OAK Law Project - Open Access to Knowledge (OAK)

Open Access and Research Conference: Wednesday 24 September-Thursday 25 September

Mon, 7 Apr 2008 15:35:48 +1000

The OAK Law project is hosting an international conference on Wednesday 24 September-Thursday 25 September 2008, with Post-Conference Workshops on Friday 26 September at Stamford Plaza, Brisbane.

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) along with many other institutions throughout the world has pioneered the establishment of management practices and the necessary infrastructure to promote access and innovation. This landmark conference will bring together experts from Australia and around the world to speak on a range of topics such as:

• Evolving publishing models • Repository management
• eResearch • Policy development
• Data access and reuse • Legal and technical issues

Keynote speakers and distinguished commentators include:

John Wilbanks, Executive Director of Science Commons
Alma Swan, Founder of Key Perspectives: Consultants to the scholarly information industry
Tony Hey, Corporate Vice President of the External Research Division of Microsoft Research
Dr Terry Cutler, Principal, Cutler & Company
Professor Mary O’Kane, Director and Executive Chairman of Mary O’Kane & Associates Pty Ltd
Dr Peter Crossman, Assistant Under Treasurer (OESR) and Government Statistician
Stevan Harnad, School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton
Dr Richard Jefferson, CEO & Founder, CAMBIA and the BiOS Initiative
Professor Arun Sharma, DVC QUT Research and Commercialisation
Professor Tom Cochrane, DVC QUT Division of Technology, Information and Learning Support
Professor Brian Fitzgerald, OAK Law Project and QUT Law Faculty
Dr Rhys Francis, Executive Director, Australian eResearch Infrastructure Council
Maarten Wilbers, Deputy Legal Counsel, CERN Legal Services
Together with Professor Anne Fitzgerald, Professor Paul Roe, Professor Bernard Pailthorpe, Colin Steele, Roger Clarke, John Houghton and Professor Arthur Sale.

To register or for more information, including the conference program, visit the official website www.oar2008.qut.edu.au

Open Access and Research Conference: Wednesday 24 September-Thursday 25 September

Mon, 7 Apr 2008 15:35:48 +1000

The OAK Law project is hosting an international conference on Wednesday 24 September-Thursday 25 September 2008, with Post-Conference Workshops on Friday 26 September at Stamford Plaza, Brisbane.

• Evolving publishing models • Repository management
• eResearch • Policy development
• Data access and reuse • Legal and technical issues

Keynote speakers and distinguished commentators include:

To register or for more information, including the conference program, visit the official website www.oar2008.qut.edu.au

OAK Law at the APSR Open Access Collections

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:02:44 +1000

OAK Law Project Manager Scott Kiel-Chisholm and OAK Law Researcher Dr Anne Fitzgerald have given a presentation at The Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR) Open Access Collections. As part of the one day workshop on the challenges and opportunities of open access publishing for Australian universities held on Thursday, February 14, 2008 at Customs House in Brisbane, Dr Fitzgerald and Mr Kiel-Chisholm addressed the topic ‘Managing Copyright for Open Access’.

The slides from the presentation can be accessed here.

The APSR Project aims to establish a centre of excellence for the management of scholarly assets in digital format.

APSR works closely with research communities, information professionals, technical staff, and higher education policy makers on a series of development projects, surveys, publications, seminars, and training workshops. The Partnership aims to help create the systems required for managing data and information in a research environment and simultaneously to increase the capability of Australian researchers to do so.

Launch of the OAKList

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:40:36 +1000

QUT’s OAK Law Project has developed a web-enabled database containing information about publishing agreements and publishers’ open access policies and practices. It is designed to facilitate greater access to research, especially that which is publicly funded.

The launch of the OAKList on Thursday, 7 February 2008, went fantastically. John Wilbanks, Executive Director of Science Commons, did a great presentation on the development of open access and brought the OAKList to life with the push of a button.

The URL for the OAKList is www.oaklist.qut.edu.au.

More information on the launch is available here.

Scott Kiel-Chisholm, OAK Law Project Manager
Photographer, Rachel Cobcroft, licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0 Licence at Flickr.

Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:01:58 +1000

The Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Law team led by Professor Brian Fitzgerald has received a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in a ceremony held on 31 October, 2007 at Kelvin Grove. The Awards are offered annually to recognise exceptional performance of staff who demonstrate sustained and outstanding achievement in activities that are aligned to the University’s vision and goals. Nominations must be made by 3 independent members of QUT staff.

The OAK Law team were nominated under multiple categories:

Research

Partnerships and engagement

Innovation and creative practice; and

Leadership.

