Introduction
 
The IEEE Signal Processing Society Board of Governors, at its 20 September 2007 meeting, unanimously adopted a motion to create a pilot project with Connexions for open-source educational content.  The pilot project will rapidly move previously uncopyrighted material or appropriately licensed material, in modular form, provided by well-known scientists across the breadth of signal processing disciplines, into the open-source realm.  It is believed that the broad appeal of the presentation format offered by Connexions will make signal processing-related material available to all, including those who work in an applications environment.
 
As part of the pilot project, the Society was requested to provide a “lensing” component that would form a certification for submitted material.   This “lensing” opportunity would carry not only the strength of the reputation of the “lensing agent(s)” but also the imprimatur of the IEEE Signal Processing Society.  The result would be a model for open-source educational material within IEEE.
 
IEEE Signal Processing Society volunteer leaders have engaged the interest of several well-known educators across the breadth of the Society’s “Field of Interest” who are happy to provide modules for the project.
 
The Society and Connexions staff have cooperated on the development of an aggressive schedule that would open the Society’s “Lens” beginning January 2008.
 
This manual provides the details of the lensing process with respect to the IEEE Signal Processing Society/Connexions pilot project for open-source educational material.  It is intended primarily as a guide for individuals (lensing agents) selected to review materials submitted to the Society for lensing.
 
What is Connexions?
 
Connexions is a not-for-profit organization providing open-source educational content.  Founded at Rice University, Connexions is today one of the most used open-education resources on the Web, and is employed in virtually all educational settings around the globe.  
 
Connexions allows contributors to create, rip, mix, and burn textbooks, courses, and learning materials from a globally accessible, open-access repository. Smallish, Lego block modules communicate a concept, a procedure, a set of questions, and so on. Connecting several modules together into a collection creates a Web course, a textbook, or a curriculum that can be easily updated by adding, subtracting, or modifying modules. All content is encoded in XML and open-licensed under the Creative Commons attribution license; all tools are free and open-source.
 
For a more detailed descriptions of Connexions, please visit the About Connexions page on this site.
 
What is a Connexions lens?
 
A Connexions “Lens” is a means of identifying high quality material in a topical area.  It allows individuals sifting through open-source modules and collections of modules to bore in on information that a “Lensing Agent” has determined to be accurate and complete, and presented in a clear and accessible manner to appeal to a broad cross-section of those who would use the information.
 
Is lensing the same as peer review?
 
While the determination of high quality material for the Society’s lens requires review by a “lensing agent/agents”, it is not peer review.  IEEE peer review requires a minimum of two blind reviews by peers.  In lensing, the identity of the lensing agent/agents is known and appears on the module or collection.  Lensing can be done by a single agent or even a group of lensing agents.  While peer review typically occurs in a single or two cycles prior to approval of a manuscript, lensing is an ongoing process since material in a module/collection will be updated periodically as science changes and information and processes become outmoded.  When such updates take place the current lens stamp will be removed until and unless the material is again reviewed by a lensing agent/agents, and restamped.  The history of changes and lensing will be retained with the module/collection.
 
How is content selected for lensing?
 
An author who has a module/collection on Connexions may decide that his/her work would gain additional attention if it were to undergo lensing.  Thus, the author of the content is the most common requester of lensing.  However, it is possible that the Lensing Oversight Committee  (LOC) may recommend to an author that their material is of high quality and would benefit from lensing.  Finally, third parties who have viewed the Connexions content and consider it to be of high quality and worthy of lensing may suggest either the author and/or the Lensing Oversight Committee that the module/collection be reviewed.  In any event, requests are sent to the Chair of the Lensing Oversight Committee via the Content Submission Form page.
 
 
What is the Lensing Oversight Committee?
 
The Lensing Oversight Committee of the IEEE Signal Processing Society is a committee of three to five signal processing “experts” selected by the Society for their broad knowledge of signal processing.  They are established scientists with a significant record of accomplishment whose names are recognizable in one or more areas of the signal processing community.  Appointment to the Lensing Oversight Committee is an honor for those selected to hold the position (nominations arise from the Signal Processing Society’s Signal Processing Education Technical Committee and final appointments are made by the Society’s Board of Governors).
 
