Category Archives: oa.development

Open Data Watch – Unlocking the Data Revolution

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“Open Data Watch is an international, non-profit organization working at the intersection of open data and official statistics. Our work supports the implementation of change in the production and management of official statistical data. Concentrating efforts in three areas — policy advice, data support, and monitoring — ODW seeks to make development data better and more accessible for increased use and impact.

An example of the interaction between these workstreams, the Open Data Inventory (ODIN) provides in-depth assessments of data coverage and openness that countries actively use to identify and address data gaps. The ODIN Gender Data Index, for instance, checks for data needed to address gender issues. Only with high-quality and open data can international organizations, governments, and citizens solve the challenges of measuring and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)….”

Countdown to 2030: A new vision for the data revolution | Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data

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“To these ends, in early 2023 a partnership of thought-leading organizations came together to co-create a vision of what success in the data revolution in 2030 should look like (a ‘Vision for 2030’), taking stock of progress to date. Over the course of 2023, partners including Cepei, the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD), PARIS21, the Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics (TReNDS) and Open Data Watch will work on elaborating this Vision, working and co-creating with sector and geographic leaders to articulate what has been achieved and what remains to be done….”

Creating an Open-source Hardware Ecosystem for Research and Sustainable Development | Zenodo

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“At the core of education, engineering, and science lies the quest to better understand and improve the world. This document aims to explain the essential role of open-source hardware for this mission and why it should be considered an essential pillar of the ongoing open science programmes in Dutch Universities.

Open-source hardware is hardware whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or other hardware and products based on that design. Ideally, the design of open source hardware is available in the preferred format for making modifications and uses widely available components and materials, standard processes, open infrastructure, unrestricted content, and open-source design tools to maximize the ability of other individuals to make and use hardware. Open-source hardware gives people the freedom to control their technology while sharing knowledge and encouraging commerce through the open exchange of (compatible) designs.

Open Science practices are becoming the norm in academia, and are rightly encouraged by funders and policymakers of higher education. Open-source hardware is an essential pillar of Open Science. Sharing hardware designs openly both enables more people and teams to access it, and through encouraging replication it makes science more reproducible. But it is also an area of contention because of the exclusive knowledge transfer practices and (not always justified) confidentiality clauses in research partnerships or contract defaults. 

Beyond academia, open hardware has the potential to radically transform science, education, and society by facilitating collaborative innovation and democratizing access to technology. It can massively accelerate the transition of an invention into a useful product, and simultaneously reduce costs and promote sustainable practices. By promoting open-source hardware initiatives, the Netherlands can solidify its position as a leader in Open Science and contribute to the global effort of achieving the sustainable development goals.”

IFORS Developing Countries Online Resources

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“The aim of the Developing Countries On-Line Resources page is to offer the OR worker all publicly-available materials on the topic of Operations Research for Development. It also aims to provide a venue for people who are working in the area to share their completed or in-process work, learn from others, and stimulate comments and discussions on the work.”

Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams – OE Awards for Excellence

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“Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams is a leading figure in the international Open Educational Resources (OER) research community and currently holds the first ever UNESCO Chair in Open Education and Social Justice.

Formerly the PI of the large-scale, cross-regional Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D) project, Cheryl has made a substantial contribution to growing research capacity in and advancing a theoretical understanding of open education and OER. In her capacity as a researcher and mentor, she has been instrumental in supporting a network of Global South scholars and ensuring that a diversity of voices is profiled in the global OER  conversation.

Always operating with a critical and rigorously conceived big-picture perspective as well as deep compassion, Cheryl’s leadership has bolstered the developing country research presence in the global OER conversation. Her inclusive, critical leadership style has been instrumental in promoting research interventions of the highest standard while always promoting a caring, context-sensitive approach to working with researchers from a wide range of backgrounds and portraying the complexity of the Global open education landscape….”

Eligibility for access to Research4Life – Research4Life

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“Local, not-for-profit institutions from two lists of countries, areas and territories (Group A and Group B) are eligible to join Research4Life based on five factors:

Total GNI (World Bank figures)
GNI per capita (World Bank figures)
United Nations Least Developed Countries (LDC) List
Human Development Index (HDI)
Healthy life Expectancy (HALE) – World Health Organization Figures…”

Providing a framework for the reuse of research data based on the development dynamic framework of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) | Emerald Insight

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Abstract:  Purpose

The present research is aimed at presenting a framework for the reuse of research data in Iran through applying the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Design/methodology/approach

The research at hand has a mixed methods design. In the qualitative section, the authors first carried out meta-synthesis and then an interview was conducted. Likewise, in the quantitative section, the reliability of the recommended framework was measured through carrying out a survey. Finally, the framework for data reuse was presented in five dimensions, namely human, organizational, policies and laws, technical, implementation and analysis.

