We hope you come to FSCI for the fantastic courses, but attendees always rave about the community that spans the disciplines and the globe, all actively engaged in knowledge transfer, wisdom exchange, and community-based solutions. Don’t shortchange yourself! You must go beyond the FSCI course to get the full benefits of the institute.
FSCI2021 Plenary Theme
Most of us have heard the classic interview question:
Where do you see yourself in five years?
It’s a foolish question to ask in many ways, as life repeatedly proves to be so unpredictable. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." But how we attempt to answer that question speaks volumes. As we convene the 5th FORCE11 Scholarly Communication Institute (FSCI), the vitality and folly of this question playfully serves as our theme, and will inform our interactive and reflective plenary events as described below.
When FSCI planned and convened its first institute in the summer of 2017, that question was indeed pondered by the founders and aspirational goals were formed: we would create a week-long intensive summer institute, convening a global community of experienced researchers and scholars in and around scholarly communication. We would learn from each other and train new practitioners, in a relaxed and welcoming environment. As the research communication landscape evolved, the institute would adapt and grow a curriculum to meet the challenges that could be foreseen.
FSCI Organizers had a rough idea of what a successful and thriving FSCI would look like in 2021. Many of those aspirations have been met or exceeded, though others remain to be realized. After 5 years of whirlwind change at FSCI and the scholarly communication world it serves, we find ourselves in a much different place than we envisioned. In a world where in-person gatherings are uncertain for many reasons, FSCI is now heading in a new direction with an adapted focus and a broader audience than we expected to find by year 5. Going forward, we have many decisions to make as a community – about what we hope to learn from each other through FSCI in the future, and the best way to accomplish those evolved aspirations.
This question is not just about the goals of FSCI as an online event, as a professional gathering, as an educational entity. More importantly, what is the pedagogical goal of our community efforts? How are we advancing the “future of research communication,” the ethos baked into the FORCE11 name? How do we further cultivate FSCI’s unique place in the ecosystem of educational offerings in scholarly communication? And how do we impact the important issues in our field with these choices?
Join these sessions and contribute your unique perspective to our discussions. Please check fsci2021.sched.com for exact times, select the sessions you want to attend, and find Zoom links to connect to each session.
Opening Session
Monday July 26th
8AM – 10AM PDT (UTC-7)
4PM – 6PM PDT (UTC-7)
Please attend either one of the 2 sessions. Some portions of the first session may be recorded & replayed in the second session.
After 30 minutes of announcements, logistics, and orientation, we will turn to a review of the history, purpose and ethos of FSCI for the remaining 90 minutes.
Ten years ago the meetings that led to the formation of FORCE11 were occurring. Five years ago a breakfast discussion among FORCE11 colleagues sparked what became the first FORCE11 Scholarly Communications Institute. Both of these initiatives grew out of an aspiration for radical change in scholarly communications. Sometimes it feels like nothing has changed, but we need to look back to understand how much has gradually shifted. Sometimes, it can feel like everything is moving too fast, but we need to look to shared values and constants that have sustained us through these shifts. As we open the fifth instance of the FORCE11 Scholarly Communications Institute, we will be in discussion with Phil Bourne and Anita de Waard who convened the first FORCE11 meetings, with Dan O’Donnell and Stephanie Hagstrom, who pulled together the first FSCI and as always, with leaders of the future in the audience.
We will be quizzing the audience for instant responses to these questions, as well! We will gently test your memory of what the state of scholarly communications was, and be part of a crowd-sourced prediction of what it could be as we open the fifth FSCI. What were we hoping for five and ten years ago? What have we helped to change, and what have we not? What changed, even though we didn’t expect it?
Midpoint Plenaries: Past, Present, and Future
Friday July 30th
Note: Please check fsci2021.sched.com for exact times, and find Zoom links for each of these 5 distinct, connected sessions. The first session or two may happen on Thursday, or the last session may occur on Saturday, depending on your time zone!
FSCI, in collaboration with the Reimagining Education Practices for Open (REPO), presents 5 interactive sessions stretched across a 24 hour period, allowing participation around the globe. Featuring a rotating cast of speakers connecting from time zones around the world, the events form a dynamic global panel session. We hope to examine community needs and goals – both through FSCI and in the wider research communication ecosphere. Picking up on the ideas touched upon in the opening plenary, we will challenge each speaker to reflect on past assumptions, explore what issues draw their focus today, and where they envision their focus will turn in the years to come.
We’ve gathered some great panelists. But the true value of the event is in the collective wisdom we intend to draw from all attendees, newly empowered with perspectives gained in your FSCI courses, in a wider format inspired by the questions addressed by the moderators and panelists. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and contribute ideas in online collaborative documents, expanding the discussions as they see fit in the FSCI Slack channels, and/or gathering with like-minded colleagues in our virtual Topia world.
Closing Sessions
Thursday August 5th
8AM – 10AM PDT (UTC-7)
2PM – 4PM PDT (UTC-7)
These two distinct sessions will be presented live over Zoom twice on this day to allow participants from all time zones a chance to join in. Featuring a sampling of FSCI2021 instructors, reflecting on important lessons they taught & learned in their classrooms this year, there will again be several ways for attendees to contribute to the discussion. We will collectively pull together threads from the courses, the plenaries, and the community events, and begin to sum up what we’ve learned from each other and to lay out pathways to stay connected.
Don't forget to also dive into the FSCI Community events – which are designed, moderated, and given life by the wider FSCI community.
