Open@VT

Open Access, Open Data, and Open Educational Resources

A New Author Rights Benefit (a.k.a. Open Access Policy) at Virginia Tech

On March 22, 2021, an open access policy was passed by Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors, an achievement that was years in the making. The new policy might be better named an author rights benefit, since the policy retains rights for authors, rather than requiring deposit (as “policy” implies).  In this respect, the policy is consistent with “rights retention” policies at numerous other U.S. universities.

The new open access language is now part of the university’s Policy 13000 (PDF), at the bottom of page 4:

8. For Scholarly Articles: Authors grant to the university a nonexclusive license to copyright in their scholarly articles in order to provide open access (free, public, online access) to them via the university repository. However, anything deposited in the university repository is subject to the provisions of all the numbered paragraphs above. An author may waive the license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time. The university may not sell the articles. Authors deposit in the university repository an electronic copy of their unformatted, post peer-review, accepted manuscript for each scholarly article within one month after the date of its publication. Upon deposit of accepted manuscripts into the university repository, the university grants authors a nonexclusive license to share accepted manuscripts elsewhere.

The open access policy guide has everything Virginia Tech researchers need to know, but here are a few key points:

  • Authors at Virginia Tech can deposit their accepted manuscript (the version after peer review, not the journal’s published version) as early as the day it’s accepted, with no embargo, regardless of the journal’s copyright transfer agreement (a very few journals may require a waiver).
  • The deposit window extends one month after publication.  To get the greatest benefit from an open access version, it’s important to have it available when others are looking for it, often as the result of a table of contents alert or Google Scholar alert.  Additionally, after publication the article metadata will be available in Elements, so deposit only involves identifying the article in your publications list and uploading the file.
  • In addition to Elements, there’s also a web deposit form and an email deposit option (a waiver is also available through all three options).
  • Everyone at Virginia Tech is covered by the policy.  Although more than 50 universities have open access policies, ours is among a very few that includes students and staff (the others are the University of California system, Penn State, and the University of North Texas).
  • The policy applies only to scholarly articles, not books or other forms of scholarship.
  • The policy is not retrospective, and applies only to manuscripts accepted after the policy was passed.  Deposit of article versions accepted prior to policy passage is still dependent on journal permissions.  If you still have your accepted manuscript, you can look up permissions on the Sherpa Romeo website, or get help by emailing vtechworks@vt.edu.
Image of the Open Access Policy Guide homepage
Explore the Policy Guide

The policy provides an important path to open access when other options may not be available.  Some journals have no sharing policy at all — once the copyright transfer agreement is signed, the article is paywalled indefinitely.  Some journals have lengthy embargos (for Elsevier, up to 48 months).  Some disciplines lack open access journals.  And the article processing charges at some open access journals can be a barrier for those without funding.  The new policy at Virginia Tech — allowing immediate open access to the accepted, peer reviewed version — overcomes all of these obstacles. And it’s worth noting that not every university provides researchers this right — for example, Virginia Tech is the only university in Virginia with an open access policy.

Open Access Week will feature a forum discussion of the policy on Monday, October 25, with special guest and open access expert Peter Suber of Harvard University. A PDN session on the policy will be held the following day at 3:00pm, and sessions will be available throughout the year.

Announcing: Storytelling on Screen – An Online Playback Theatre Archive and Guidebook

Virginia Tech School of Performing Arts and Virginia Tech Publishing are happy to announce publication of Storytelling on Screen: An Online Playback Theatre Archive and Guidebook. 

What is Playback? Playback Theatre is a form of community-centered storytelling theater where the audience tells stories, which are then reflected by a company of actors and musicians. 

Storytelling on Screen: An Online Playback Theatre Archive and Guidebook is an open education resource consisting of a collection of full-length recordings of online Playback Theatre performances, and a 55-page explanatory guidebook. The guidebook, featuring a foreword by Playback Theatre co-founder, Jo Salas, explains the adaptation to online performances and some of the key concepts, roles, and forms involved in online Playback Theatre. The resource as a whole is suitable for a wide range of theatre students in courses such as applied theatre, theatre for social justice, improvisation, theatre appreciation, or acting. The guidebook contains hyperlinks to specific sections of the archive where students can see a given form or concept in action, allowing for a comparison of how different companies approach a given form.

