These days everyone from private funders to government agencies seems to be considering how to ensure that research — and data — is openly accessible. For example, the White House has mandated open access for federal agencies, and in Great Britain, all publicly funded scientific research now must be freely accessible to all.
Next Wednesday, April 3, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Workshop in the Study of Knowledge Commons is hosting a brown bag discussion titled “WHOA! How the White House Open Access Directive Will Affect You.” This session will help members of the university community understand the impact these recent regulatory changes will have on their academic research and publication. Laura Quilter, a copyright attorney and librarian at the W.E.B. Du Bois Library’s Scholarly Communication Office, will lead the discussion at noon in the Teaching Commons room on the 26th floor of the Du Bois Library.
The Workshop in the Study of Knowledge Commons is a non-hierarchical group of UMass faculty, staff and students that meets informally and regularly to work collaboratively to discuss and conduct research on new models for production and sharing of information that can feed humanity’s “knowledge.” This interest is fueled by the ease with which we now can collaborate globally, thanks to Internet-based technologies, on such endeavors as open-access information and media; crowd-sourced systems of production; open-education initiatives; open-source software systems; and open-source hardware.
For more information about this event or the Knowledge Commons, email Associate Professor Charles Schweik.