Now the dust has settled after Open Access Day
2008 it’s time to bask briefly in the warm glow of what we achieved and to
think about what we can improve next time.
The best way to sum up the positive feedback
that we have received about the day is through this simple fact: We asked the
120 organizations who signed up to participate in the day, who originated from
more than 27 countries, whether they would participate again next year - 90%
said YES.
The dedication of specific days of the year to
significant events and initiatives is a common habit. Some people believe that
it doesn’t offer a thing to the event, but others insist that the dedication
reminds people of the fact and keeps public informed about the developments
achieved. The main goal of Open Access Day is to broaden awareness and
understanding of Open Access, including recent mandates and emerging policies,
within the international higher education community and the general public.
Open Access Day has been promoted by
openaccess.net in order to help scientists realize and understand the meaning
of Open Access, which is the growing international movement that uses the
Internet to throw open the locked doors that once blocked access to knowledge.
SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic
Resources Coalition) and the Public Library of Science (PLoS), the organizers
of the first Open Access Day on 14th October, along with Students for
FreeCulture, released the series of one-minute videos capturing why teachers,
patient advocates, librarians, students, research funders, and physician
scientists are committed to Open Access.
The "Voices of Open Access" series
defines Open Access as a fundamental component of a new system for exchanging
scholarly research results, where health is transformed; research outputs are
maximized to their fullest extent; efficiency in the research process enables
faster discoveries; the best science is made possible; young people are
inspired; access transcends the wealth of the institution; cost savings are
made possible across the research process; and medical research conducted for
the public good is made available to everyone who needs it.
Open Access Day was inspired by the National
Day of Action on February 15th, 2007, led by Students for FreeCulture with
support from the Alliance for Taxpayer Access. This year, the same partners
have joined forces with the Public Library of Science, the open-access
scientific and medical online publisher. So, they jointly decided that the 14th
of October will be dedicated to Open Access.
Links:
Open Access Day - October 14, 2008
Push for Open Access to research
News from the Open Access
Maximising the communication of scholarly research through Open Access Publishing