Cover Storytelling on Screen: An Online Playback Theatre Archive and Guidebook by Jordan Rosin and Heidi Winters Vogel with Sammy Lebron
Cover Art: (c) 2021, Paul Haesemeyer The Race(rs) CC BY NC SA 4.0; Cover design: Kindred Grey

Table of Contents

Foreword by Jo Salas
Acknowledgments
Editor Biographies
How to Use the Archive and Guidebook
Introduction to the Project
I. The Archive
– Performance #1 World Playback Theatre: “New Beginnings”
– Performance #2 The Ume Group: “Voices in the Stone” at Virginia Tech
– Performance #3 Pangea Playback Theatre: “What Now?”
II. The Guidebook
What is Playback Theatre?
Roles
Concepts
Forms
Further Reading, Listening, and Viewing
Appendix I: Adding to this Archive
Appendix II: Additional Viewing

About you

If you are an artist, educator, or theatre-maker using this resource, please help us understand your use by filling out this form https://bit.ly/playback_interest

About the Editors

Jordan Rosin (he & they) is a director/choreographer, actor-creator, and researcher/teacher, specializing in applied and ensemble-devised physical theatres. He is a Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of the New York City–based physical theatre ensemble, The Ume Group and is a frequent collaborator with the butoh/physical theatre company 連翹奏 Ren Gyo Soh. During the creation of this archive and guidebook, Jordan was on the faculty at Virginia Tech’s School of Performing Arts where he taught acting and applied Theatre as a 2019–2021 Post-MFA Teaching Fellow in the Department of Theatre and Cinema.

Heidi Winters Vogel (she/her) is a director, performer, educator, and activist. She is a member of the theater faculty at Wabash College in Indiana, teaching acting, improvisation, dramaturgy, and socially engaged theatre. Heidi co-founded Inside Out Playback Theatre over a decade ago in Virginia and continues to perform with World Playback Theatre, Playback for People, and Thursday Zoomers. Heidi serves on the Advisory Council for Playback North America, is a board member (Treasurer) for the Centre for Playback Theatre, and serves in regional leadership for the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival. She has directed for such companies as Crossroads Repertory Theatre, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Penn State’s Centre Stage, and Loaves and Fish Repertory. wintersvogel@gmail.com

Sammy Lebron (he/him) is a student, aspiring actor, and lover of all things involving storytelling. He provided editorial assistance for this volume. As of the fall semester of 2021, Sammy will be entering his fourth and final year at Wabash College. He is currently studying toward a BFA in Theater. He was cast in several mainstage productions, compiled data for the costume department, interned with companies such as Crossroads Repertory Theatre and the Sugar Creek Players’ Vanity Theatre, and was nominated to compete for the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival’s Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship.

Acknowledgments

Contributing Companies
Pangea Playback Theatre
The Ume Group, Jordan Rosin and Keelie Sheridan, Co-Artistic Directors
World Playback Theatre

Contributors
Will C., Sarah Monnerat, Rosey, Autumn, Mary Johnson, Dorina Harangus, Cherae Hailey, David B., Jeremie Day-Gilder, Randy Mulder, Matteo, Karen McClain Kiefer, Warren, Kathy, Vicki, Steve Nash, Liza Zagryazhskaya, Sammy, Roberta Gore, LK, Florence Yoo, Felicitator, Rethabile Molatela, Danny, Bernard, Clarissa, Lou van Laake, Moe, Jo Salas, Joan Lipkin, Sheila Donio, Ricardo Pérez González, Andrea Sandoval, Ping, Joe, Federico Mallet, Linda Steuernagel, Joan, Michael, Karen McClain Kiefer, Joerge, J Fox, Paul McIsaac, Agnes, Nir, Rena, Judy Dolmatch, René, Lisa Schrauf, Suri, Joyce Lu, Andrew, Alejandro Bastien, Natasha, Pi, Dorothy, Ben Rivers, Erica, Diana G., Mary Elizabeth Wheeler, Tanya, Marcin, Sinikka, Judy, Debe Edden, Elsa Childs, Erica, Devrim Nicoló Turletti, Kathleen Sills, Sheila Donio, Judy Freed, Diana Greenhut, Roni Alperin, Noha Arafa, Wavey Davey, Fish, Heidi Jablonski, Chris Panzica, Rick Sanford, Thulasi, Tom Tillar, David Vogel (he/him), Katharina Witte, and various others who prefer to remain anonymous and/or whose names appear only in the recordings.

This work was made possible in part by a commission from the Council on Virginia Tech History and funding from the University Libraries at Virginia Tech’s Open Education Initiative Faculty Grant program, Virginia Tech Publishing, and Wabash College’s Theater Department Summer Internship Program.

