Access to Knowledge
Under the Access to Knowledge, the focus areas are Intellectual Property Reform, Open Access Initiative, Open Educational Resources, Open Access to Law and eIFL.net. The Intellectual Property Reform area works to reduce barriers to access, production and exchange of knowledge and knowledge-based goods. The Open Access Initiative is for shifting the publication of peer-reviewed research articles to an open-access basis and help promote public access to publicly funded research. The Open Educational Resources is for making educational resources freely available “by enabling inclusive and participatory pedagogy based on open source learning materials.” The Open Access to Law “supports access to case law and statutes in developing and transition countries through the establishment of legal information institutes.”The eIFL.net is about the Electronic Information for Libraries.
One such initiative funded by OSI under this category is the East-East/South-South Translation Support implemented in the two regions of Eastern Europe and the Arabic world: “The aim of the Arabic translation project was to promote thinking and discussion in the Arabic-speaking world on open society issues outside of an Occidental framework, by supporting translations of books related to themes such as pluralism, secularism and religion, human rights, governance, civil society, and democracy in the context of underdevelopment and globalization. Funding was focused on making available in Arabic some of the best work by thinkers from contiguous countries and regions such as Turkey, Iran, and the Indian subcontinent.”
