Open access is of special concern of UNESCO. In the education and science sectors, open access can greatly benefit developing countries in making accessible and freely available knowledge developed in countries that can afford the investment in scientific research and educational learning materials.
Free and open source software (FOSS) can contribute to the "affordability" and "open access" aspects of information, giving communities more control over the software they use, one of the most critical digital components. UNESCO is already taking a global lead in promoting the opportunities that come with open access to information....
In a table on p. 39, the draft aligns the UNESCO goal to "Collect...good practices in using information for development made available to decision makers", with the WSIS Action Line C3i to "Encourage initiatives to facilitate access, including free and affordable access to open access journals and books, and open archives for scientific journals (C3i)".
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/24/2008 09:04:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