The stories in these performance archives are the property of their tellers. The recordings of them were released by their owners under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license.

CC-BY-NC-SA logo

This work is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Suggested citation: Rosin, Jordan, and Heidi Winters Vogel. 2021. Storytelling on Screen: An Online Playback Theatre Archive and Guidebook. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104420. Licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0.

Announcing Open Textbook: Aerodynamics and Aircraft Performance

The University Libraries at Virginia Tech in collaboration with Dr. James F. Marchman, III, Emeritus Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Virginia Tech are pleased to announce publication of open textbook, Aerodynamics and Aircraft Performance, 3rd edition. 

Aerodynamics and Aircraft Performance, 3rd edition is a 236-page introduction to aircraft aerodynamics and performance. The objective of this text is to provide a “stand alone” coverage of basic, subsonic, aircraft performance preceded by an introduction to the basics of aerodynamics that will provide a background sufficient to the understanding of the subjects to be studied in aircraft performance. This text is designed for a course in Aircraft Performance that is taught before students take courses in fluid mechanics, fluid dynamics, or aerodynamics and is meant to provide the essential information from these types of courses that is needed for teaching basic subsonic aircraft performance, and it is assumed that the students will learn the full story of aerodynamics in other, later courses.

Cover credit: Kindred Grey

Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction to Aerodynamics
Chapter 2. Propulsion
Chapter 3. Additional Aerodynamics Tools
Chapter 4. Performance in Straight and Level Fight
Chapter 5. Altitude Change: Climb and Guide
Chapter 6. Range and Endurance
Chapter 7. Accelerated Performance: Takeoff and Landing
Chapter 8. Accelerated Performance: Turns
Chapter 9. The Role of Performance in Aircraft Design: Constraint Analysis
Appendix A: Airfoil Data

Free Access to Aerodynamics and Aircraft Performance, 3rd edition
A full table of contents, downloadable versions of this book (PDF and ePub), and additional information are freely available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/96525. An accessible, online version of this book is also available via the Pressbooks platform at https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/aerodynamics. Print on demand versions may be ordered with a variety of binding options from https://www.printme1.com/preview/681a017ca

Instructors reviewing, adopting, or adapting parts or the whole of the text are requested to register their interest at: https://bit.ly/aerodynamics_interest. 

Creative commons attribution 4.0 license

Unless otherwise noted, the text and figures are released under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license which allows adaptation and redistribution with attribution. See the license terms and best practices for attribution for additional information.

Audience This college undergraduate-level text requires prior introduction to the most fundamental concepts of statics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, and basic conservation laws which are usually covered in a university level Physics sequence. It is also assumed that students will have completed first-year university level calculus sequence plus a course in multivariable calculus. Separate courses in engineering statics and dynamics are helpful but not necessary. Any student who takes a course using this text after completing courses in aerodynamics or fluid dynamics should find the chapters of this book covering those subjects an interesting review of the material.

Developing Custom Version(s) in Community Instructors and subject matter experts interested in forming collaborative efforts to develop and share their own version(s) of the material are requested to join the project-update conversation on the Rebus Foundation open-textbooks-in-development website.

Suggested citation: Marchman, James, III. (2021). Aerodynamics and Aircraft Performance. Blacksburg: VA: University Libraries at Virginia Tech. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/96525 CC BY 4.0.

About the Author: Dr. James F. Marchman, III is Professor Emeritus of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering and a former Associate Dean of Engineering at Virginia Tech where he taught and conducted research in aerodynamics, aircraft performance, aircraft design and other areas over a 40 year career. His textbook, Aircraft Design Projects For Engineering Students, coauthored by Professor Lloyd R. Jenkinson of Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, [Butterworth-Heinemann, 2003] has been used by students around the world.

Cover art:

  • The Centuria is a design for a lightweight general aviation four-place aircraft created by Virginia Tech and Loughborough University Aerospace Engineering, Industrial & Systems Engineering, or Aeronautical Engineering students. Used with permission. Courtesy of Dr. Marchman.
  • Cloud background by Alan Levine. Public Domain. Retrieved and adapted from https://flic.kr/p/7QbtmU.

Instructors reviewing, adopting, or adapting parts or the whole of the text are requested to register their interest at: https://bit.ly/aerodynamics_interest.

We hope it takes off!

VTechWorks Update, Spring 2021

VTechWorks homepage

VTechWorks provides global access to Virginia Tech scholarship, offering an easy way for members of the university community to provide open access to their work. The university’s institutional repository is managed by the University Libraries, and receives theses and dissertations from the Graduate School, as well as deposits from Elements (EFARs), the faculty reporting system.

