1. A Brief History of Force11, and Some Thoughts on Community Building Anita de Waard, VP Research Data Collaborations, Elsevier

2. A Brief History of Force11: 2008/2009: – Elsevier Grand challenge: ‘describe and prototype a tool to improve the interpretation and identification of meaning in journals and databases’ – 71 heterogeneous submissions; 8 judges, great enthusiasm/momentum: – An interdisciplinary, international community is interested in discussing the Future of Science Publishing 2010: – Found & connected to Phil Bourne – Planned Dagstuhl meeting 2011: – January: Beyond the PDF, San Diego: 97 Attendees, electric/debate: ‘Application of emergent technologies to measurably improve the way that scholarship is conveyed and comprehended’ – August: Force11 at Dagstuhl: 34 attendees – November: Manifesto is published >> Force11! Research Communication

4. Founding Force11Force11 2012: Funding Sloan Foundation to take this to the next step: – Establish Web platform – Codevelop proposals – Appoint Director (Maryann Martone) 2013: Beyond the PDF2, Amsterdam: – 148 attendees, great discussion 2014: Working groups take off: – Data Citation Principles Working group – Resource Identifier Working group 2015: Force15, Oxford: – 257 attendees, next level!

5. Checks and Balances What worked well: We managed to get over 1000 members, many quite active We have a good ‘return-on- investment’ for a mostly volunteer-led organisation We are the only organisation of its kind that includes scientists, librarians, publishers, software developers We discuss the full range of scholarly output We are international What we can still improve: The format of the research paper! We didn’t make a ‘new journal’ – would like to, not sure how We are still struggling to know ‘what we are about’: advocacy? Change? How? We are still not as inclusive as we would like to be: – ‘The Global South’ is represented well enough – Young researchers are not as engaged as we’d like them to be

6. Five things Force11 did to enhance community engagement: 1.Be inclusive: – Anyone can join Force11: you just need to sign up. – Anyone can start a working group: just a web form. – Anyone can join the meetings. 2.Be clear: – Our Manifesto is up-front on the web site, as is our legal status – Bylaws, election etc: getting organised, hope to have that up soon – What is membership and how is it attained? 3.Be organized (and spend money on that): – Our funding pays for a) an excellent managing director who is able to keep us inline, on task, on time, communicating b) a webmaster, whom she manages – Meetings have (changing) schedules, set up by working group, but MD + webmaster 4.Have open discussions about difficult issues: – 1K challenge: up for discussion! … Great idea came up. 5.Be willing to change: – Currently wondering where we will head: how can we change scholarly communication? – How can we attract new members?

7. Some ideas on creating a more diverse organisation: Count. – YES, it matters how many women, how many non-Caucasian people, how many Early Career Researchers, how many non-US, how many people you don’t know are on the boards, the committees, in the planning group, on the mast head, at the NSF presentations… Ask. – If you come across someone who is markedly different from yourself (age, gender, background, ethnicity, …) ask them if they feel represented, if their views are heard, if they feel comfortable speaking up. Check. – This is not a one-time effort: before you know it, you are the dominant force. – So keep asking: keep offering opportunities for interaction, for countercultures, for jumping in. Act. – This means actually having some of your buddies (or you) leave positions of power, to create a more well-balanced board/committee/leadership panel. – It means inviting people you don’t know to say things you might not be used to. Who knows? You might hear or meet something or someone new!

8. Some thoughts for the NDSC: Jump in: – The goal is to create a community: this cannot be done top-down Speak up: – Make sure your voice is heard – Don’t talk in the hall – talk on the floor Plan for change: – In data science – But also in creating effective communities that enable deep change to occur – Who knows where it might lead?