Contextualizing Openness: Situating Open Science | IDRC – International Development Research Centre

“Contextualizing Openness offers a fascinating look at Open Science and the democratization of knowledge in international development and social transformation with a focus on the Global South. This volume presents contri­butions from the 12 projects that form the Open and Collaborative Science in Development Network (OCSDNet) organized around four central themes: Defining Open Sci­ence in Development, Governing Open Science, Negotiat­ing Open Science, and Expanding Open Science for Social Transformation. The collective goal is to illustrate how the opportunities and challenges associated with openness vary across regions and, further, to identify the key dif­ferences that characterize the actors, institutions, as well as the infrastructure and governance of knowledge-based resources in highly diverse settings.

To understand the movement toward Open Science and its impact on the thinking and practices that drive development, we must challenge the asymmetry of global knowledge production and of access to this knowledge. Contextualizing Open­ness aims to stimulate further research and debates about how to collectively design a knowledge system that is open and equitable for all….”

Open Access, the Global South and the Politics of Knowledge Production and Circulation: An Open Insights interview with Leslie Chan

“And 17 years on [since the BOAI], the biggest disappointment has been the institutions of higher education. Rather than actively support their own faculty and researchers with funding for tools and infrastructure for scholarly communication, or engage in collaborative development with peer institutions, universities have largely left researchers to fend for themselves. Institutional repositories, once a pride for some, have been left languishing in most cases. Instead, senior administrators have been contend with out-sourcing not only their knowledge infrastructure to commercial entities, but they also ceded control of the important task of reputation management to commercial firms, who are turning out to be the same entities that control the entire research infrastructure.  …”

Recording and Slides: Open Access in the global South: Perspectives from the Open and Collaborative Science in Development Network

“The recording and the slides from today’s webinar entitled Open Access in the global South: Perspectives from the Open and Collaborative Science in Development Network are now available on Zenodo. Prof. Leslie Chan shared key lessons from OCSDNet which is a research network with scientists, development practitioners, community members and activists from 26 countries in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Based on OCS experience, he questioned openness and public good, discussed open science definition beyond academy. Prof Chan also highlighted that principles as in the definition of Next Generation Repository should be guiding the technology and the infrastructures, not the other way around.”

Open science network calls for Global South case studies – University World News

“The just launched Open and Collaborative Science in Development Network is calling for case studies that use “innovative and transformative open processes in generating knowledge and actions” aimed at tackling challenges in the Global South. The broad aim of OCSDNet is to see whether and how open and networked research could support development.”

OCSD Net: Open and Collaborative Science

“Researchers and practitioners from the Global South working on, or are interested in the role of openness and collaboration in science, as a transformative tool for both development thinking and practices.” Supported projects will have to be based on developing countries in Latin America, Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa….Through this call for concept notes, OCSDNet will begin to develop a network of case studies and initiatives which share a set of common elements of openness. Up to 15 sub-projects will be funded….”