Two co-winner teams have been selected for the Elsevier 2010 App Challenge:

• George Chernishev, and Kirill Smirnov, Saint-Petersburg University, Russia (Chernishev@gmail.com). “ScienceDirect goes social: A social network for scientists integrated with online digital library.”

• Ming Zhaoyan, National University of Singapore (mingzhaoyan@gmail.com). “Benchmarking web resources for implementation of research ideas”.

Congratulations to them!!

Elsevier is proud to announce the Elsevier 2010 App Challenge (the “Challenge”) where participants create exciting and fun applications in the ScienceDirect® platform for the chance to win a travel grant for the ACM SIGIR 2010 conference, July 19-23, 2010, in Geneva, Switzerland (the “Conference”). The Challenge participants will gain a unique learning experience of working with product leads to figure out new solutions and applications to help make ScienceDirect of increasing value to the research and scientific community.

The Challenge is open to students who are currently registered in an accredited post-secondary academic institution and age eighteen (18) years or older. Entrants may be individuals or teams of up to three members, provided each member of the team meets the eligibility criteria.

• Challenge opens: June 11, 2010
• Challenge closes: July 2, 2010 (extended)
• Challenge closes: July 9, 2010
• Winners announced: July 15, 2010
• Winners present at the Conference: July 20, 2010

1. Review the Challenge Official Rules
2. Register for the Challenge by completing the Challenge Registration Form and submitting the completed Form by email to Challenge-register@elsevier.com
3. Receive access to the ScienceDirect feature integration framework (the “ScienceDirect framework”).and the Elsevier alpha API (details below)
4. Build a great application!
5. Complete the Challenge Submission Form and submit it by email to Challenge-submit@elsevier.com

The Challenge participants will be able to integrate their Application into a secure partition of the ScienceDirect feature integration framework (the “ScienceDirect framework”) site, accessible only via username and password by the participant and Elsevier internal staff , where it will be able to call and display external content and functionality from key points in ScienceDirect. Applications will be integrated or “embedded” by loading their URLs in specially located iFrames (application windows) in the ScienceDirect framework search results pages and article pages. Key pieces of contextual data – such as the user’s search terms, the title of the article being viewed, the name of the first author, the article keywords, etc. will be passed through the application URLs.

As part of registration, the Challenge participants must submit an application website URL, which Elsevier will test and review before assigning a username and password in order to access the ScienceDirect framework. Challenge participants will also be provided the documentation and FAQs related to application integration when they register. The username and password is for use solely by the registered participant team/individual for purposes of the Challenge and shall not be disclosed or shared for use by anyone else for any reason.

An Elsevier contact will be available to provide support and answer technical integration questions by email to Challenge-support@elsevier.com.

Ownership of the application will remain with the Challenge participant, and mere integration of the application in ScienceDirect for the Challenge will not forfeit such rights.

The Challenge participants will also be granted access to the Elsevier alpha Application Protocol Interface (the “Elsevier alpha API”) to search, browse and retrieve Elsevier scientific research content, including full-text journal articles and search records.. Participants are expected to use these different data sources and their search capabilities to create their applications and mash-ups.

Upon registration, the Challenge participants will be provided an assigned Elsevier alpha API Key (the “Key”) in order to access and use the Elsevier alpha API. The Key is for use solely by the registered participant team /individual for purposes of the Challenge and shall not to be disclosed or shared for use by anyone else for any reason.

Challenge participants will also be provided documentation and FAQs related to the Elsevier alpha API.

Use of the Elsevier alpha API is subject to and shall comply with the Elsevier alpha API Terms of Use, and the content in the ScienceDirect framework retrieved via the use of the Elsevier alpha API shall be used solely for purposes of the Challenge.

All eligible entries will be evaluated and ranked by a panel of qualified judges based on the following criteria:

• Creativity: Does the application provide a novel, innovative way of accessing scientific information and data?

• Clarity: Does it describe the concept and underlying thinking in a clear and lucid way?
• Value: Does it convey the application benefits clearly?

Two winners will be selected and each will be awarded a travel grant for the Conference covering a student registration fee and up to US$900 in travel/lodging costs.

The winners will be sent a payment form to expense the Conference travel grant, to be completed and submitted after the Conference.

The winners will also have the opportunity to present their applications during the poster/demo session of the Conference on 20 July, 2010.

Read the Challenge Official Rules.

Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.