What happened to the book? Updates on Open Data Metrics

In November 2019 we had a Book Sprint that challenged our facilitator and participants, but the outcome was nonetheless a successful one: the book Open Data Metrics. Our facilitator Faith Bosworth traveled to California to work with a team from California Digital Library, and got caught in the wildfires that hit the region almost annually. The event left the group without power supply for the entire first day, but luckily there was no danger for the participants.

participants starting a brainstorming exercise / photo credits: Faith Bosworth

Having passed more than a year, we reached out to organiser and participant Daniella Lowenberg to get news on how the book has come along. Daniella shared:

To date the book had over 5,600 views and over 2,100 downloads. We use it internally for our messaging and it’s been cited quite a few times.

Other than the obstacles imposed by the lack of power supply – which demanded adjustments to the method in the very first day – the group had only 5 participants, our limit recommendation for a Book Sprints group. In spite of these factors, we were glad to witness once more the resourcefulness of our method when everything worked out fine in the end, and the authors and readers got a useful and comprehensive book. Daniella added:

The Book Sprint was an incredibly valuable experience. The process enabled a group of us with diverse ideas and limited time to get together our perspectives and information into an organised narrative, working through discussions that we would have not otherwise been as productive without our great Book Sprints facilitator and framework. Leaving the sprint, we had both an eBook as well as access to professional illustrations of our ideas that have been invaluable for our messaging. Now that we have a published book, we have a source for references that the broader community has been pointing to in grant proposals, papers, conference presentations, etc.

We hope the reach of the book Open Data Metrics continues to grow and more readers can benefit from its content. Find the book and read more about this Book Sprint process here.