Open Access and Communication Practises

Allison Stevens Health Economics Unit, University of Cape Town

RESYST Workshop

September 2012, Cape Town

Photo by Jeff Tabaco http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffrey/23899819/sizes/m/in/photostream/

International support

UCT policy

“UCT supports the publication of materials under Creative Commons licenses to promote the sharing of knowledge and the creation of Open Education Resources.”

– Portal for teaching materials (online) and research (coming soon)

Quote: University of Cape Town Intellectual Property Policy 27 July 2011 – Page 15

Open Content / Open Educational Resources

• Free licensed educational materials (usually digital).

Source: opencontent.uct.ac.za and oerafrica.org and Ted Hans, University of Michigan

Open Access

• Free access to peer-reviewed literature, data and other information.

The Open Movement

Students receive free OER course materials in Malawi

African Health OER Network

Traditional copyright

• All rights reserved for author

• Restricts others from using author’s work

• Legal protection for the author

Source: http://opencontent.uct.ac.za/node/71

Traditional Copyright restricts access

Access an Informa Healthcare journal

article for 24 hours costs $86.00 for non-

subscribers

Source: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/pdf/10.1517/14656566.2011.634800 via http://www.maxbingham.com/blog/2011/12/open-access-publicly-funded-research-results-just-got-a-little-easier-to-read/

“Charging the developing world to see findings of new scientific research will mean fewer people escape poverty and could cost lives.” Former International Development Secretary: Andrew Mitchell

Source: http://gdnetblog.org/2012/08/16/open-access-one-small-step-or-one-giant-leap/

Traditional Copyright restricts use

Get permission to adapt journal findings into a policy brief

From journal To policy brief

Need to modify copyright to release more rights to users

• All Open, Free Licenses: Creative Commons lets anyone:

1. Copy & redistribute your work

2. Display your work

3. Communicate your work

4. Format verbatim copies

• No permission required

• Just credit the author

Source: ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, the National Copyright Unit and Creative Commons Australia. What is Creative Commons? Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia license

Optional elements of the Creative Commons license

Source: http://www.oerafrica.org/copyright/CreativeCommonsIntroduction/CreativeCommonslicensechoices/tabid/1793/Default.aspx

Attribution

Non-commercial

No derivative works

Share alike

Mix & match these elements in 6 standard CC Licenses

Source: http://opencontent.uct.ac.za/What-is-a-Creative-Commons-license

Source: ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, the National Copyright Unit and Creative Commons Australia. What is Creative Commons? Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia license

HEU use of CC licenses

2010 2013 onwards 2011 2012

Open access journals

Teaching materials & Reports

Licensing on HEU teaching materials and some reports:

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license

Making HEU material more searchable

• The material gets sent to:

– UCT Open Content website

– OER Africa website

– Creative Commons website

Getting a license is quick and easy

• http://creativecommons.org/choose/

Review use of copyright in other products

• Copyright not specified

• Users might get confused

Widen use of CC licensing

• On products other than journal articles, e.g. policy briefs, conference presentations, etc.

• Why?

– Easy to share and re-use

– Requires attribution and raises awareness

– Might increase collaboration

– Signals institutional openness

– But: Will materials be searchable?

Example of CC licensing on a website

source as 'Vicki Francis/Department for International Development'. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/5951453134/in/set-72157629952118442

Example of openly licensed photographs on Flickr

Other practical implications

• Share more effectively

• Don’t duplicate efforts

– e.g. Multiple manuals on the same topic

• Use plain language

• Make information easy to extract

• Deposit into open access repositories

• Archive websites

“Do once, use many times” 2012 USA Digital Government Strategy

Need Support? • UCT: Education Development Unit

Gives support with selecting & using CC licenses in health materials http://www.healthedu.uct.ac.za/elearning/healthoer/

• Regional: OER Africa Collects OER content, including Health OER http://oerafrica.org/

• International: Creative Commons Provides open licenses and links to open content materials http://creativecommons.org/

• DFID open access implementation guide, July 2012 http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Documents/publications1/DFIDResearch-Open-and-Enhanced-Access-Implementation-Guide.pdf

www.heu-uct.org.za www.facebook.com/uct.heu

The HEU is a partner of the RESYST consortium. RESYST is funded by Ukaid from the Department for International Development http://resyst.lshtm.ac.uk/