Open Password – Friday, April 9, 2021
#908
ZB MED – Strategy – Willi Bredemeier – Life Sciences – German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure – Open Password – Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann – Bielefeld Institute for Bioinformatics Infrastructure – BMBF – Big Data – de.NBI – ELIXIR – Challenges – One Health – Target groups – Scientific Libraries – Face-to-face and e-learning – Research skills – Science for Services – Service for Science – Research cycle – Open Science – Research and networking – Regional collaborations – National Library of Medicine – Data Science – Research collaborations – Omics high-throughput analyzes – Central specialist library – Long-term archiving – Ontologies – Knowledge Graphs – ZB MED Knowledge Environment – Search Engines – Open Access – FAIR Principles – Open Access – Research Data Management – Licensing – Knowledge and Skills Transfer – TH Cologne – Digital Infrastructure for the Life Sciences – German Politics – German Media – Artificial Intelligence – Leo Köstler – Ringo Ossewalde – Springer Link – Federal Ministries – World – TAZ – FAZ – DIE ZEIT – Status quo – Key technology – Hybrid solutions – Market leader – Unique selling points – “Ethical AI” – SMEs – Risks – Surveillance state – Fake news – Algorithmic discrimination – GFK Entertainment – International book markets – sales – prices – fiction – non-fiction – Barack Obama – e-books – Corona – video conferences – Alfaview – Handelsblatt – climate balance – work-life balance – barrier-free communication
1.
Cover story: ZB MED and BIBI merge and present a joint strategy until 2025 – By Willi Bredemeier
2.
Outside the box: How German politicians and the media
see AI in their own country and how the media reinforces the political “frame”.
3.
International book markets: readers’ interest in buying remains unbroken (GfK)
4.
Climate killer video conferences: improving work-life balance (Alfaview)
E.g. MED
ZB MED and BIBI merge
and present a common strategy until 2025
By Willi Bredemeier
ZB MED/BIBI Strategy 2020-2025 – Strengthening people and the environment with research and infrastructure, Cologne 2021, https://www.zbmed.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Profil/PDFs/Strategie-2020-2025-ZB_MED_BIBI_final.pdf . A video clip gives a first brief overview of what ZB MED wants to focus on in the next few years and what topics are on the agenda: https://youtu.be/rSXyDpu4Bjo .
The greatest success of the German life sciences to date:
BionTech developers Ugur Sahin (tr.) and Ozlem Türeci
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In view of the enormous challenges facing the life sciences, for a “German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure”
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ZB MED and Open Password share a common history, which culminated in the jointly sponsored event “Future of scientific libraries?!” on May 18, 2020 (“National hub for information and data in the life sciences – Eleven areas of responsibility according to the demands of the DBV and NLM’s exemplary dysfunctions – Successful in seven areas of responsibility, four more tackled”, in: Open Password, August 3, 2020 – “2025 central and national information hub for the life sciences – driving force for standards, technical processes and open science – broad Portfolio for researchers, broad range of courses for scientists”, in: Open Password, August 10, 2020). Back then, the scientific director of ZB MED, Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann, particularly discussed an alliance that had recently been concluded with the Bielefeld Institute for Bioinformatics Infrastructure. Now, almost a year later, the two institutions are planning to “merge into one institution across the three locations” and already have a common strategy until 2025. Their aim is: “To support researchers in the life sciences and thereby “To strengthen people and the world with research and infrastructure” (Open Password, April 7, 2021). The collaboration and proposed merger can now be better justified:
“In order to strengthen research and gain additional skills in the area of data analysis, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) initiated the funding measure for the “German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure” (de.NBI) in May 2013. This creates an infrastructure for Germany consisting of bioinformatics services and training, which particularly includes solutions for dealing with “big data” in the life sciences. The Bielefeld Institute for Bioinformatics (BIBI), based at the University of Bielefeld, manages both the de.NBI and the German ELIXIR office and thus coordinates the projects of the German partners. This means that a broad portfolio of resources is available for German researchers in the life sciences, including databases, bioinformatics software and tools as well as the necessary computing capacity via a distributed, cloud-based IT infrastructure in a network.”
