The MIT Press issued the following release today:
The MIT Media Lab and the MIT Press today announced the launch of the Journal of Design and Science (JoDS). This online, open access journal provides a new model for academic publishing by encouraging broad-ranging discourse that challenges traditional academic silos and publishing practices. It will be curated by a team led by MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito.
Unlike journals that operate within a formal peer-review system and rigid disciplinary framework, JoDS invites lively discussion across all fields of design and science, unconventional formats, and widespread participation, empowering authors to engage in ongoing discussion about their work with members of many different communities, both within and outside of their home disciplines. This rich, peer-to-peer approach to review provides for a much broader array of perspectives, new pathways forward, and emergent topics for further research.
This format is made possible by the new PubPub publishing platform, created by researchers Travis Rich and Thariq Shihipar working in the Media Lab’s Viral Communications group. PubPub provides rich commenting features and powerful, intuitive authoring tools. JoDS articles are authored directly within PubPub, which also enables easy integration of multimedia, images, and large data sets.
“JoDS is about both the design of science, and the science of design,” says Ito. “Like the Media Lab, we expect it to forge new eclectic and unpredictable connections. This is helped enormously by the PubPub platform, which allows for rapid publication with unprecedented opportunities for post-publication iterations based on the conversations the articles invite.”
“The collaboration between the Media Lab and the MIT Press on JoDS is a natural extension of the alignment between our visions for the future of scholarly communication and the importance of the conversation between scientists and designers.” says MIT Press Director Amy Brand.
In addition to online journal publication, future applications for the PubPub platform could include a new model for thesis submission, or a rich platform for ebook publishing.
The journal is now posting submissions and the first articles are available for viewing and comment at jods.mitpress.mit.edu.
About the MIT Media Lab
Actively promoting a unique, antidisciplinary culture, the MIT Media Lab goes beyond known boundaries and disciplines, encouraging the most unconventional mixing and matching of seemingly disparate research areas. It creates disruptive technologies that happen at the edges, pioneering such areas as wearable computing, tangible interfaces, and affective computing. Today, faculty members, research staff, and students at the Lab work in 25 research groups on more than 350 projects, from digital approaches for treating neurological disorders, urban agriculture for sustainable cities, to advanced imaging technologies that can “see around a corner.” The Lab is committed to looking beyond the obvious to ask the questions not yet asked whose answers could radically improve the way people live, learn, express themselves, work, and play. For more information, visit media.mit.edu.
About the MIT Press
The MIT Press, founded in 1962, publishes 30 scholarly journals and 220 books per year in the fields of the art, humanities, economics, science and technology, international affairs, history, and political science. It is especially noted for its support of emerging fields, for pioneering digital projects, and for the quality, innovation, and distinctive design it brings to its publications. For more information, visit mitpress.mit.edu.