Each award recipient received a commemorative plaque and a certificate detailing reasons for the award and the team received $15,000 to be divided evenly between team members as salary payment or for work-related purposes.

Academic Authorship, Publishing Agreements and Open Access Survey

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 11:56:47 +1000

The Project has undertaken a survey of academic and scholarly authors in Australia to obtain an understanding of authors’ knowledge of publishing agreements and their experience in dealing with publishers in order to provide an accurate perspective on current academic publishing practices. The results received from the survey will be used in developing model publishing agreements, toolkits and training materials for academic authors and publishers.

The OAK Law Project seeks to promote strategies for the management of copyright so as to facilitate optimal access to research output, especially that which is publicly funded.

We know that time is valuable, so we would like to thank all those who completed the survey. We are confident that the results will assist us in developing practical tools that can be used by authors to better manage their copyright.

The survey results will soon appear on this website.

Thanks to takomabibelot for the photo of the Boston Public Library Bates Hall Reading Room & Clocks, From The Government Documents Office (Boston, MA). It is available at Flickr under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

New report released by OAK Law Project and Legal Framework for e-Research Project

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:55:15 +1000

Building the Infrastructure for Data Access and Reuse In Collaborative Research: An Analysis of the Legal Context

This Report examines the legal framework within which research data is generated, managed, disseminated and used. It provides an overview of the operation of copyright law, contract and confidentiality laws, as well as a range of legislation - privacy, public records and freedom of information legislation – that is of relevance to research data. The Report considers how these legal rules apply to define rights in research data and regulate the generation, management and sharing of data. The Report also describes and explains current practices and attitudes towards data sharing. A wide array of databases is analysed to ascertain the arrangements currently in place to manage and provide access to research data. Finally, the Report encourages researchers and research organisations to adopt proper management and legal frameworks for research data outputs. It provides practical guidance on the development and implementation of legal frameworks for data management with the objective of ensuring that research data can be accessed and used by other researchers.

Download Report

OAK Law Project Release Two New Guides

Tue, 8 May 2007 18:49:16 +1000

‘A Guide to Developing Open Access Through Your Digital Repository’
This guide examines and explains the copyright issues involved in depositing and accessing material in digital repositories. The guide focuses on effective management and promotion of digital repositories and in doing so, examines the relationships between the parties involved in the deposit and access process. Licensing requirements and options are also considered in detail. Finally, the guide touches on more technical considerations, such as software and metadata.
OAK Law Project Repository Guide

Copyright Guide for Research Students: What you need to know about copyright before depositing your electronic thesis in an online repository
This guide is designed to assist research students in managing copyright issues which they may encounter in writing and depositing their electronic thesis in an online repository. The guide provides a broad overview of copyright law and importantly addresses critical issues relating to the inclusion of third party copyright material in a students thesis. The guide aims to simplify these issues through the inclusion of two model third party copyright permission requests, which students can use to obtain permission from the copyright owner before including third party material.
Copyright Guide for Research Students

Legal Framework for e-Research Conference 2007

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:16:12 +1000

The Legal Framework for e-Research Conference held on Queensland’s Gold Coast during 11 and 12 July 2007 was a great success.

Seven international keynote speakers, together with prominent Australian research identities, provided insightful, encouraging and challenging perspectives on the issues to be considered for the development of an effective legal framework that facilitates e-Research.

The slides and audio recordings of many of the presentations are available CLICK HERE. Further presentations will be made available shortly.

The Legal Framework for e-Research project is funded by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), under the Research Information Infrastructure Framework of Australian Higher Education, as part of the Commonwealth Government’s Backing Australia’s Ability – An Innovation Action Plan for the Future (BAA) report.

OAK Law Report cited in Productivity Commission Research Report

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 21:43:36 +1000

On 9 March 2007, the Australian Government Productivity Commission released its Productivity Commission Research Report: Public Support for Science and Innovation.

The Report examines research infrastructure and the economic impact of public support for science and innovation in Australia. It also identifies impediments to research and innovation affecting knowledge transfer, collaboration between research organisations and industry and the creation and use of intellectual property.

The Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Law Project, funded by the Federal Government and based at QUT, has proposed strategic copyright management as a way to enhance access to publicly-funded research.

The OAK Law Project Report highlights the importance of understanding the roles and relationships played out in research and innovation, in order to properly structure the degree of ‘openness’ required for academic and research materials.

The Productivity Commission Research Report cites the OAK Law Project Report (www.oaklaw.qut.edu.au) as providing “a framework for enhancing the management of copyright interests in research and academic output (including electronic theses and dissertations).”