Already in 2020 there was no other choice than to address the corona pandemic as a particular challenge for the life sciences. “Future of Information Sciences?!” was one of the first events that had to be reorganized from a face-to-face to a virtual event. The challenges have now become more diverse or are perceived as more urgent in the wake of the upheaval caused by globalization and digitalization:
“Topics include combating pandemics, from major widespread diseases to rare diseases, securing nutrition, enabling healthy, self-determined aging, ensuring energy supplies, the environment and protecting the climate. Overcoming the global challenges identified depends on significant contributions from the life sciences. The holistic view of the influencing and impact factors of nutritional and agricultural science, biological, ecological, veterinary and human medicine research (e.g. “one health”) provides the information basis.”
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Target groups and their needs – vision and unique selling point.
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Rebholz-Schuhmann had already started from an approach oriented towards target groups and their needs. However, this is now presented in a much broader and more differentiated manner:
- “Researchers expect fast and comprehensive access to literature, data and information as well as globally accessible infrastructures with which they can store all kinds of data, add metadata, publish and archive them.
- Library and information science institutions and their staff expect that ZB MED/BIBI will provide them with competent and comprehensive support in serving their own clientele and, as a leading representative of information science, will help shape digital change, develop products and share new findings in the community. ZB MED/BIBI is intended to act as an active partner in the jointly managed information infrastructure in Germany.
- Teachers have an increased need for aggregated, structured and editable materials in digital form – for face-to-face and e-learning offerings.
- Students need support in overcoming different challenges in the different phases of their training. Particularly for doctoral candidates in the area of tension between studying and research, the focus is not only on technical content, but also on mastering research skills.
- Practical users usually research under time pressure. Depending on your subject area, you need literature and research support to varying degrees.”
In the “vision” of the two institutions, the coexistence of information provision and research is once again emphasized and a nice generic term is created for the framework in which the research programs have to fit in (“ Science for services” ):
“ ZB MED/BIBI combines two national tasks in one institution:
- that of a central specialist library in the provision of information and literature as an infrastructure facility for literature, data and their analysis (“Service for science”).
- that of an application-oriented research institute that develops new services for the use of data in the life sciences (“Science for services”).
The vision of ZB MED/BIBI “We strengthen people and the environment with research and infrastructure” is derived from the aim of supporting researchers in the life sciences throughout the entire research cycle in the spirit of Open Science. ZB MED/BIBI is particularly committed to the further development of data-supported research.”
The facilities state that their unique selling point is:
“As a central information hub for the life sciences, ZB MED/BIBI offers a combination of supra-regional information provision, big data analyzes and knowledge transfer. This provides researchers with comprehensive support in the spirit of open science along the entire research cycle and thus enables new findings: information and knowledge for the life sciences.
Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann: With a strategy for the years 2021 – 2025
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Research and networking – data science – access to information.
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The update and further development of our own strategic ideas led to the following determinations at the goal and measure level:
“1. Research and networking: We conduct research together with the regionally, nationally, European and globally networked research community. ZB MED/BIBI is an important hub for the scientific community and a leader in the development of new standards, technical processes and the implementation of Open Science. As a competent partner, ZB MED/BIBI creates networks with researchers and infrastructure facilities in order to determine the needs of specialist communities, support the dissemination of innovations and standards, conduct research together and develop new services that meet needs. ZB MED/BIBI uses the impulses from the specialist communities in its own research and the establishment of infrastructures as a central interface.
Regional communication often provides the starting point for scientific research projects. To this end, ZB MED/BIBI cooperates on the levels of research, teaching and information infrastructure with local universities in Cologne, Bonn and Bielefeld as well as non-university institutions and libraries. …
The establishment of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) is being significantly promoted by ZB MED/BIBI. … ZB MED/BIBI acts as the most important European partner of the US National Library of Medicine.
- Data Science: We enable data analysis and generate new insights through research. ZB MED/BIBI enables researchers to carry out data analyzes in an openly accessible cloud-based computing infrastructure including the necessary software. With the development of innovative data science methods based on artificial intelligence (AI), semantic standardization, text and data mining applications as well as bioinformatics and systems biology solutions, new life science insights can be gained from large amounts of data in research collaborations.
An important field of application is omics high-throughput data analysis, which is needed across many life science communities. Promising analysis software from such applications will be incorporated into the ZB MED/BIBI offering within the de.NBI network, thereby expanding the spectrum of available methods there.
