University participates in international Open Access Week

October 19, 2009

Athabasca University is hosting a number of activities from October 19-23, 2009, to celebrate international Open Access Week. The university will be joining more than 40 other post-secondary educational institutions around the world to promote wider access to publicly-funded research and to support policies that ensure access to that research.

"Open access includes making the results of one's publicly funded research available to all the public. But more, it implies the opportunity and responsibility to share and benefit as much as possible from the work of others," says Dr. Terry Anderson, Canada Research Chair in Distance Education and editor of the open access journal International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. "Many of our problems are too large and too important, for solutions to be hidden behind proprietary or ego barriers."

The university will present a series of five noon-hour webcasts exploring major issues and opportunities presented by open access. Each session will feature an internationally-known promoter and developer of open access resources, research and ideas.

"The objective of organizing the AU Open Access week is to promote awareness and understanding of open access to research, teaching, learning and knowledge dissemination within the AU community and the general public," says Tony Tin, Head of Digital Initiatives and Electronic Resources at AU.

More information on Open Access Week activities can be found at http://openaccess.athabascau.ca/ and http://www.openaccessweek.org/

 

For more information, contact:

John O'Brien
Manager, Media Relations
Athabasca University
403-298-2931
403-990-1131 (cell)
jobrien@athabascau.ca

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Updated August 21, 2012