The structure and composition of the typical scholarly team is changing and professionals from a diverse array of backgrounds are now contributing, often in ways that cannot be quantified through traditional metrics of scholarly impact such as journals or grants.  These contributions to our scholarly landscape often go unrecognized.

VIVO is a software infrastructure, a data standard, and a community – all of which aim to work together to create a rich inventory of scholarly activities. The goal is to promote a linked landscape where we can promote collaboration, track trends, and acknowledge contributions.

Today, the Sixth Annual VIVO Conference kicks off with a full day of workshops, followed by terrific plenary sessions and collaboration opportunities during the conference on Thursday and Friday. Of particular interest is the keynote by Dr. James Onken, who is working within the US National Institutes of Health to support a Portfolio Analysis and Reporting Data Infrastructure (PARDI) that leverages community data and requirements, including those from the VIVO community.

On Friday, the Force11 Attribution working group will host a panel session, “Measuring Success Through Improved Attribution” with myself, Stacy Konkiel, Karen Guzman, and Kristi Holmes. VIVO is well positioned to assist in the development of a standard mechanism for attribution and subsequent citation of individuals’ creative contributions. With the goal of leading the way toward a computational model for collecting and disseminating contributor attribution data, this panel aims to identify stakeholders (researchers, developers, publishers, agencies), assess attribution requirements, and provide an interactive community forum to define innovative approaches to scientific attribution. Follow the conversation in this interactive session at #VIVOcredit. This will be followed by a BoF session to discuss working group plans.

Read more about the conference at http://vivoconference.org/ and don't forget to follow the conference on Twitter at #vivo15.

Local to Boston and interested in attending? Stop by the registration desk at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge and get registered.