Strategies for Permanent Access to Scientific Information in Southern Africa website of the activity
Activity description:
The objectives of this workshop included 1) reviewing and discussing the current status of practices for sharing of and permanent access to scientific information resources related to sustainable development, primarily health and biomedical data, earth and environmental science data, and related scientific, technical, and medical (STM) literature in the southern African region; 2) identifying and discussing the scientific, legal and policy, institutional and economic, and management and technical factors relevant to permanent access to digital scientific information resources discussed in task 1, including an examination of different possible models and their potential benefits and shortcomings in the SADC region, and drawing on examples of other digital permanent access practices in related areas; 3) identifying follow-up activities that can be taken toward improving permanent access for each major type of digital scientific information resources discussed in task 1, taking into consideration the results of the discussions under tasks 1 and 2; and 4) provide a networking opportunity for workshop participants across discipline, institutional, and national boundaries.
WSIS action lines related to this activity: Theme 3. Access to information and knowledge
Theme 4. Capacity building
Theme 6. Enabling environment
Theme 7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life
Theme 8. Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content
Related MDGs: MDG 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
MDG 7. Ensure environmental sustainability
Activity type:
Conference
Time scale:
Completed: 05/09/05 - 07/09/05
Partners:
National Research Foundation (South Africa), South African and United States National Committees for CODATA, U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. National Institutes of Health, Open Society Institute