In addition, ZB MED/BIBI is developing into a strong research institute for method development (“Science for services”)… The creation of semantic interoperability and links between generated data and information in literature or knowledge bases as well as new semantic representations are the content of further research activities. This results in new analysis, information and knowledge discovery services for users.
- Access to information: We provide sustainable access to information, literature and data as a central information infrastructure . ZB MED/BIBI curates, collects and indexes information, literature and research data and offers Germany-wide access, regardless of the user’s location.
ZB MED/BIBI brings digital and physical holdings and offerings into the cooperative and participatory structures of information provision in the “overall Germany system”. In its role as a central specialist library, ZB MED/BIBI focuses on specific needs in the life sciences. This makes the facility an important addition to university and scientific special libraries, which work in conjunction with higher-level bodies such as: B. GASCO (German, Austrian and Swiss Consortia Organization) or the Medical Faculty Association. Own holdings and open access publications are preserved through long-term digital archiving and made permanently available to researchers.
In addition, other digital representations of knowledge are becoming increasingly important. Examples are ontologies and knowledge graphs that are offered in suitable environments such as the semantic lookup service SemLookP or graph or RDF databases from ZB MED/BIBI. Research data standards and the integration of ontologies and knowledge graphs facilitate the use of these diverse resources as a comprehensive knowledge base. The data sources of ZB MED/BIBI, e.g. B. the “ZB MED Knowledge Environment”, accessible to machines and can be used in external research projects. The availability of software objects with appropriate documentation and persistent identifiers is an important addition to the resources mentioned above.
The IT infrastructure of ZB MED/BIBI offers free access to modern search engines that make life sciences content easy to find and make it available in a networked manner. …
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Open and FAIR – transferring knowledge and skills
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- Open and FAIR. With the cloud-based IT infrastructure for big data analysis, the open access publication platforms and the comprehensive consulting services, ZB MED/BIBI supports the work of researchers in all phases of the research cycle – from idea research to a data management plan to publication. The provision and safe and sustainable storage of data, software, literature and services by ZB MED/BIBI promotes transparent, open and reproducible science in the sense of “Open Science”.
The platforms ensure established standards that enable the open and sustainable exchange of content in accordance with the “FAIR principles”. They are geared to the needs of researchers and benefit from the implementation of applied research findings. They make a significant contribution to the structural networking activities of ZB MED/BIBI.
With its commitment to open access, research data management and long-term archiving, ZB MED/BIBI goes beyond the creation of open access content by providing publication platforms and consulting services and paves the way for the transformation of subscription journals to open access through appropriate licensing .
- Transfer of knowledge and skills : We actively impart knowledge, skills and abilities. Data and information literacy are becoming increasingly important in all phases of the life sciences research cycle. The offer is aimed both directly at researchers – in all phases of their careers – and, as a train-the-trainer concept, at multipliers and colleagues at academic libraries.
For the career profile of “librarian”, ZB MED/BIBI, in collaboration with the TH Köln, offers appropriate training and further education courses, including the bachelor’s degree program “Data and Information Science”, the master’s degree program “Library and Information Science” and the certificate course “Data Librarian”. . Because the participants take up training positions and internships at the same time, this expertise is directly applied in library practice.
At the university locations in Bonn and Cologne, ZB MED/BIBI offers new lecture content on semantic technologies and research data management in the departments of medicine, the faculty of agriculture and the master’s degree program in Life Science Informatics.
The “Digital Infrastructure for the Life Sciences” (DILS) graduate school, newly launched by ZB MED/BIBI at the Bielefeld location, is training a steadily increasing number of young researchers in the area of bioinformatics infrastructure and data analysis…”.
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Final note.
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The presentation of ZB MED’s strategic ideas was already praised by Open Password in 2020. Its further development into a strategy paper that covers the years 2021 – 2025 is likely to be at the state of the art of discussions in the areas of responsibility of ZB MED (including BIBI). The expansion path shown into new areas of responsibility appears plausible, and the networking that has already occurred is considerable. The existing challenges for the life sciences are indeed enormous, so that ZB MED also has to be wished good luck from non-institutional interests. A path similar to that which may have led from ZB MED to the greatest success of the German life sciences to date, the development of BionTech by Ugur Sahin and Olem Türeci, is long, can be interrupted at many intermediate stages and can be described in detail cannot understand. But with a strategy paper like this, the innovative strength and efficiency of ZB MED can be improved and the entire German life sciences can be strengthened to some extent. We need more strategy papers like this – also from other institutions and beyond the German healthcare system.
