open-access.network

The project creates a new information and networking service that will activate and connect existing initiatives on a supra-regional level and effectively improve the exchange within the scientific community on Open Access. It will provide cross-disciplinary, centralised and reliable information on Open Access. Newly created, freely accessible materials, training and education programmes will provide further training for actors and multipliers in academia and libraries and impart skills on practical, organisational and legal issues.

Description

The three central goals of the project are the provision of information, the transfer of competencies and the networking of the existing community. Over the next three years, the project partners want to create a new platform that provides information on central topics with many new offers such as a forum, helpdesk, moderated focus groups and new databases. With the help of barcamps, thematically focused workshops, regional networks, train-the-trainer bootcamps and webinars or online workshops, the Open Access community and players from the scientific community will be brought together. The new platform will build on the existing information platform open-access.net and develop it further.

Within the framework of the collaborative project, the TIB will enable the development and transfer of expertise via the Internet. This includes:

1. the production of information and teaching materials, especially videos (in German and English). We supply multimedia, innovatively prepared materials for Open Access information work, covering basic, interdisciplinary and special topics. The materials form the basis for the training and information activities of open-access.network. They are also made available to communities for individual training and local teaching and training activities.
2. the design and implementation of online training courses (webinars). We create the online offers for further education and networking of open-access.network. This includes the conception and implementation of a multi-layered, target group-oriented range of webinars, online workshops and self-learning offers.
3. Research into open-access conditions and challenges in various scientific fields. We systematically expand (in a joint work package with the Open Access Office Berlin) the existing knowledge on the status and conditions of implementing Open Access. Our own surveys and analyses complement and deepen the knowledge of subject-specific requirements. They provide new insights into under-represented areas (subjects, formats, actors such as business and industry), identify desiderata and examine the OA infrastructure.
4. operate an online forum on Open Access. A central online forum is provided in which questions and answers as well as targeted discussions can be written, initiated and moderated. Over time, this will create a comprehensive knowledge repository for questions relating to Open Access.

The sub-project is firmly integrated into the collaborative project open-access.network, and the results of its work will flow into the design of all the sub-projects concerned. In addition, all materials and research results will be published and made available for free subsequent use.

Cooperation

• Universität Konstanz / Kommunikations-, Informations-, Medienzentrum (KIM) - Management of the joint project
• Freie Universität Berlin / Open-Access-Büro Berlin
• Helmholtz Open Science Office am Deutschen GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ
• Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), Hannover
• Universitätsbibliothek Bielefeld
• Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen