Researchers--we want your feedback
We've been learning a lot the past few months through our series of eFocus groups. So far we've showed our CrossMark prototype to two groups of publishers. Tomorrow we'll hear from librarians. And in September we will hold two groups for researchers.
In addition to these eFocus groups, we will be conducting usability studies of our prototype system in preparation for the pilot later this fall.
CrossMark will provide information to researchers about whether the scholarly content they find on the web is reliable. They will be able to determine whether an instance of an article, for example, is an official "version of record" being maintained and updated by the publisher. This maintained status will be indicated by a logo that will be common to all participating publisher content. When users click on the logo, they'll get useful information such as whether the document is current, whether it is being updated, and where the official version lives. It may also have additional valuable information about the peer review process, funding sources, or the location where relevant data has been deposited.
So you can see why it is important that our interface makes it as clear as possible to researchers how to find the status of the document.
That's where you come in. Please sign up for one of our focus groups or let us know if you'd like to participate in a simple and painless usability test.
And for qualified reseachers, we even have a thank you gift for participating.
Sign up for the September 16 group.
Sign up for the September 17 group.
Sign up to find out more about the usability study: Email info@crossref.org.