1. Towards Strategic
Dissemination Management
Change Laboratory Workshop with
Southern African Labour and Development Unit (SALDRU)
University of Cape Town
15 March 2012

2. The story so far …
1. Activity-system articulation
2. Articulation of dissemination ambitions
3. Policy brief roundtable
4. Newsletter production
5. Content management situational analysis

3. What’s next?
• Dissemination strategy
• Indexing content
• Tracking mechanisms
• Website integration
• Content stimulus (2012 Policy Brief)

4. SCAP Programme Activity

6. 1. SALDRU
Scholarly
Communication
Activity System

9. Research: SALDRU
scholarly communication
(1) Research Communication Practice
- Survey
- Interviews
- Observational study
- Research log
(2) Values Study
(3) Impact
(4) Cost

10. 2. SALDRU
Dissemination
Strategy

11. Strategic principle:
Do outputs serve the objective?
Outputs
- Conducting policy-relevant, empirically-based applied research
- Enhanced system of scholarly communication facilitating visibility, accessibility and
translation of research
Outcomes
- Input to government policy processes addressing the problems of the urban poor,
especially with regard to areas of SALDRU expertise (employment and unemployment,
migration, wage negotiation, common goods and resource-sharing)
- Improved links with civil organisations and broader public facilitating information
gathering, survey effectiveness and providing additional sources of data
- Improved institutional and public identity

12. SALDRU Dissemination Workflow

13. Life after publication …
• Web (content aggregation, etc.)
• Mailing (email and snail mail)
• Media
• Stakeholder groups and networks

14. Individual action
• Personal websites
• Social media activity

15. IP Considerations
Creative Commons licensing of content in the
public domain enables control over:
•Commercialisation by third party
•Right to produce derivatives
•Ensuring attribution

16. Discussion
• Formalising workflow, gatekeeping processes and division of labour for
publishing:
– Journal articles
– Working papers
– Policy briefs
– Other (Reports & studies, Carnegie papers, SALDRU@30, Clippings
• Life after publishing (dissemination):
– Web (content aggregation, etc.)
– Mailing (email and snail mail)
– Media
– Stakeholder groups and networks
• Exploration of licensing mechanisms?

17. 3. Policy Brief Review

18. Policy Brief Process
11 Nov 2011:
Informal meeting – clarification on the papers
24 Nov 2011:
First round table (half-day). Policy background, identifying key messages,
implications for policy
1 December 2011:
Second round table (half-day). Based on a first outline, decisions on
results to include, graphs and tables
5 January 2012:
First draft
15 January 2012:
Publication

19. Required Resources
Total cost: R50 000
R38 000 Charmaine and Loris time
R5 000 Children’s Institute general costs
R7 000 Printing

20. Policy Brief 2012
• Are we satisfied with the process, the final output, and the work of
Children’s Institute? How could we improve?
• Do we want to try and generate other types of popular writings (newspaper
editorials?)
• What’s next?

21. 4. Content
Management

23. Taxonomy:
What is it and why is it
important?
• Resource discovery – via search and browse services
• Logical organisation of resources – easy navigation of website/portal
• Interoperability – through standardised naming scheme (e.g. RePEc)
• Controlled vocabulary – uniformity of naming/classification of resources

24. Taxonomy:
Search Criteria
• Theme (e.g. education, labor markets …)
• Author
• Data (e.g. CAPS, NIDS …)
• Projects (e.g. fertility, data quality, NIDS)
• Time period (e.g. 2000-2005, 2005-2010)
• Type of document (e.g. WP, publication, policy brief)
+ Keywords
+ JEL classification

25. Taxonomy:
Themes (up to 3 per article)
• Education
• Labor market
• Health
• Population
• Poverty and Inequality
• Social groups
• Political economy
• Empirical methods
• Public policy

26. Taxonomy:
Project differentiation
Current Projects
- NIDS (National Income Dynamics Study)
- Family Support
- Data Quality
- Fertility, Intergenerational Transfers and Economics Development
- Evaluation of Public Works Programmes
- Analytical Reports for the OECD
- Analysis of Social Grants
- Wage Subsidy
- Demand for Tertiary Education in South Africa since 2000
- J-PAL Africa
- South Africa Persistent Inequality Research
Completed Projects
- Quality of Life
- Poverty and Inequality Node
- Environment and Poverty
- Financial Diaries Project
- Trade and Poverty Project
Historical Projects
- The SALDRU Clippings Collection 1975 - 2000

27. Taxonomy:
JEL First-Level Classification Codes
1. General Economics and Teaching (A)
2. History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches (B)
3. Mathematical and Quantitative Methods: General (C)
4. Microeconomics: General (D)
5. Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics: General (E)
6. International Economics: General (F)
7. Financial Economics: General (G)
8. Public Economics: General (H)
9. Health, Education, and Welfare: General (I)
10. Labor and Demographic Economics: General (J)
11. Law and Economics: General (K)
12. Industrial Organization: General (L)
13. Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting: General (M)
14. Economic History: General (N)
15. Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth (O)
16. Economic Systems: General (P)
17. Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics: General (Q)
18. Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Economics: General (R)
19. Other Special Topics: General (Z)

28. Taxonomy:
Keywords and publication types
• Keywords: More specific individual author keyword tagging (#hashtags as
personal social-media tagging system)
• Publication types: Journal articles, working papers, policy briefs and
‘other’

29. Taxonomy:
Implications on publication workflow
Each WP/publication has to have metadata properly filled by the
authors.
Create a small form to join at the time of submission? PDF with
dropdown menus?
Consistency is key for the visibility of the research. Alison will be
asked to turn down papers that do not comply.
How to make sure journal publications are also visible on the
website?

30. Tracking Usage and
Collaboration

31. Step 1: URL ‘handle’
www.goo.gl

32. Step 2: Tweet

37. Step 3: Goo.gl Analytics

38. Step 4: Total Impact
www.total-impact.org

40. (Extended) Total Impact

42. Addressing scholarly footprint

43. Website Development
• Search technology (e.g. ElasticSearch)
• Usage-data tracking mechanisms

44. Newsletter Process
Contacts by type of
organisation
Contacts by geographical area

45. Newsletter Process
How to expand the SALDRU network? Should sharing >10 names become a
requirement for being a SALDRU associate?
Newsletter as derivative from website – minimise need for editing?
Decision on “Top story” and “From the Director’s desk” – Exec decision every
quarter?
Alison prepares new issue, submits to SALDRU Director for approval, and off it
goes.
Is that a good process?

47. 5. 2012 Objectives
Dissemination strategy
Indexing content
Tracking mechanisms
Website integration
Content stimulus (2012 Policy Brief)

48. And experimentation.