WSIS Knowledge Communities: Rethinking the Agenda for Development: Open Access Policies and Practice

Use the link to access information about the workshop which took place on May 17th in Geneva, Switzerland.  The workshop was part of the World Summit on the information Society (WSIS) held May 14-18.  More information on the conference can be found at <http://groups.itu.int/wsis-forum2012/Home.aspx> The workshop was organized by the International Federations of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), and the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR).  A brief description of the workshop reads as follows: “Open access seeks to remove price and permission barriers that prevent knowledge from being shared. It creates an unprecedented opportunity to provide equality of access to essential research information and to raise awareness of national research. The WSIS Forum 2012 offers a timely opportunity to look at current achievements in the field of open access - policies and practices – and hold a detailed discussion about their implications for development and how open access can help to rethink the development agenda.  The workshop’s starting point will be a presentation of best practice regarding the implementation of open access policies – how they were drawn up and implemented, and whether their results not only increased content but also allayed concerns on the part of researchers. Following an introduction of policies the workshop will call on presenters who are currently in the middle of similar processes, and they will describe the challenges they are facing to implement their programmes. The second part of the workshop will focus more on advice and tools to implement open access policies in support of development. Participants will be encouraged to bring their problems, hypothetical or real, to the panel for advice and discussion. This interactive session will be able to harness contributions from in the room and also from remote participants. Presenters will be joined on a panel by an expert on the development agenda.”