Outside the box (34)
How German politicians and the media
see AI in their own country and
the media reinforces the political “frame”.
Lea Köstler & Ringo Ossewalde, The making of AI society: AI futures frames in German political and media discourses, in: link-springer.com/article/10.1007. The authors derive the frame of reference in which politics and the media discuss the future of artificial intelligence in their own country. For this purpose, communications from the responsible federal ministries as well as contributions from Welt, TAZ, FAZ and DIE ZEIT were used. The basic theses of this frame of reference are:
(1) Germany has somehow missed the digital revolution and needs to catch up very quickly if it wants to maintain its economic position in global competition. Because “the international race to attract talent, creativity, technology, data, and investment is rapidly picking up speed”.
(2) “The German AI future is not only a utopian possibility, but a political-administrative necessity whose realization demands the collective approval, discipline, and efforts of the entire German nation.”
(3) The vision is that Germany will become the European market leader in artificial intelligence, similar to how Germany was the world market leader in automobiles. “AI in Germany” should be a similar label to “Made in Germany”, which stood and stands for “high quality” and “trustworthiness”.
(4) Special achievements are once again expected from medium-sized German companies.
(5) The aim is to achieve a modern version of the past, which means that the basic political, social and economic structures remain as they are.
(6) This also means that the future of German AI as a key technology, as specific applications or as hybrid solutions from AI and conventional technologies will be created by industry. Advantages are seen, for example, in biotechnology, mobility, media or the creative industries.
(7) The unique selling points of German AI compared to China, Russia and the USA are the orientation towards the well-being of citizens, high standards, for example in data protection, and the development of “ethical AI”. “In this frame, AI is envisioned to foster German citizens’ social participation, their freedom of action, and their protection of privacy, thereby reinforcing certain longstanding German political, social, and cultural values”
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(8) Risks of AI, for example “permanent electronic surveillance, the manipulation and falsification of information or increasing discrimination, are primarily discussed in connection with the politics of other countries. It is the industry and not politics that is responsible for developing “ethical AI”, for example for autonomous driving. “Developing standards is primarily up to the private sector, not the state.”
Differences between the “frames” of politics and the media are only rudimentary, so that the media essentially confirms and reinforces the “frame” given to them. So far, civil society protests have mainly chosen targets other than artificial intelligence.
However, politicians tend to say that action must be taken now and that there is no time to publicly debate possible AI futures or even to develop a critical public. The media would lose their core mission if they agreed to this. The media is most likely to take a critical stance at the implementation level, as the political level here typically remains vague. The term “ethical AI” is seen as a “fig leaf” or as a “government tactic and marketing strategy for increasing public support and sales”. The possibilities of undesirable AI futures in our own country are also discussed more by the media than by politicians.
International Book Markets 2020
Readers’ purchasing interest remains unbroken during the pandemic
(Gfk Entertainment GmbH) The international book markets have drawn a mixed conclusion for the Corona year 2020. This is the result of a special evaluation by GfK Entertainment covering nine countries, which was created on the basis of physical sales data from the retail panels or, for Germany, on the basis of the GfK Consumer Panel. After the significant losses during the first shutdown, retailers were able to significantly reduce their deficits in the following months, but faced difficulties in the important Christmas business, for example. T. faced with new store closures. Nevertheless, the annual data overall shows that readers’ interest in buying remains unbroken even during the crisis.
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Sales between minus 16.6 percent and plus 10.2 percent
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The sales curve in 2020 was very positive in Belgian Flanders (plus 10.2 percent) and in the Netherlands (plus 7.2 percent). Italy (plus 3.3 percent) and Spain (plus 0.8 percent), which were particularly hard hit by the pandemic in the spring, also saw increases for the entire year. Brazil, the only non-European country in the analysis, recorded increases of 2.4 percent; Switzerland ended up with plus/minus 0.0 percent. However, there were declines in Germany (minus 2.5 percent) and France (minus 2.1 percent), both characterized by two shutdowns within a year, while Belgian Wallonia (minus 1.8 percent) and Portugal (minus 16, 6 percent) as well.
