Poster Board Number: 82
Title: The Role of a National Conference in Engendering Support and Adoption: VIVO 2010
Objective: VIVO is an open source semantic web application that enables discovery of research and scholarship across an institution through the use of detailed researcher profiles. The 2010 VIVO Conference was conceived to engage members of academic, governmental, and commercial institutions in workshops and scholarly presentations on linked open data, researcher profiles, library involvement, and the VIVO application.
Methods: VIVO is under development for nationwide use as part of a 2-year, $12.2 million National Institutes of Health grant. A 2-day conference was held in August 2010 to connect the growing community of VIVO adopters, potential adopters, and other interested parties to the developers, librarians, and other team members who make up the VIVO Collaboration. The conference offered 3 hands-on workshops, over 25 research presentations, and 20 posters covering everything from specific details of VIVO implementation to broader questions of how research networks grow and function. Conference attendees came from across the scholarly spectrum and demonstrated the scope of interest in VIVO across geography, affiliation, and functional role. This poster will illustrate the growth of VIVO adoption and present highlights from the conference, including materials, content, and feedback gleaned from panel discussions and an interactive closing session.
Results: The national conference provided a forum for participants to discuss VIVO implementation and development, semantic web technology, and opportunities created through national networking of researchers. Both VIVO team members and outside participants offered insights into future projects that can be pursued using VIVO and related technology. The variety in programming and opportunity for in-person interaction helped create a VIVO community broader than the grant-funded VIVO Collaboration. Participants learned about progress thus far and offered feedback about future directions that would best suit their needs. Interest in VIVO adoption and development, measured by new web visits and code downloads, grew noticeably after the national conference.
Conclusions: Scholars, developers, and researchers from around the world see the value and potential of VIVO. The national conference offered this diverse group the opportunity to engage with the VIVO team and with each other, forming a community that will nurture future development and adoption.
Authors: Hannah F. Norton, AHIP, Reference and Liaison Librarian; Michele R. Tennant, AHIP, Bioinformatics Librarian and Assistant Director, Biomedical and Health Information Services, Health Science Center Library, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; Kristi L. Holmes, AHIP, Bioinformaticist, Becker Medical Library, School of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, MO; Sara Henning, National VIVO Marketing Coordinator, Health Science Center Library, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; Katy Börner, Victor H. Yngve Professor of Information Science; Jennifer R. S. Coffey, Graphic Designer, School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN; Alicia Turner, Management Analysis Coordinator, Information Technology; Nita Ferree, AHIP, Reference and Liaison Librarian, Health Science Center Library; Mike Conlon, Associate Director and Chief Operating Officer; VIVO Collaboration, Working Group, Clinical and Translational Science Institute; University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