Here are the latest VTechWorks statistics:

  • 84,000+ items, 34,600 (41%) of which are theses and dissertations
  • 2,300+ items deposited by faculty from Elements (EFARs)
  • 3,000+ file downloads per day over the last year (on average, bots excluded)
    • 4,000+ downloads per day average in February 2021
  • 566 items collectively have more than 5,300 Altmetric mentions
  • 51,500 items indexed in Google Scholar (7th highest among U.S. repositories); also indexed by Unpaywall, Microsoft Academic, all major search engines, BASE, and the VT Libraries catalog
  • 400+ items linked to from Wikipedia
  • 96% open access full text repository (4% are embargoed, withheld, or legacy citation/abstract-only items)
  • Top traffic sources are Google, Google Scholar, VT.edu search, and Bing
  • BASE can be used to sync items in VTechWorks to ORCiD profiles
  • Accessed globally, with the highest usage from the U.S., India, China, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and Canada
  • Provides a permanent URL (handle) for citing
  • RSS feeds of new items available for departments, colleges, and research centers (see an example in the right sidebar, “New in VTechWorks”)
  • Estimated 99.9% uptime
Map of global usage for VTechWorks
VTechWorks usage by location, 2020

The easiest way for faculty to get their works into VTechWorks is to upload a file in Elements, because no registration is needed, and article metadata is often already present, which eliminates manual entry. Go to Menu > Publications and look for the upload arrow, which is the first in the row of icons underneath each entry (if you see the “double pages” icon, the item is already in VTechWorks).

upload arrow
Upload your file!
in repo
In VTechWorks

Deposit advice (such as which version you can legally deposit, and any publisher embargo) is automatically added to the deposit screen from Sherpa/Romeo, which aggregates journal policies for posting articles online. We are also happy to help anyone at VT identify which items they can legally post online – just email us at vtechworks@vt.edu. To learn more about open access, see our Open Access Guide. Students and staff should register and then email vtechworks@vt.edu and tell us which collection you would like to submit to. Faculty can also use this method if they prefer.

Recent, continuing, and upcoming VTechWorks projects include:

  • Added thumbnail icons and transcripts for audio-only items.
  • Adding abstracts and committee member names to scanned theses and dissertations, and OCRing the earliest ones (~3,000 so far).
  • Improving captions for videos, including through a new relationship with a captioning service.
  • With the Graduate School, exploring better accessibility for ETDs.
  • Updated the Virginia Tech Patents collection.
  • Updating the Powell River Project collection.
  • Migrating Computational Science Lab papers from an EPrints server.
  • A new collection for Virginia Tech Pesticide Programs.
  • Beginning to explore linked data possibilities.

We work every day to grow VTechWorks and provide effective global dissemination of scholarship by Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and students. Contact us anytime with questions or comments at vtechworks@vt.edu.

Announcing open textbook “Introduction to Biosystems Engineering”

– Contributed by Ann Brown

In February 2021, The University Libraries’ Virginia Tech Publishing and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) published “Introduction to Biosystems Engineering” an open textbook for university-level introductory courses in biosystems engineering.

Written by an international team of authors, this is the first open textbook published as part of the University Libraries’ membership in the Open Education Network Publishing Cooperative. It also marks the first time that Virginia Tech Publishing has partnered with an international professional association to publish an open textbook.

For many college students, the cost of textbooks can be an insurmountable challenge. Thanks to the open textbook movement, which focuses on the creation and use of books that are openly licensed, free, and editable, students are increasingly  able to obtain high-quality educational resources at no cost. The University Libraries at Virginia Tech is committed to the open education movement and is engaged in creating and promoting open textbooks and other open educational resources with Virginia Tech faculty authors. Since 2016, the library and Virginia Tech Publishing have published 10 open textbooks.

“Course materials have become quite expensive. Many students are already priced out of being able to afford to purchase and retain certain course materials and have to navigate decisions regarding whether or not they will even try to access course material. This directly affects student learning” said Anita Walz, University Libraries’ assistant director for open education and scholarly communication librarian. “Also, open educational resources are customizable, so instructors have permission to add additional worked examples or change the sequence of a text to better fit the course.”

Creative commons attribution 4.0 license

Introduction to Biosystems Engineering” is released under a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY) and is available both in print and online. The online version is freely downloadable either as a complete work or as stand-alone chapters. In addition, a parallel resource in development, The Biosystems Engineering Digital Library (BEDL), will provide more teaching and learning resources instructors can use in the classroom.

