I think it was this past summer that there was some energy on starting a
'Code4Lib journal', that seems to have died out.
I think such a journal could play a really important role, currently
lacking, in the library community. Currently there are a bunch of people
working on similar projects who don't communicate enough, re-inventing
wheels. Plus more people who would LIKE to be working on similar
products, but don't know how to get started. Plus I could see such a
journal playing a role in techies communicating with the larger library
community about challenges they are running into that effect larger
library workflow.
Anyway, I'd be interested in working on this to get this off the ground.
Is anyone else? Especially someone(s) with a bit more Code4Lib
"cred"/history than me?
Thinking about it, I think it can probably be done in a pretty
light-weight easy to get started manner. I assume people were thinking
of an electronic only journal. So pretty much all we would need is:
1) An editorial committee or whatever. [Maybe some people imagined some
more 'revolutionary' egalitarian type of community process, but I figure
keep it simple, and an editorial committee seems simple, and also
provides some people who have explicitly taken responsibility for
getting things done.]
2) A place to host it. [maybe some kind of "institutional repository"
software would be cool, but in a pinch seems to me a WordPress
installation would do. Keep things simple and do-able and good enough is
my motto. I'm sure one of our institutions would donate server
space/cycles for a WordPress installation for such a journal. ]
3) Maybe a wiki would be nice for editorial commitee discussions.
4) Maybe a simple one page description of the mission of the journal and
what the journal is looking for in articles. The editorial committee can
work on that on the hypothetical wiki.
5) Some articles. The editorial committee can solicit some for the first
'issue'.
Step 6: Profit! I mean, some e-published articles. No profit, sorry.
That seems pretty do-able to me. I think it would serve a really good
role. I'm not concerned so much with 'scholarly credibility' as I am
with creating a valuable tool for people getting stuff done. I think
thinking like that can keep it simple too.
Oh, as long as we're at it, 6) Get an ISSN for the thing, since most
link resolvers will never be able to track it otherwise. (Sigh).
So anyone interested? Is this a good idea? Do-able? Should we do it?
Want to help? I do.
Jonathan
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