Project Sketch - GOAL

Sketch of Open Content/Open Access Resource

The idea of GOAL community is to create a federated global search that consolidates existing OA journals, repositories, books, open learning and other academic content search engines and databases. From one engine, one should be able to search the resources in all of the databases and search engines that are widely used. This could exist as an advanced search that could include a list of the search crawlers and databases that the user could select or de-select. By selecting all, they should be able to search the vast majority of academic content on the internet that is open access. If this is as useful to researchers worldwide as anticipated, the website can also be used to build a community of researchers globally to promote the level and efficient sharing of knowledge using straightforward information and communication technology with fewest barriers.

Who Benefits.
Learning and Research libraries worldwide who have limited subscriptions to on-line journals and insufficient finances to fund access to journals. Any individual with desire and capacity to use open learning and knowledge resources, but limited access to priced internet or printed content.

Need: The proliferation of open access business models for journals, together with increase in funding agencies that mandate Open Access archiving, as well as the movement to develop Open Learning Content is increasing the availability of high-quality information and knowledge on the internet. The ‘collection’ of on-line digital resources may go under-utilized given the absence of a direct, straightforward and user-friendly method of filtering and indexing on-line open learning content, OA journal content, and self and repository-archived articles, both Green and Gold OA. Anyone with an internet connection today, has access to a growing body of on-line peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature previously only available to a few. We want to make that literature easy to search and retrieve from anywhere in the world.

Rationale: The capacity to independently access, use and create knowledge is critical to self-determination in development (see UNHCR’s Declaration on the Right to Development, 1986). Owing to the near-universal impacts of industrialization and colonialism and given migration, the ease of travel, the communications revolution and globalization, there are few exceptions to the presence of modern problems such as pollution, governance, global diseases, the impact of commercialization and the monetary economy, etc.. All peoples’ development flows in varying degrees from upstream determinants such as environmental integrity, public health, culture, economic well-being etc. The way in which these factors are shaped determines human development outcomes of quality of life, longevity and health. Each of these determinants is shaped in turn by knowledge, further upstream.

Thus far dissemination and access to knowledge has been concentrated in the larger research and tertiary education institutions in the G8 and OECD. The communications revolution has the potential to widen the participation and communication of all forms of knowledge to the entire globe, but has thus far been limited by price barriers to literature. Inequity in access is also a problem for those in OECD who remain outside the institutional communities and lack 'authorized use' to closed-access collections. Currently, a number of policy changes and initiatives are changing the environment of the 'subscription-less' or 'subscription-poor' researcher or institution. These include; changes in publisher's agreements allowing author's rights to make their work available; institutional and government funding policies mandating or encouraging the deposit of manuscriptis in open-access repositories; the growing number open access journals and increasing public support for them; and free access programs for developing countries to thousands of journals through UN organizations and publishers themselves.

It is unclear that the full value of this resource is realized. Anecdotal reports suggest that OA resources are scattered and difficult to locate in a systematic fashion. Research is suggested on exploring the experience of researchers at subscription-poor institutions in navigating OA opportunities in research to discover the extent to which opportunities may be lost owing to low awareness and difficulty searching content.

The project: To create a systematic method of locating all OA and Open learning content available globally. This would be in the form of a web resource and search engine designed specifically to locate all OA resources worldwide and guide researchers in how to search them out. This website would also allow the creation of a user community of those for whom this web resource is useful, likely institutional members at low-resourced higher-learning and/or research institutions, educators and curriculum developers, and those at well-resourced institutions who are interested in partnership for equity in access. Such a resource can be enormously useful in developing to developed countries and even in unstable or post-conflict regions where knowledge workers can continue their work thus allowing the chain of scholarship to survive. But the beauty of open access is that we can’t predict who might need or want knowledge, or even what knowledge they want. It is open to anyone in the world with desire and capacity to benefit from it, need not be tailored by the priorities and judgments of anyone other than the seeker.

Search Engine, not database
Collecting material database may be a more onerous task, and may duplicate the web location of an article unnecessarily. A specialized search engine is preferable, allowing navigation to the location where the article already exists. It may be possible to refine Google Scholar to de-select anything that has a digital lock for access, thus only showing OA content. The Directory of Open Access Respositories uses a basic google custom search. The way the google custom search works is by entering the websites to be included in the search, so this is likely what OpenDOAR does and it covers a large number of repositories, though it is likely not entirely comprehensive. DOAJ has a search of open access journals in several languages. Open J-gate provides a search of over 4000 OA English journals, and the engine performs well. There are several Internet searches that focus on open content, various databases and these have been included in a proto-type for what Goal is aiming for, using google custom search.

In exploring this idea, we may approach a group who has contacted us who specializes in open access search. We may need to collaborate with other search engine providers. We'll need to work with computer programmers. The best model for developing the programming behind the engine would be open source, for practical reasons and in the spirit of OA.

The work would be suited to a PhD research project, we could identifity a PhD student to develop the research behind it.

Web Resource
This project could be started immediately as a guide on how to navigate open access content and a set of links to sites such as DOAJ, SPARC, Africa Virtual University etc.. This project could continue as we develop a systematic search method. Also, information in bandwith optimisation, opportunities for partnership, advocacy for a2k etc. would be included. Basically, everything one would need to maximize the potential of open access. This includes maintaining a stable, and broadband where possible, internet connection (ICT4D), so information on such things as VSAT and bandwith optimisation, and a support forum would be good. Also, on opportunities for partnership, funding etc. so knowledge for development (K4D), and a networked community of support on this as well.