Policy and Technology Frameworks

The process of research, knowledge production and dissemination are embedded in specific university policy, organisational and technological infrastructures and culture.  Research has shown that the implementation of open access scholarly communication requires supportive policy environments, the availability of technical and institutional capacities, of which the latter appears to be the most challenging.  Institutional capacities include human resources and skills, management capability and the capacity to work in teams and partnerships.

In both the developing and developed worlds there are emerging policy and institutional development practices and experiences which support and enable scholarly communication.   Within the African context these should be interrogated more extensively as follows:

• What would the most effective ICT infrastructure for comprehensive research dissemination look like?
• What best-practice models are currently in place in universities?
• What international examples of best practice in this regard could inform this research, and how could it be adapted for the African context?
• How would communication systems need to link into administrative systems in universities, in order to ensure the most effective leverage for research output?
• How could these communication systems be linked into the platforms that are used for both individual publications and departmental repositories?
• Where is the most appropriate home for publishing-focused ICT infrastructure and management within universities?
• What policy change is needed to deliver a wider mandate for research publications?

Workshop videos related to this theme:

	Francis Nyamnjoh: Institutional Innovations		Juan Pablo Alperin: Innovations in Technical Platforms
	Heather Joseph: National Innovations		Colin Steele: An Australian Perspective on Research Costs and Benefits