Today marks the start of International Open Access Week, an event designed to catalyze action to prioritize approaches to open scholarship that serve the best interests of the public and the academic community.
This year’s event continues to highlight the importance of maintaining a focus on prioritizing “Community over Commercialization,” as we collectively wrestle with the pressing need for more equitable models to support contributing to and communicating knowledge. The rapid deployment of artificial intelligence has added new complexities to the landscape, with some companies further integrating artificial intelligence into academic systems without meaningful community consultation. Some of these same companies are also beginning to license researchers’ work for use in AI models, often over their objections and without their consent. This approach mirrors other trends, like the monetization of personal data, that also prioritize commercialization over the academic community these systems are meant to serve.
And yet, over this same period, we have made progress to create meaningful change in ways that advance community interests. Community-driven efforts continue to build real momentum—from repository-focused open access policies to the expansion of the Subscribe to Open and Diamond models for open access publishing to reforming academic incentives to better support open research. Complementing these, new efforts are underway, such as the growing commitment of universities and research funders to use and produce open research information. Actions taken this week will help to advance these broader efforts and continue to raise awareness of the importance of community control of critical systems.
The Open Access Week website features an expanded set of profiles detailing how organizations embody the theme of “Community over Commercialization” in their work, which can help inspire and catalyze conversations. It also features a multilingual sets of graphics created around this year’s theme.
This week provides an opportunity to both come together to raise awareness about the importance of community control of knowledge sharing systems and also to take action—over the week and beyond. Please participate in the discussion online using the hashtag #OAweek, and if you’re not already joining an event this week, consider taking part in one of the many locally organized discussions below.
A Selection of Locally Organized Open Access Week Events
Monday, October 21st
- Open and Engaged 2024: Empowering Communities to Thrive in Open Scholarship
- In Conversation with Open Mind, a No-fee Open Access Journal in Cognitive Science
- What is the place of open knowledge communities in the development and use of AI?
- Back to the Future: European Repositories for the Era of Open Science
- Openness as a Tool for Achieving the SDGs
Tuesday, October 22nd
- Panel discussion: Community over commercialisation
- Community & the Commons: The ethics of crowd-sourced data reuse
- Diamonds are a scientist’s best friends – Publizieren im diamantenen Open Access
- Community-Led Knowledge Sharing in Kenya
- OA Week Keynote: Community and Digital Technologies to Enable Science as Public Good
Wednesday, October 23rd
- Trick or Treat: Unmasking the OA Publishing Landscape
- Communities in Action: Cutting through the rough with diamond journals and open knowledge
- Artificial intelligence for open science: resource or criticality?
- Les rencontres science ouverte Wikimédia France
Thursday, October 24th
- Data Cartels and Commercial Obstacles to Open Access
- Open Science and Innovation in Ukraine 2024
- Community and connection through Open Access
- “Stop Generating”: Generative AI in the Contexts of Indigenous Studies
- Digitizing Vietnam Project: Increasing access to Vietnam Studies Materials
- Wikipedia Edit-a-thon for Mi’kmaw History Month & Open Access Week
- Fear of the Unknown: What REALLY happens when you make your work open?
- La edición universitaria frente a la comercialización
- Communities con-tech-ualised? How can technologies support communities and their decisions around opening their knowledges?
- Semana del Acceso Abierto Perú 2024
- Navigating Open Access: Building Community Value in a Commercial World
Friday, October 25th