Beyond the "Cool" factor: the Challenge of Making Altmetrics Indispensable

Abstract

This case study will speak to Michigan Publishing’s use of Altmetrics for Publishers over the last four

years, from our basic implementation of badges across all of our publications, to our more ambitious

efforts to understand and deploy altmetric data to inform strategic and editorial decisions, to the pie-

in-the-sky uses for the tool we *know* we’ve hardly yet explored. While highlighting both successes

and challenges, the talk will hinge on the biggest roadblock we’ve faced: getting beyond cool and

interesting to indispensable (spoiler alert: we’re not there yet). We’ll speak to constraints--on time,

resources, technological skill, etc.--faced by our press staff, the opportunity for Altmetric, Dimensions,

and comparable tools to enhance and support that work, and the way further enhancements and

developments to these tools could help bridge the gap between engagement with altmetrics being

seen as interesting and being essential.