Push for open access to research

From BBC news, we have that:

“Last month five leading European research institutions launched a petition that called on the European Commission to establish a new policy that would require all government-funded research to be made available to the public shortly after publication.

That requirement – called an open access principle – would leverage widespread internet connectivity with low-cost electronic publication to create a freely available virtual scientific library available to the entire globe.”

Full article.

Open season for researchers

I found a nice article on Open Access that was published in the Guardian.

From the article, we have that:

“Ours is the best of businesses: we get our raw material for free and our customers pay us a year in advance,” joked the publisher of an academic journal to a university researcher.

Perhaps not for much longer. Momentum is growing for publicly funded published academic research to be available free on the internet. So-called “open access” would mean anyone could view an article in a scholarly journal shortly after it was published.

The Complete Article

Cheers,

Lino

Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software

I found this Open Access Book: Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software. I believe that if you are reading this blog, that book will interest you. By the way, kudos to The MIT Press for providing a free version of the book.

Peace!

Lino

Back from the IV World Forum on Free Knowledge

Yesterday, I got back from the IV World Forum on Free Knowledge. It was an amazing experience. I had a good time even though I was part of the organizing committee 😉

 

People were really interested in the democratization of knowledge. Besides my participation as an organizer, I gave a talk on Free Science: Utopia or Reality?, I gave a tutorial on Image Analysis and I chaired a Panel Discussion Session on Intelectual Property in the XXI Century. Some time in the next couple of weeks, I will comment on my experience in the Forum. For now, I just want to comment that Perl was well represented in the Forum with three out of the seven tutorials that were offered “free of charge” having something to do with Perl. The three tutorials were:

• Introduction to Perl with Randal Schwartz
• Image Analysis with Lino Ramirez, and
• GUI Development with Perl with Alejandro Garrido

Peace!

Lino

Call for Papers

Call For Papers
4th. World Forum on Free Knowledge
October 17th-21th, 2006, Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela

The IV World Forum on Free Knowledge offers an ideal environment for the exchange of ideas, information, experiences, and knowledge between the different communities interested in the promotion, diffusion and defence of Free Knowledge. The forum will count with Guest Speakers and with presentations selected based on their capacity to communicate, to a general audience, ideas related to practical and theoretical issues associated with the promotion, diffusion and defence of Free Knowledge. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Free Software
Use, diffusion and development of Free Software, tools for collaborative work and platforms for information and communication.

Free Hardware
Opinions and experiences about the feasibility and necessity of transferring the basic concepts of Free Software to the creation of hardware.

Free Culture
Cultural manifestations in the context of a knowledge society.

Economic Aspects
Business models and exchange mechanisms for the free access to Knowledge.

Legal Aspects
Legal models according the new Knowledge Society

Free Art
Artistic manifestations in the context of Free Knowledge.

Migration to Free Software
Experiences and best practices in the process of migrating to Free Software.

Instructions for Authors
Communications will only be accepted in an open format, preferably in OpenOffice.org Writer or LaTeX formats. The proposals can be submitted in English or Spanish. An article should be written at double space and should not excede 15 pages, including title, author name(s), address, telephone and e-mail of corresponding author. The articles must be sent to ConocimientoLibre@gmail.com before July 31st, 2006. Every paper should indicate a license that allows for its free distribution.

Important Dates
Submissions deadline: July 31st, 2006
Notifications will start on: August 31st, 2006

Free Information Free Software and Revolution

Free Information Free Software and Revolution is the title of an article by Felipe Perez Marti in Znet (a community of people committed to social change). Felipe Perez Marti, ex-Minister of Planning of Venezuela, is an emblematic leader of SoLVe (Free Software Venezuela). In his article, Felipe presents Free Software as a model for free information. According to Felipe, free information is needed to guarantee success in the process of change for a better future. Felipe also mentions that:

“The task for the revolutionaries is to promote even more the use of Internet […] To promote more nodes to this free information network, forming local media to connect directly to people with no access to the Internet. And to promote not only the exchange of news and analyses about political matters, but also the exchange of economic information, free technology, free knowledge, free science, free solutions to health problems, free solutions to organizational matters regarding the formation of cooperative organizations of productions, and their networks of production and distribution of goods and services.”

It looks like a better world is possible and Free and Open Source Software might hold some answers as to how achieve it.

To read the full article (in English) click here.

Lino

Introduction to Open Access

What is it?

Call for free, unrestricted access on the public Internet to the literature that scholars give to the world without expectation of payment.

Why?

Widen dissemination, accelerate research, enrich education, share learning among rich & poor nations, enhance return on taxpayer investment in research.

How?

Use existing funds to pay for dissemination, not access.

David Prosser

The previous text was taken from the presentation "Open Access Initiatives in Europe" that David Prosser, SPARC Europe Director, made at the UNICA Seminar 2006 – Trends in Education and Research: Developing Skills and Communication across Europe. The Seminar was held in Helsinki on 18 – 19 May, 2006. Other presentations include:

• Cristóbal Pasadas Ureña: "Information literacy developments in Southern European countries"
• Christina Tovoté: "Information literacy and libraries in Scandinavia and worldwide"
• Antonio Fantoni: "Making the strategic case for institutional repositories in universities"
• Bo-Christer Björk: "The economics of open access publishing"
• Robert Terry: "Accessing the research literature – a funder's perspective"
• Nicole Dewandre: "Policy issues: report on the EC study of scientific publication markets in Europe, and next steps"

For more information and to access all the presentations, visit the Website of the UNICA Seminar 2006

Lino

Wikipedia on CD: a project for the Venezuelan Schools

Recently, I had an e-mail conversation with the Responsible of Networks and Telecommunications at the Ministry of Education in Venezuela. I asked him about what project he thought we, the group of SOLVE’s Education Project, could help with. He told me that one of the projects he is interested in is having the Wikipedia on CD so they could distribute it to all the Schools in Venezuela. I thought it was a great idea, and I started looking for information and related projects.

So far, I have located an English version of the Wikipedia on CD at SOS Children’s Village. There is also a German version of it at The German Wikipedia. I also found a group in Argentina that is working on a similar project. I already contacted them.

If everything goes well in a couple of weeks, we should start this new project with SOLVE: to have the Spanish version of the Wikipedia on a CD to distribute in the Venezuelan schools.

If you are interested in collaborating, please do not hesitate in contacting me.

Lino

For more information, see also

• http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_on_CD/DVD
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download
• http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_auf_CD-en

New Plug-in will enable Microsoft Office users to read and write ODF documents

Just two days after hearing the news about the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ratifying the Open Document Format (ODF) as a file format standard, we have the news about a new plug-in for Microsoft Office. This plug-in promises to enable Microsoft Office users to open, display, and save ODF files.

In an interview for Graklaw, Gary Edwards, from the OpenDocument Foundation, said they have developed the plug-in and have finished testing it. This news come just a day after the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued a request for information on any plug-in that would allow MS Office users to interact with ODF documents.

There is no excuse now. Everybody can switch to use the Open Document Format!

Lino

Way to go, Canada! SSHRC to actively promote open access to research results

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) is ready to support open access to research results. In this way, the SSHRC is following the path of well known research funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, the Wellcome Trust in the United Kingdom, and the German Research Foundation. The SSHRC plans to increase awareness of open access and gradually incorporate open access provisions in the research support programs they manage. More information can be found at Highlights from the March 2006 Council meeting.

To learn more about open access:

• Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities
• Open Access News
• Budapest Open Access Initiative

Lino