Publishers for Development (PfD)
Publishers for Development was launched in 2008 and is a joint initiative of ACU (The Association of Commonwealth Universities) and INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications).
It is a forum for information and discussion around the importance of access to information for development. It will explore some of the unique challenges developing country libraries, researchers and publishers experience and also provide an opportunity for publishers to keep up-to-date and feed their input into the work all parties are undertaking to lessen the digital divide.
Publishers play an important role in contributing to high quality library and information services. They are also a vital component in the global research communication cycle, especially in encouraging the wider dissemination of research and ideas from all members of the international scientific and academic community in which developing country research is currently underrepresented.
The forum is designed to:
- improve publishers knowledge of the context/specific needs of developing country colleagues
- bring the developing country research environment to life
- generate a greater level of discussion amongst publishers about the issues access/connectivity/software
- enable publishers to share information about what they are already doing to help increase access, work with developing country researchers and adapt their ICT to operate in a low-bandwidth environment
- gain ideas for discussion with editorial/IT colleagues
- give publishers a supportive space in which to ask questions
- encourage a two-way dialogue with librarians by feeding outcomes/requesting input from the networks in which they are already
- active
For further information please contact:
Jonathan Harle - j.harle@acu.ac.uk
Lucy Browse - lbrowse@inasp.info
Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERii)
Updates
June 2009
Title: Summary of Topic 1
Authors: Jon Harle and Anne Powell
Version: 1
Source:
Date Published: 19 June 2009
Contributed by: Anne Powell
URL: www.inasp.info/pfd-topic-one
Download: PDF (70kb), Word (61kb)
Description: Summary of Topic 1 - Why are publishers participating in developing country access initiatives?
March 2009
Discussion Group Focus
Topics - February 2009
The PfD Advisory Committee, which met on 27 November 2009 agreed that the following topics would be useful, either as topics or discussion questions. We will send out messages to start off discussion on each topic and will produce a summary paper once the topic has run for three months.
Focus on Topic 1: Developing Country Access Initiatives or "Why are publishers cooperating in developing country access initiatives?"
Aim: To provide a greater understanding of how and why publishers get involved in access initiatives. We'll look at:
- the benefits to publishers and to developing countries
- from moral and philanthropic arguments to the business case
- how it can help publishers and researchers to disseminate their publications more widely - serving their authors by getting research to a "new" audience
- how it can help to build the sustainability of research and access to information, enable researchers to update their knowledge and to develop better research and information skills,
- why these access initiatives are vital in developing country research environments
- finally, we'll provide links to further sources of information and access initiatives to help publishers navigate through it all!
Focus on Topic 2: ICT Infrastructure or "How can we make our journals easier to use in a developing country environment?" - to launch in June 2009.
Aim: Guidelines to improve access to publisher websites/information where bandwidth and connectivity are issues.
Aptivate will produce a short briefing document explaining how and why web sites have grown in size and what can be done to reduce their size. They will also hold workshops on "How to halve your Home Page" using a few simple techniques.
Publishers are invited to join this group by sending a message to: join-pubs-for-dev@dgroups.org.
** About ACU**
The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) was founded in 1913 and is the worlds first international inter-university network, with nearly 500 members. The ACU works with its members to promote and contribute to the provision of excellent higher education for the benefit of all people throughout the Commonwealth. More information can be found at www.acu.ac.uk