paragraph 28 0 The WordPress developer will be well versed in HTML5, CSS3, PHP, MySQL, PHP, jQuery and Ruby. The WordPress developer will be in charge of setting up the initial user system, and backend of the WordPress. The developer will also be in charge of establishing the database to host not only user connections but the paper maintenance system as well. The developer will use jQuery to modify existing plugins to tailor them to the needs of the project site.

29 Leave a comment on paragraph 29 0 Graphic Designer

30 Leave a comment on paragraph 30 0 The graphic designer will be in charge of developing the front end of the website inclusive to logos, branding, and themes. The graphic designer will know how to operate Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, Dreamweaver and HTML specifically to coordinate with the WordPress developer.

31 Leave a comment on paragraph 31 0  

32 Leave a comment on paragraph 32 0 Appendix A: A flow chart of the Edit Swap process

33 Leave a comment on paragraph 33 0 edit swap

34 Leave a comment on paragraph 34 0  

This entry was posted in spring17, Student Post, Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.

Additional comments powered byBackType

  • Archives

  • Welcome to Digital Praxis 2016-2017

    Encouraging students think about the impact advancements in digital technology have on the future of scholarship from the moment they enter the Graduate Center, the Digital Praxis Seminar is a year-long sequence of two three-credit courses that familiarize students with a variety of digital tools and methods through lectures offered by high-profile scholars and technologists, hands-on workshops, and collaborative projects. Students enrolled in the two-course sequence will complete their first year at the GC having been introduced to a broad range of ways to critically evaluate and incorporate digital technologies in their academic research and teaching. In addition, they will have explored a particular area of digital scholarship and/or pedagogy of interest to them, produced a digital project in collaboration with fellow students, and established a digital portfolio that can be used to display their work. The two connected three-credit courses will be offered during the Fall and Spring semesters as MALS classes for master’s students and Interdisciplinary Studies courses for doctoral students.

    The syllabus for the course can be found at cuny.is/dps17.

  • Categories

Skip to toolbar