Research Cooperative Review (Issue 18, 8th May 2012)

The Research Cooperative A message to all members (RCR18)

Greetings from Kyoto

Dear Colleagues,

1. UPDATE

A variety of new groups have been formed since our last update, and the most popular among these is our group for discussions of copyright and intellectual property . We are hoping that members with related experience, and members with questions, will begin talking to each other here.

Go here to see the most popular groups established so far.

Our member numbers now stand at just over 4,000, with more than 10 members in each of more than 60 countries (and more than 100 in several countries) (see country index ).

The real measure of our success as a communication-dedicated network is increasing evidence that members are trying to make contact with each other, in many different ways, through:

• direct member-to-member contact
• using the internal 'send message' service,
• friend/colleague requests,
• blog postings,
• joining groups,
• posting messages in group forums, and
• posting messages in our forums for offers and requests.

2. REVIEW

Making the log in easier ..

We can now login to The Research Cooperative using 'social sign in', namely the sign in details you might more easily remember from your most frequently-used social network (e.g. LinkedIn, FaceBook, Yahoo, others).

To take advantage of this, log in with your Research Co-op login, then click on ' Settings ' under your name at the top right of the page. There you must choose the ' Connections ' link, and then choose which connections you wish to establish (LinkedIn, FaceBook, Yahoo and so on). This allows your other network(s) to recognise our network.

Next time you visit our site, look under the Research Co-op sign-in box (before logging in!). There you can see the icons for other networks. Click on the other network you have chosen , and then sign in to our network using the log in details of the other network.

Reminder

Members who have been with the network several months or longer will notice a new page when they log in on our website. This is our voluntary subscription page . If you have not visited recently, you will see a notice requesting that you choose a subscription with different payment options.

Unless you wish to make a small donation, as a subscription payment, please choose a payment of zero in order to continue to have free access to our network. We expect that most members will choose to use free access.

As an NPO, our network can only survive in the long-term with financial and voluntary support from our members (we will always need volunteers to help as moderators, communicators, bloggers, and advisors).

3. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Support for journals and publishers is offered by our network in the form of a full support group page , which is something that takes some effort to set up and maintain (see journal support groups ).

As most journals and publishers make little effort to promote themselves, and depend on me (the network administrator) to look after their support groups, I have decided to offer simple support links to journal and publisher websites, when requested (see the new journal list ).

If a journal editor or a publisher shows special interest in setting up a full support group, then I will be happy to do this.

As previously announced, we have started to assemble an International Board of Advisors (voluntary) for our network, and are still seeking offers from members with relevant experience and interest. The role of this group is to provide frank and constructive advice on management of the network, and our future plans. Please enquire.

Our group for Editors and Proofreaders now has almost 80 members, but our target is 100 before we begin promoting another group. If you know any editors or proofreaders, please invite them to join the Research Cooperative , or invite them directly to join the focus group. We welcome editors and proofreaders working with ANY language.

Any member of the Research Cooperative is welcome to join this group, as an editor, proofreader, or as someone wishing to have closer contact with editors and proofreaders.