The Productivity Commission also quotes from ‘Building Blocks for the Australian Accessibility Framework’, a Campus Review article by Professor Brian Fitzgerald, who heads the OAK Law Project. Professor Fitzgerald explains, “Open access to knowledge in the form of data held by government and key research institutions throughout Australia could sponsor untold innovation in areas as diverse as water management, construction and precise positioning agriculture.”

In the Report, the OAK Law Project is commended for its “forward work program [which] includes developing template guidelines for open access policies that can be adopted within university and research institutions, and developing model publishing agreements and model agreements to assist the copyright management of open access repositories.”

In summarising its view, the Productivity Commission concludes “that the progressive introduction of a mandatory [repository deposit] requirement would better meet the aim of free and public access to publicly funded research results.”

The Productivity Commission “continues to hold the view that funding agencies should take an active role in promoting open access to the results of the research they fund, including data and research papers.”

The OAK Law Project is funded by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training, under the Research Information and Infrastructure Framework for Australian Higher Education as part of the Backing Australia’s Ability – An Innovation Plan for the Future.

Our Repository Guide launched!

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:52:57 +1000

The Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Law Project has launched a guide for organisations and academic institutions who implement and manage digital repositories. We believe the guide will be beneficial to repository managers as a practical day-to-day tool.

‘A Guide to Developing Open Access Through Your Digital Repository’ examines and explains the copyright issues involved in depositing and accessing material in digital repositories. It also considers how open access can be best developed for digital repositories in line with legal protocols.

The guide focuses on effective management and promotion of digital repositories and in doing so, examines the relationships between the parties involved in the deposit and access process. Licensing requirements and options are also considered in detail. Finally, the guide touches on more technical considerations, such as software and metadata.

We see the guide as a building block towards a broader accessibility framework. While the focus is Australian law, it has potential to be adapted to other jurisdictions.

Click here to view ‘A Guide to Developing Open Access Through Your Digital Repository’.

Knowledge Policy for the 21st Century

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:53:39 +1000

Professor Fitzgerald has been invited to present at the Knowledge Policy for the 21st Century from 9-10 April at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

QUT Faculty of Law in conjunction with Western Law will run two exciting conferences: Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) as Democratic Principle; and, Digital Copyright in a User Generated World.

Other speakers at the conferences include Peter Black (QUT Law Faculty, Freedom to differ) and Scott Kiel-Chisholm (OAK Law Project).

Click here for CONFERENCE DETAILS AND REGISTRATION.

Eminent Harvard Law Professor to Deliver Public Lectures

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 10:45:38 +1000

In the first week of March, QUT’s Intellectual Property: Knowledge, Culture and Economy research program and Program Director Professor Brian Fitzgerald will host two keynote addresses, “Drugs, Law and the Global Health Crisis” and “Copyright and the Future of Entertainment”, by visiting speaker William (Terry) Fisher, Hale and Dorr Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Harvard University and Director, Berkman Center for Internet and Society (www.tfisher.org).

Further details of Professor Fisher's Brisbane Lectures are available in the official flyers:

Drugs, Law, and the Global Health Crisis

New ARC rules encourage open access research

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 11:08:01 +1000

Moves to encourage legal open access to all research funded under the Australian Research Council’s Discovery

Projects scheme are welcomed by Queensland University of Technology legal copyright academics. Professor Brian Fitzgerald, who heads the Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Law Project, funded by the Federal Government and based at QUT, said the ARC had announced it would encourage researchers whose projects it had funded to place data and publications in online, open repositories such as QUT’s eprints (www.eprints.qut.edu.au)

He said researchers concerned about copyright issues when making their findings openly and easily accessible according to ARC requirements would find a comprehensive guide to copyright management strategies in the OAK Law Report published online this year.

“The ARC’s announcement highlights the importance of good copyright management practices in systems designed to promote open access to academic and research output,” Professor Fitzgerald said.

Read Full Media Release

Funding Body Encourages Open Access to Research Data and Articles

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 15:40:12 +1000

In early December 2006, the Australian Research Council (ARC) released its Discovery Projects Funding Rules for funding commencing in 2008. Section 1.4.5 is directed towards dissemination of research outputs. Subsection 1.4.5.3 states that the ARC encourages researchers to deposit their data and any publications arising from the research project into a subject and/or institutional repository within a six month period. Researchers are required to inform the ARC of the reasons for not doing so.

While not a mandatory requirement to deposit research data and articles into a repository, the effect will be that researchers will make every effort to comply with the rule. This will result in greater access to knowledge through open access to research data and articles, an outcome discussed, recommended and supported by the OAK Law Project Report No. 1.