Open access to scientific information: Open Access Conference from March 29 - 31 in Potsdam, Germany
For the third time already, leading experts from all over the world meet in order to present the current developments and to discuss how open access to scientific information and to cultural heritage can be put into practice. The conference themed “From Promise to Practice” takes place from March 29 – 31 at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) in Potsdam, Germany.
We invite you to attend the press conference:
Date: Friday, March 31, 2006, at 2 p.m.
Venue: Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute),
Wissenschaftspark Golm, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam, Room 0.01
The three-day conference is in the tradition of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, signed in October 2003 by the Max Planck Society, the German Research Foundation, the Fraunhofer Society, the Helmholtz Association, the Leibniz Association, the German Wissenschaftsrat and other research institutions. By now the list includes more than 150 signatories. Research organizations and funding agencies from all over the world support the aim of the “Berlin Declaration” to facilitate the access to human knowledge and cultural heritage, and to use the new possibilities of the Internet concerning accessibility and to enable access to scientific information at no charge.
The main topics of the international conference will be “Open Access to Scientific (Raw) Data” and “New Forms of Science Communication”. One afternoon is dedicated to “Open Access to Cultural Heritage”. Moreover, aspects of Open Access in newly industrializing countries and developing countries shall be subject to discussion for the first time. Open Access activities from Ukraine, South Africa, and India will be presented.
Well-known representatives of the international Open Access movement could be enlisted as speakers. From the USA, there will be Peter Suber (Public Knowledge and Earlham College), John Wilbanks (Science Commons), and Stephen Griffin (National Science Foundation). From France, Laurent Romary (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), and from Great Britain, Astrid Wissenburg (Research Councils UK) will come. The key-note speaker is Charles Geiger, representing the World Summit of the Information Society.
More than 130 participants from all over the world are expected to come and to advance the common goal of open access to scientific information.
The conference is under the auspices of the German Commission for UNESCO.