 The term of service of a member of the LOC adheres to the Society’s policy for appointments of a maximum of three years.  Because the appointment is both a job and a recognition, re-appointment is rare and will only be considered by the Board after a two-year break in service.  Any reappointment will require specific motion of the Board of Governors.  The members of the LOC select their own Chair who serves for a term not to exceed two years to insure orderly transition to the next Chair prior to expiration of term of service of the current LOC Chair.
 
The Lensing Oversight Committee receives a request to review and lens a module or collection.  The author(s) of the content are advised of the request (if the requester is other than the author(s)).  The LOC matches a lensing agent to the content in order to conduct the lensing review and determine whether the it meets the criteria of quality, completeness, and accessible presentation to earn the imprimatur of the lensing agent and of the IEEE Signal Processing Society.  The author(s) of the module/collection are notified of the name(s) of the lensing agent(s) conducting the review(s) but have no control over the choice of agent(s).   The author can, of course, at any point, decide he/she would prefer to forego lensing review.  Once an author opts out of lensing review for a particular module/collection , he/she cannot later request lensing of that same content.  The content can only be reviewed at a later time if the substance/meaning is materially changed through amendment of the content.
 
In sum, the responsibilities of the LOC are:
  1. •To receive the lensing request or independently identify content for lensing
  2. •To determine the appropriateness of a request for lensing by an author or other interested party
  3. •To identify a lensing agent(s)
  4. •To establish the time for lensing with the lensing agent
  5. •To follow up with the lensing agent to assure timely completion
  6. •To determine the quality of the lensing exercise
  7. •To monitor communications between the lensing agent and the author(s)
  8. •To mitigate any disputes by authors/lensing agents
  9. •To monitor lensed content that would benefit from updating and so notify the authors
  10. •To notify Connexions to apply the lens and the identity of the lensing agent on behalf of the IEEE Signal Processing Society
  11. •To notify Connexions to remove the lens and the identity of the lensing agent and the IEEE Signal Processing Society for content found to be plagiarized, improperly used, or in any other way scientifically or ethically deficient
  12. •To determine when re-lensing of content is appropriate and arrange re-lensing in the same manner noted above for initial lensing, including contacting the author(s).
 
The decision of the LOC concerning application of a lens to content is within the complete purview of the LOC.  Likewise, appeals by authors and/or lensing agents, reassignment of lensing agents, determination of the expertise of a lensing agent, and any other activity concerning the lensing of content shall be the purview of the LOC.
 
Who are the lensing agents and how are they selected?
 
Lensing agents can be individuals or groups of individuals.  An individual is an acknowledged expert in the area of signal processing of the content to be reviewed for lensing.  Additionally, lensing review may be conducted by a group of individuals.  For example, a group of scientists in a particular lab may be selected to form a team of lensing agents to review the modules in large or complex collections; one member of the team will have responsibility for leading the lensing review and rendering the result in the allotted time.  Or a senior lensing agent may use the lensing process as a teaching tool and involve his/her students, in preparing the lensing review.  Again, the senior lensing agent will have responsibility for leading the review and rendering the result in the allotted time.  In any case, the lensing review will be conducted openly, the results openly posted, and the name(s) of the lensing agent(s) attached to the content as having conducted the lensing review.  Thus, the quality of the lensing review is as important as the quality of the content under review.
 
What happens if the lensing agent finds errors or inaccuracies?
 
Because the identity of the lensing agent is known to the author, there can be an open communication between them in order to assure that errors and inaccuracies can be corrected so that the lens can be applied.
 
If there is disagreement between the lensing agent and the author on a salient point, the LOC will determine the best outcome which may be based on the opinion of the LOC itself, or in the case of a narrow or complicated question, on the opinion of an additional, independent expert selected by the LOC.
 
How does the LOC assure that the lensing review is above board?
 
The selection of lensing agents is conducted by the LOC according to exacting standards.  Agents must agree in writing to accept the assignment, to complete it in the time allotted by the LOC, and to assure that he/she does not have a prior or existing relationship to the work under review.  Prior or existing relationships are required to be revealed as a possible conflict of interest to the LOC.  The failure of an agent to declare a possible or actual conflict of interest will be sufficient to remove him/her from reviewing content for the Society’s lens for the period of one year.
 