ASABE Director of Publications Joseph C. Walker said “Introduction to Biosystems Engineering will help define the profession and support the organization’s goal of raising the global prominence of the agricultural and biological engineering profession.”

He said it was important for his organization to make this book freely available through open publishing.

“Making the text freely available will provide savings to the students and ensure wider usage, including in non-U.S. countries. With a broad user-base, open access, and ongoing development, the text will stay relevant to the profession and be widely used,” said Walker. “We look forward to the textbook possibly spurring other related projects and advancing the field of study.”

ASABE President (2019-20) Sue Nokes emphasized that this text “is not a traditional, static object, but a living digital resource to be expanded by educators, researchers, and practitioners with additional topics and developments in this vibrant subject. We look forward to new chapters from biosystems engineers around the world to increase the breadth and depth of coverage.”

ASABE past-president Mary Leigh Wolfe, Virginia Tech professor and former head of Virginia Tech’s Biological Systems Engineering department, was one of the project’s initiators. She served as one of the four editors of the text along with Nick Holden and Enda Cummins, professors of biosystems and food engineering at University College Dublin, Ireland, and Jactone Ogejo, Virginia Tech associate professor of biological systems engineering. The four editors share a vision of open access and internalization of their discipline. ASABE and Virginia Tech Publishing have brought that vision to fruition. Wolfe said this book is important because of its global perspective.

“Having authors from around the world helps reinforce the relevance and global impact of our discipline,” said Wolfe. “It is important for students to recognize both the differences and similarities of the focus areas of our discipline around the world.”

Holden said he and his fellow textbook editors worked with chapter authors to ensure a global focus throughout the book.

“Experts always like to share their knowledge so there is a temptation to write about too much, in their specific context, and at too advanced a level,” said Holden. “Our biggest challenge was to reign in this exuberance to make each chapter accessible to a beginner. It has worked really well and will continue to as the content evolves with time. We are already working on new chapters.”

The textbook is divided into six sections aligned with technical communities within biosystems engineering: energy systems; information technology, sensors, and control systems; machinery systems; natural resources and environmental systems; plant, animal, and facility systems; and processing systems. Within the sections, chapters focus on topics that can be covered in one week of class and include learning outcomes, key concepts, applications of concepts, and worked examples.

“I’m particularly proud of the planned structure of each chapter. I hope others can take from this model,” said Holden. “I also hope that the book introduces more biosystems engineers to the idea of open textbooks, as I do not think the idea is prevalent in the community.”

Cummins and Ogejo also emphasized the importance of making the textbook freely available.

“Education should have no bounds, including costs,” said Cummins. “An open textbook will ensure dissemination and equal opportunities for all interested parties to learn from this resource.”

“Access is key,” said Ogejo. “The availability and access to the internet globally to do business (commerce, trade, etc.) is on the rise. Leveraging these experiences to provide access to education materials for college students will provide a lot of benefit, especially to the economically disadvantaged communities.”

Wolfe is also passionate about providing current publications to all people.

“Cost prevents many people from having access to current publications. Instead they often receive outdated materials,” said Wolfe. “I hope that biosystems engineering programs and students around the world will download individual chapters and the book and find that it is helpful to them. I hope others in education will see that free resources are used widely and they help with providing equitable education for students in all parts of the world and within all programs.”

This is only the beginning. The editors see “Introduction to Biosystems Engineering” as a dynamic textbook that will grow and evolve over the next five years while simultaneously extending its global impact.

“In five years’ time, I would like to see two things happening. Firstly, I would like to see another two volumes, 50 additional chapters, published and freely available online. This will make the resource hugely valuable for educators around the world,” said Holden. “Secondly, I would like to see topic-specific textbooks being written using the same structured approach. I think it will work very well for both edited compilations and authored textbooks, as it helps organize thinking and makes learning much easier.”

“I hope to be able to say that the chapters are being used in programs around the world, as evidenced by download statistics and testimonials by users,” said Wolfe, “and that new chapters have been added continuously since the beginning.”

Cover design: Robert Browder

Contributed by Ann Brown. Originally published on February 8, 2021 as “Virginia Tech Publishing partners with international association to publish engineering open textbook.” Ann Brown is Director of Strategic Communications for the University Libraries at Virginia Tech.

*

Note from the Managing Editor: Instructors evaluating, adopting, or customizing this book are asked to self-report their use on this form. This helps the editorial team to better understand the impact of the book.

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