Subscribing as I do to The Scientist - seriously good journal, even if one Robert P Grant seems to write half of it - I found this audio snippet the other day, which was of more than passing interest.
You see, I seem to have got myself invoved in a scheme aimed at revolutionising UCT researcher access to the WWWorld, of which a very important part is going to be Open Access publication, and Open Resources, Educational and otherwise- and this is right up that street.
Pretty much all of the article follows:
In this five minute clip, Cameron wonders how to stop talking about open science, and how to actually do something that will showcase its benefits. His idea is to leverage funders’ requirements, by not simply capturing ‘outputs’ from the science they fund, but thinking about how to measure how they are used—be they papers, data, materiel or patents. The ultimate aim is to demonstrate benefits of reuse, and thereby encourage scientists to make their research output open.
Amen, brother Cameron! We could do a lot at UCT to further this aim - like having an easy-to-use repository for theses and reports that otherwise moulder away on shelves; like displaying all Open Access papers published from UCT - and there are a lot, every year - and putting all (or nearly all) of our teaching material up on the Web.
Like I do, he says, modestly.
Because it really does help improve the visibility and the reputation of this University. The next couple of years look like they may just be fun...B-)
Ed Rybicki
