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Open Access Week 2012

Indrajit Banerjee, Director

UNESCO and Open Access

In the next 3 (three) hours

� Globally enough information will be consumed to fill 21 million DVDs � 36 billion emails will be sent � some 250000 blog posts will be written

– enough to fill the TIME magazine for 256 million years;

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In the next 3 (three hours)

� 22 million people would have visited Facebook; � 2.8 million people would have visited LinkedIn; � more than 30 million photos would have been

uploaded; � 2.8 million hours of tv and movies would have been

watched on Netflix;

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In the next 3 (three hours)

� some 5 million people would have visited Twitter � 587 million minutes would have been spent on

Facebook � More iPhones would be sold than babies that

would be born in the next 3 hours.

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Shall we be happy and complacent?

� Presence of “Knowledge Challenges”, that requires our concerted and synergized action. � Erosion of access to certain information and

knowledge � Digital divide continues

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Thus UNESCO:

� Believes in building inclusive knowledge societies. � Leveraging of new technological innovations � Principle of ‘Openness’, access and sharing by

focussing on content, technology and processes.

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World is competitive

� Competitiveness of a country depends on its knowledge acquisition and sharing capacity. � If we share more, we improve the value of our

research and reduce obstacles for sharing the knowledge

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Thus at UNESCO we believe

� that many of the old values and ways for sharing information are not appropriate in these times. � This is why UNESCO advocates in favour of OPEN

ACCESS to Scholarly and scientific Communication.

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The political mandate

� All countries of the world met in Paris during the 36 general Conference in October 2011 and adopted the Open Access strategy. � Outlined Organization’s work over next 6 years.

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Easy Rationale

� Access to information is dear to everyone involved in research, innovation and creativity � Quality teaching, learning and research without

access to new knowledge is impossible. � There are several challenges, but the concept and

philosophy of Open Access brings to us a variety of solutions to improve access to information and knowledge.

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UNESCO’s mandate

� is to: “Maintain, increase and diffuse knowledge: By encouraging cooperation among the nations in all branches of intellectual activity”

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Open Access

� is both a researcher’s greatest output and technological innovation’s most important resource. � is the provision of free access to peer-reviewed,

scholarly and research information to all. � Is when the rights holder grants worldwide

irrevocable right of access to copy, use, distribute, transmit content

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Sharing of Knowledge leads to

� opportunities for equitable economic and social development, � intercultural dialogue, and � has the potential to spark innovation.

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What have we done since

� Undertook a comprehensive scan of the world of Open Access � Undertook a mapping exercise, and � launched Global Open Access Portal (GOAP).

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GOAP

� Information from 148 countries � Is a work in progress

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WSIS KC

� Open Access Community � Some 1750 members and operate out of

UNESCO’s WSIS Knowledge Communities.

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Foster Enabling Environment for OA

� Curricula are being developed � Self Directed learning tools are being developed � Software that helps in creating repositories are

being evaluated � Best case practices are being documented � Open Journal System Editor training tools � The Policy Guidelines document

– English – French – Russian 17

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Foster Enabling Environment for OA

� Curricula are being developed � Self Directed learning tools are being developed � Software that helps in creating repositories are

being evaluated � Best case practices are being documented � Open Journal System Editor training tools � The Policy Guidelines document

– English – French – Russian 19

Lets not forget

� Current level of access to peer-reviewed information is only about 20% � We have “miles to go before we can sleep”. � Need to work collaboratively and build synergies

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In conclusion

� Thank all of you for coming here today � Thank the team of Myscienceworks, and

University of Pierre and Marie Curie for working with us. � Openness will pay dividends, creating an enabling

environment to Open Access to scientific information, which will benefit all of us.

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More information: b.nuepane@unesco.org