Findings

Through structural equation modeling, the fitness of the framework was confirmed, and it was found out that the dimensions of policies, human and organizational played more prominent roles in the explanation of the framework in comparison with the other two dimensions.

Originality/value

Research studies in the area of data reuse have been conducted either quantitatively or qualitatively and in most of them interviews or questionnaires were used as tools for collecting data; however, due to the nature of this area and its relatively new literature in Iran, it is necessary to use mixed methods in order to be able to arrive at a proper understanding of this concept using both quantitative and qualitative approaches.

Equitable Scholarly Publishing Systems Viewed as Key to Solving Development Challenges Identified by UN – SPARC

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“If the United Nations’ development plans are going to succeed, all voices need a chance to contribute to and access knowledge.

Experts gathered on May 3 for an online discussion on the importance of embracing open science and equitable scholarly publishing ecosystems to help solve the world’s biggest problems. [See video recording here.]

The United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library and UNESCO hosted the event, which focused on recommendations on expanding access to scientific knowledge in service of the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) – including the need for a Global Science Commons. The UN’s 2030 Agenda calls for mechanisms to advance science and technology through knowledge-sharing in open access, online platforms….”

Open Science is Critical for Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – University Library | University of Saskatchewan

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“Indeed, USask [U of Saskatchewan] researchers produce critically important research that could meaningfully advance the SDGs, especially in the Signature Areas of Research. But the results of research can only reach their full impact and potential if everyone everywhere has access to them: to build upon them and apply them in real world contexts. Unfortunately, many of the products of USask research are inaccessible, locked behind expensive publisher paywalls (in the case of publications), or simply not shared at all (in the case of all other products of research such as protocols, data, and working papers or reports). Making the products of research accessible is what Open Science is all about!…”

Positioning software source code as digital heritage for sustainable development | UNESCO

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“The second annual symposium on the theme “Software Source Code as documentary heritage and an enabler for sustainable development” organized by UNESCO and the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria) on 7 February 2023, took stock of the initiative’s achievements over the previous few years.

Throughout the conference, five major dimensions of software source code were explored:

as documentary heritage and as an enabler for digital skills education.
as a first-class research object in the open science ecosystem.
as an enabler for innovation and sharing in industry and administration.
its perspectives on long term preservation.
technological advances allowing massive analysis of software source code….”

Positioning software source code as digital heritage for sustainable development | UNESCO

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“The second annual symposium on the theme “Software Source Code as documentary heritage and an enabler for sustainable development” organized by UNESCO and the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria) on 7 February 2023, took stock of the initiative’s achievements over the previous few years.

Throughout the conference, five major dimensions of software source code were explored:

as documentary heritage and as an enabler for digital skills education.
as a first-class research object in the open science ecosystem.
as an enabler for innovation and sharing in industry and administration.
its perspectives on long term preservation.
technological advances allowing massive analysis of software source code….”

Land Ownership and the State of Open Data

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“Key Points

The links between the open data and land communities have matured over the last four years alongside a recognition of the centrality of land governance for sustainable development.
Benchmarking and measuring open land data is a key area of progress since 2018, but more needs to be done to refine the global benchmarks such as the Global Data Barometer.
Open data initiatives need to carefully consider their social, political, and economic objectives due to the different needs and interests of land data producers and users….

The perspective of land data is changing from being primarily about the cadastre17,18 (the official register showing details of ownership, boundaries, and value of property) to increasingly being rooted in land management functions19 and services within the context of sustainable development. This approach, in which open data is not the goal but rather a service-enabling tool,20  is also reflected in the research on Open Data Products (ODPs).21 Since 2018, the Open Data Charter has moved its strategic focus from an “Open by Default” to a “Publishing with a Purpose”22 paradigm. The paradigm shift was also reflected in the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly high-level event on “Data With a Purpose”23held on 22 September 2022. This is a much-needed approach as research suggests that open geospatial data portals are significantly underutilised globally24 and that public and private organisations that invest in open data do so in order to seem transparent, rather than to create or add value to it.25  Adding value to open data and focussing on data services is a means to spur innovation and increase the uptake of data, while lowering barriers for a wider audience to access and benefit from the data revolution….”

Open science – Accelerator for Sustainable Development Goals

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“To promote the crucial roles of open science and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), measures must be taken to achieve equity and inclusion, reform academic publishing and strengthen the science-policy-society interface. This was the main message from the United Nations third Open Science Conference….”