Does anyone know about Global eJournals Library? It seems to be a subscription-based discovery service that indexes all of the open access or post-embargo journal articles it can find. The two private companies that operate this service, from the UK and India, are not very clear. It claims to have indexed many more articles (7 million) and journals than DOAJ (almost 2 million). I'm curious about the whole thing!

This open access, academic book has chapters on a whole range of different aspects related to our course topics. It focuses on questions of knowledge systems and knowledge transfer, all throughout human history all over the world. Looks like a real gem!

Here's a free webinar on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 11am PST. You can register here or go to this site on that day and see it live! Open Access and Libraries: What open access is (and isn't) "Scholarly journals are increasingly becoming digital, experimenting with new publishing models such as Open Access (OA) and incorporating multimedia into their formats. In addition, the process of research continues to evolve because of mandates from funding agencies to publicly share research findings and data. For a candid discussion of what OA is (and isn't), tune in Thursday, November 6 at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern) for the next free, streaming video broadcast of American Libraries Live. Our panel of experts will give their unique perspective on what OA means now and how it will shape the future and will answer your questions."

Test out this form of citizen science, a 2-3 minute survey on environmental attitudes and education. A friend is involved in this study at the University of Leeds.

This looks really exciting as an open tool for storing and sharing info without internet! 

Partnership between several British medical charities to require open publishing of all funded research. 

UNESCO Resource exploring the four key elements of freedom of expression: the right to hold opinions without interference, the right to seek information, the right to receive information, and the right to impart information to others. These are all important pieces of access to open knowledge. 

Open Source Malaria is an effort to find medicine for malaria faster by opening up the data and the process. There are even some non-science tasks in a to-do list!  https://github.com/OpenSourceMalaria/OSM_To_Do_List/labels/Non-Science 

"The Accelerating Science Award Program (ASAP) recognizes individuals who have applied scientific research - published through Open Access - to innovate in any field and benefit society". It's funded by 27 different organizations. 

Report from the World Wide Web Foundation (with IDRC funding) Claims to "explore the need for a more nuanced understanding of how open data can generate outputs, outcomes and impact. We offer a series of insights and provocations, moving towards different models for thinking about open data, development and social change...We need to explore practices that present the 'best fit' for particular countries and contexts, rather than advocating interventions based on externally defined best practices." (Introduction, p. 5)

Local Contexts is a new forum for applying Traditional Knowledge licenses or labels to materials from Indigenous communities. They work a lot like Creative Commons licenses. There are often different categories of Indigenous knowledge meant only for the community, or only for women, or only for leaders, and these licenses offer a way to label materials accordingly. These labels and licenses are added onto existing copyright, which is often held by the person who made a tangible material rather than the community where the idea comes from (an anthropologist who filmed a traditional ceremony owns the copyright on the film, and the community has no copyright). These TK labels are asking people who come across materials like this to think about how they are using the materials, and to think about whose intellectual property they are. This is a very new initiative, but a really valuable tool. This is part of a different conversation that challenges how we normally talk about copyright and intellectual property.

Report outlining how libraries deal with database licensing, how they negotiate with vendors, what conditions libraries negotiate for, how much money libraries spend on database licenses, etc. This information would be really helpful to libraries considering shifting more towards open access sources. You can see a few key points here, but of course this report is not open! Your library might have a copy from past years.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) launchd a new portal last week, providing technical terminology from patents in ten languages. This is an interesting way to help share knowledge and connect scientists who speak different languages. It has a really cool Concept Map Search function too!

A new UN database collecting documents on education in countries around the world. The information is limited to official, legalistic reports from the UN and from the countries. I found the lower parts of the country profiles very useful in giving an overview of a country's constitutional framework for education, which could offer an interesting angle for analyzing your own country and comparing it to others. This could be used as a great tool for understanding the overarching design of an education system, an important step for anyone looking to improve it. 

This Hack Library School post popped up today, offering some tips for discussion posts. 

Open Government Indonesia recently launched a new open data portal at data.id. Check out the blog for some examples of its uses.