Berlin 10 OA Conference to be in Africa for the first time

From Ina Smith, runner-up of the EPT OA Award and Repository Manager of the University of Stellenbosch (SUNScholar):

****  First Announcement  ****
Berlin 10 Open Access Conference to be held in Stellenbosch, South Africa

Stellenbosch University, in partnership with the Max Planck Society and the
Academy of Science for South Africa, has the pleasure of announcing that the
prestigious Berlin 10 Open Access Conference will be held in Stellenbosch,
South Africa. This will be the first time that the Berlin Open Access
Conference will be held in Africa. As is tradition with the conference, it
will explore the transformative impact that open, online access to research
can have on scholarship, scientific discovery, and the translation of
results to the benefit of the public.
The Conference will be held at the Wallenberg Research Centre, Stellenbosch
Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS). STIAS is situated on the historic
Mostertsdrift farm in the heart of Stellenbosch.

Conference date:                   7-8 November 2012

Pre-conference date:            6 November 2012

The theme, programme, speakers and other relevant information will become
available in forthcoming announcements which will also be available on the
conference website (www.berlin10.org).
*************************

Ina Smith

E-Research Repository Manager (SUNScholar) | Library and Information Service
| University of Stellenbosch | Private Bag X5036, 7599 | South Africa
http://scholar.sun.ac.za | http://oa.sun.ac.za | E-mail: ismith@sun.ac.za |
Tel:  +27 21 808 9139 | Skype: smith.ina | Office hours: Mo-Fr: 08h00-16h30


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Beyond Open Access - new technology provides appropriate methodologies for sharing research knowledge in the developing world

Beyond Open Access

– new opportunities for scholarly communication in developing countries

Leslie Chan, Trustee of EPT and Director of Bioline International, presented the following video at the recent BioMedCentral Open Access Africa Conference held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wJXcm-xTfU&feature=youtu.be. As well as outlining the aims and the resources available from Bioline International and the usage that is made globally of developing country research from this platform, he discussed the need for a rethink on the evaluation of research articles and journals, based on their relevance to development in emerging countries of the world. He emphasised that the goal of Bioline International is not solely a means of increasing the Impact Factor of journals based on Northern values and suggested that the future of sharing research globally will be met in additional ways than by traditional journals. He introduced the concepts of networked knowledge, open science and a new invisible college, and explains how these new technologies are more appropriate for the advancement of research in the developing world.

Open scholarship in the developing world, a video presented by Leslie Chan, 24.10.11

Leslie Chan, EPT Trustee and Director of Bioline International at the University of Toronto, gave the following video presentation at the Open Access Conference at the Kwama Nkrumah University in Kumsai. Ghana, see: http://vimeo.com/30922669. Titled, 'Opportunities for open scholarship in Africa', Leslie Chan first described the structure and use of the Bioline project, which aims to provide visibility for local research, and then went on to discuss the importance of relevant research and the need to consider new ways to distribute research findings in areas with limited infrastructure. He discussed the need for new and relevant standards, the need for widening the development of open scholarship to include new value metrics, new standards and new technologies that address local conditions. His presentation included two clips from videos of two African Professors from Kenya and Botswana who support the value of Open Access for research in their countries and have personal experience of its impact on development.

This presentation introduced new concepts that may provide better, more appropriate means for the exchange of essential research findings from the developing world.

     

Open Access week is here, and one of the major events taking place is the important Berlin 9 conference, to be held this year in Washington DC. See http://www.berlin9.org/program/index.shtml for the programme.

Of particular interest is a pre-conference workshop on OA policy on the afternoon of Tuesday 8 November, from 2-4 pm.

The purpose of the session is to describe the different policy approaches that have been taken and how effectively they can be made to work in practice.

There are four speakers, as below, and the session has been organised by the OA expert, Alma Swan of Key Perspectives Ltd.:

1. Welcome and introduction (10 minutes):  Alma Swan
2. Mandatory policy with rights retention [Harvard, Kansas SU]: Stuart Shieber, Jeff Vitter]
3. Mandatory policy without rights retention (but inked to assessment processes [Liege]: Bernard Rentier
4. Mandatory policy with intense library advocacy [Glasgow]: William Nixon
5. Q and A / discussion