An author/authors are also required to declare possible or actual conflicts of interest if they recognize that the lensing agent assigned to their content has a prior relationship to the work under review.  Failure of an author to report such possible/actual conflicts of interest may result in suspension of lensing of content by that author of up to one year.
 
The LOC determines whether suspension from service as a lensing agent, or suspending of lensing of an author's material is appropriate, and notifies the agent and/or the author(s).
 
How does the LOC assure that the modules are actually the work of the submitters?
 
The word “plagiarism” has become all too familiar in scientific circles in this age of open information and global data-sharing.  Plagiarism and other misconduct by an author/authors who would misrepresent their work and fail to acknowledge the work of others, is not only offensive, it is illegal.  Authors are expected to enter into Connexions only their own material.  At the time that modules are put into Connexions, the onus is on the author to assure that the work that others may have done to advance the work represented in the module is acknowledged by appropriate reference.  Remember that Connexions is an open-source environment and peer review of material is not conducted as a matter of course.
 
Having said that, if content is found to infringe the rights of another author or authors either by representing the work of another, either in part or whole, as one’s own work, the content will be marked as a possible plagiarism but the material will remain in place.  
 
In the event that [an] author/authors attributes the work of others as his own, or fails to acknowledge the contributions of others by appropriate reference, the content in question will not be lensed by the IEEE Signal Processing Society and the Society may decide to remove its lens stamp from other work by the same author/authors.  The denial of review or removal of a lens stamp for proven author misconduct in these ways will be reported to Connexions.  The Signal Processing Society will, indefinitely, deny lensing review and a lens stamp to any/all content submissions by author(s) of the content.
 
Finally, recall that authors who attach their names to work when they have not materially contributed to it, also commit a serious offense and an illegal one—fraud.  All authors of content need to have materially contributed to its creation and each and every author must be able, without prior notice, to defend the work represented in the content.
 
How rapidly are lensing reviews conducted?
 
For single modules or collections that are small, and for which a lensing agent can be rapidly identified, the author might expect that a review can be completed and the lens stamp affixed within one month.  For large collections, particularly those that have not been previously peer reviewed (e.g., books or book chapters submitted under open source license), may take significantly longer.  The target review time is established by the LOC based on the size of the content, the anticipated difficulty in identifying lensing agents (typically, there will be more than one agent when a book is involved and the assignment of material within the collection will be apportioned to the agents by the LOC), and the time involved in thoroughly reviewing the work are taken into account.  Of course, since the content is already available on Connexions, the author is not disadvantaged by the review period; he/she/they of course do not accrue the benefit of the lens stamp until the lensing review is complete and the stamp approved by the LOC on behalf of the IEEE Signal Processing Society.
 
What criteria do lensing agents consider in a lensing review?
 
The lensing agent/agents will consider:
 
  1. •Does the module/collection fit the technical scope of the SPS lens?
  2. •Is each submitted module a compact expression of a single, complete idea?
  3. •Is the material technically correct?
  4. •How clearly is the idea expressed and at what educational level is necessary to understanding the material?
  5. •Are all mathematical, visual, auditory, musical, or other elements included in the module/collection correct and are they sufficient for reproducing the findings?
  6. •Are there appropriate references to the work of others that may be represented in the module/collection or on which the work in the module/collection is built?
  7. •Does the module/collection comprise uncopyrighted material or material that is appropriately licensed for open-source posting?
 
The LOC may establish additional criteria based on the assurance of quality of the module/collection, the expertise of the lensing agent(s), or other appropriate considerations.
 
 
How do lensing agents submit their reviews? How is the review process organized?
 

Once an author submits their materials for lensing using the Content Sumbission Form, an email is sent to the IEEE-SPS. This mail is then forwarded by an IEEE-SPS staffer to the head of the LOC. The information is also entered by into a Google-documents spreadsheet viewable by members of the LOC.

