Session:  eScholarship in Context

Session organizers: Laura Czerniewicz and Michelle Willmers

When:  Tues, March 19th 11:00-11:30

New publishing models, products and services do not manifest in a vacuum, but in a multiplicity of contexts where critical considerations shape how they play out. The session will review the key contextual considerations pertaining to changing scholarly communication systems and tools considering:
·         global power dynamics (the centre and the periphery,  the post-colonial legacy etc);
·         hierarchies of knowledge (applied versus “basic” research; disciplinary specificities etc);
·         financial factors (funding incl state, grant giving foundations etc);
·         policy frameworks ( science, higher education, disciplinary etc );
·         infrastructure & capacity  (IT; scholarly communication, e-infrastructure etc ); and
·         value systems and cultural considerations (reward and incentives, drivers,  research versus teaching).

These considerations play out in complex inter-relationships at the macro, meso, micro levels of the higher education and knowledge production systems within and across countries. Laura Czerniewicz will provide a brief overview of the holistic issues, while Michelle Willmers will draw on the research of the Scholarly Communication in Africa Programme (SCAP) to describe  how these play at a the institutional level.

Presentations from Context session:

Tools in Context:  Laura Czerniewicz