Open data is defined as “research data that is freely available on the internet; permits any user to download, copy, analyze, re-process, pass to software or use for any other purpose; and is without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself”… read more
OA Week 2018: Emphasis on Access
With a name like open access, it goes without saying that accessing scholarly literature is not just an important piece of OA initiatives, but a primary goal. One popular method of ensuring access to open materials has been through the utilization of institutional repositories. Institutional repositories are “digital collections capturing and preserving… read more
Open Access Week 2018
It’s that time of year again – Open Access Week kicks off today! This year’s theme is Designing Equitable Foundations for Open Knowledge. Open knowledge initiatives are inherently disruptive, labor-intensive, and time-consuming. When we design and implement these initiatives, we need to think carefully about who is likely to benefit… read more
Free events for Open Access Week
Open Access Week is Oct. 22-28th. There will be several free online events taking place that week that anyone can participate in. Here are a few: Webinar: Economics and Sustainability of Open Access, hosted by Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA). Thursday, Oct. 25th at 7:30am Central. Click on the… read more
Open Textbook Pilot applications open
The Department of Education has announced that proposals are now being accepted for an Open Textbooks Pilot program. They will be awarding between one and three grants up to a total of $5 million dollars. The priorities for this pilot include: Improve collaboration and dissemination through consortial arrangements Address gaps in… read more
A new way to evaluate research
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada has developed a tool they hope will better measure the quality and impact of research coming out of the global south. They want to ensure that researchers who are working on projects that positively impact their region are evaluated on criteria that make… read more
OER grant opportunity
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has announced a Request for Applications for OER grants. They will be awarding up to 20 grants to encourage faculty to adopt, modify, redesign, or develop courses that use only open educational resources. The deadline for application is August 20th, 2018 at 5:00pm Central… read more
Editors4BetterResearch initiative
Researchers Chris Chambers, Corin Logan, and Brad Wyble have started an initiative called Editors4BetterResearch. They hope to create a database of journal editors who support reproducibility and open science. Right now they are soliciting feedback on their proposal and collecting names of editors who would like to be listed in… read more
UC takes a stand on journal negotiations
The University of California System has made an announcement that they will be prioritizing an open access future in their journal negotiations with publishers. Their goal is to responsibly transition funding for journal subscriptions towards funding for open access. You can find the full announcement which includes their guiding priorities here.
Travel scholarship from UT Libraries
The University of Texas Libraries wants to send you to OpenCon 2018 in Toronto, Canada! If you are a UT Austin graduate student or postdoctoral researcher with an interest in open access (OA), open educational resources (OER) or open data who wants to help shape the future of research and… read more