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Average prices are rising in eight out of nine countries
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While sales fell noticeably in many places – such as the Netherlands (minus 4.4 percent) – the average price in all of the European markets analyzed climbed, in some cases considerably. The three fastest-growing regions, Flanders (plus 5.1 percent), the Netherlands (plus 2.6 percent) and Italy (plus 3.7 percent), also reported the largest price increases in a country comparison. Books also became more expensive in Germany (plus 1.8 percent), Switzerland (plus 2.2 percent) and France (plus 1.3 percent). Brazil alone recorded a price decline of minus 1.8 percent.
Dr. Mathias Giloth, Managing Director of GfK Entertainment: “The printed book has demonstrated its outstanding function as an essential cultural, entertainment and economic asset even in the crisis year of 2020. Expanded service offerings from stationary retailers such as contactless collection of ordered books, bicycle delivery services or The expansion of their own online business shows the creativity of the industry and was able to strengthen customer loyalty despite geographical distance and at least counteract the loss of sales to some extent through intensively used sales periods between the shutdowns, higher average prices and increases in e-commerce and digital formats further positive accents in the midst of an extremely difficult market environment.”
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Fiction with growth of over five percent
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Fiction was one of the most popular genres in 2020. The increases in Brazil, Flanders, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain all exceeded the five percent mark; The values in France (plus 1.8 percent) and Germany (minus 0.8 percent) were also above the national level. Joel Dicker’s love triangle “The Secret of Room 622” (France, Italy, Spain) and Valérie Perrin’s novel “Under the Hundred-Year-Old Linden” (Italy, France, Wallonia), each represented in three countries, scored in the top 5 of the annual fiction charts were.
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Non-fiction is declining in many places
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Former US President Barack Obama’s memoir “A Promised Land” became the best-selling book in Switzerland and Wallonia, the most successful non-fiction book in Germany and France, and a top 5 position in the non-fiction segment in Portugal. Overall, this performed less well than fiction and ended the year with losses in Germany (minus 2.5 percent) and France (minus 8.4 percent), for example. There were light and shadows when looking at the other segments: While children’s and young adult books consistently increased in sales, with the exception of Portugal, the declines in the immensely affected travel book sector ranged from 22.8 percent (Germany) to 73.2 percent (Portugal).
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Positive developments in e-books
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The e-book sales channel developed positively in the Corona year 2020. In Spain, where VAT on digital books and e-publications was reduced from 21 to four percent, e-books increased by 78.2 percent. France’s digital book market grew by 26 percent, while e-books generated lower sales growth in Germany (plus 16.2 percent), Flanders (plus 16.5 percent) and the Netherlands (plus 12.7 percent).
Climate killer video conference?
Improving work-life balance
A contribution from Alfaview GmbH
Video conferencing has become an integral part of everyday working life since the beginning of the corona pandemic. However, reports about their climate-damaging effects are increasingly circulating in the media; the Handelsblatt even describes them as “CO2 slingers” and demands: “Camera off for the climate!” However, studies show that traveling to a business meeting or the daily commute to work generates significantly more emissions on average than the server services required for virtual conferences. Even relatively short journeys – by plane, car or train – usually have a worse environmental impact than virtual meetings.
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Video conferences save CO2 and life time
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It’s not just the environment that benefits from predominantly working from home. Many employees see this as an improvement in their work-life balance: the lack of commuting means a gain in life, enables a more flexible choice of place of residence and thus makes it easier to combine work and private life. The use of suitable video conferencing systems prevents a possible lack of social contact with colleagues and business partners. The camera image is of fundamental importance here: only the visibility of facial expressions and gestures ensures that video conferences are perceived as an equivalent replacement for a personal meeting. This is the only way they can initiate a long-term change in the world of work and motivate them to reduce business trips and commutes. The relatively low additional energy consumption for the transmission of the video image is largely compensated for by the enormous savings potential in air, road and rail transport.
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Digitalization enables barrier-free communication
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Regardless of this, modern tools such as the video conferencing software “alfaview” also offer people with disabilities the opportunity for barrier-free communication and thus uncomplicated participation in professional life. Through increasing digitalization, companies can overcome distances in the literal and figurative sense and thus enable hybrid working models even after the Corona pandemic that sustainably benefit both the climate and the quality of life of employees.
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