This spreadsheet is used by the LOC to co-ordinate its review. For each submission, the spreadsheet records the module/course ID. To reach the relevant content in Connexions, the ID in that column is appended to http://cnx.org/content/. Thus, the google doc should have everything a reviewer needs for finding the module/collection in Connexions. In other words, contact with the author should not be necessary at this stage unless the reviewer has other questions.

Please note that lensing agents should use the Lensing Evaluation Form to submit reviews. This will email the IEEE-SPS staffer much as the "Content Submission Form" does. The staffer will then udate the Google-doc spreadsheet as in the content submission case.

Once the review has been received by IEEE-SPS and approved by an LOC member, it will be recorded on the spedsheet. Modules/collections which have been reviewed with an "Accept" status will then be input into the IEEE-SPS lens on Connexions.

 
 
Why should an author consider having his/her content lensed?
 
As mentioned above, once an author places content in Connexions it is available to any and all who might wish to access it.   Taking the extra step of requesting that content be “lensed” provides the work with a strong imprimatur by way of the name and identity of the individual or team of lensing agents who have conducted the review.  It also adds the name and logo of the IEEE Signal Processing Society.  The IEEE Signal Processing Society is a worldwide organization of some 17,000 signal processing professionals.  The Society is the foremost publisher of signal processing periodicals and archival journals, and is an acknowledged leader in signal processing education by way of its major conferences and topically targeted workshops.  Thus, having the acknowledged professional organization for signal processing professionals add its name, logo, and reputation to an author’s work provides a valuable stamp of quality.
 
Is there any limit to the number of lens reviews an author can request?
  1.  
Authors are not limited by number when requesting lensing of their content.  However,  there are limitations as follows:
  1.  
  2. •Prior to making a request for lensing, the material must already be successfully entered into Connexions.
  3. •An author can only request lensing review of a module/collection once.  Whether or not the content is reviewed is up to the LOC and their decision cannot be appealed or overridden.  In the event that a module/collection is materially changed after denial of a first request, then the author is free to request lensing of the amended content.  However, the author must reveal the specific changes to the LOC at the time of the request.  If the alterations are sufficient to meet the LOC’s determination of new or novel material, the LOC may decide to review the amended work.
  4. •Typically, science will change significantly over a period of 18 months to three years.  Because of those changes, authors will want to keep their material fresh by updating their content with the latest findings.  Authors whose material has been lensed are advised not to just tweak material, because that will automatically affect the lens stamp.  However, materially changing the module/collection makes it appropriate for re-lensing.  The author should request re-lensing from the LOC and report to the LOC the material changes made in the module/collection that make such re-lensing appropriate.
  5. •Authors who withdraw their material from lensing to avoid the review of a particular lensing agent assigned by the LOC may not request another lensing review until the content has been materially changed. This is necessary to assure that authors do not “shop” for a lensing agent perceived to be sympathetic to their work. This also will assure that lensing agents do not become overworked due to frivolous requests.
 
Are there other ways for an author to present content and it lensed?
 
The answer is yes.  Connexions and the IEEE Signal Processing Society are interested in having material lensed that has broad appeal.  This means that material in popular languages such as Spanish, French, Chinese, and other languages are desirable.  In the event that author whose content is in a language other than English wishes to have the material lensed, the LOC will make every effort to identify an appropriate lensing agent with knowledge of the language and of the signal processing material covered by the content.  While the LOC hopes to build up such resources over time, lensing of such content may be slow in the beginning.
 
Connexions and the IEEE Signal Processing Society are interested in having material lensed for use by other than “expert” populations.  That is, signal processing is being taught at all levels and it may be useful to have a lensing agent/agents for content that may be useful at the primary, middle, or secondary school levels.  This is why it is important for authors to frame the material in their modules/collections  in a clear and accessible manner.  In the event that a lensing review by educators other than at the university level is desired, the LOC will make every effort to identify an appropriate lensing agent to conduct that review.
 
Over time, a number of opportunities for material to be lensed, and lensing agents with the skills to conduct them, will be established by the LOC.
 
How Can I get Help?
Lensing agents with questions regarding the reviewing process are invited to email Daniel Williamson, the IEEE-SPS/Connexions support specialist, at dcwill@cnx.org.
 
 
Guidelines for Lensing Agents