October 8, 2021

It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity with UW Libraries Open Scholarship Commons

One year ago, the UW Libraries opened the Open Scholarship Commons (OSC).  Built on the values of equity, experimentation, flexibility, openness and technology, the OSC is designed to be a central HUB where everyone, regardless of disciplinary home, can come together and learn new concepts and technology skills to create knowledge and share it openly with others. While we plan to open a physical space in Suzzallo/Allen Libraries, the virtual OSC has had an incredible first virtual year, helping students and faculty to learn new technology and knowledge creation skills like how to publish online, create online exhibits, data visualization, mapping and much more.  We host workshops, events and provide one-on-one consults to enhance any research project. We also work with faculty to offer ideas and support for incorporating open student work into the classroom.

In celebration of Open Access Week October 25-31, where the world celebrates the open sharing of knowledge, we reflect on the OSC’s work thus far, plans for the future, and invite you to join us in helping to build structural equity by creating an open future.

OSC Events

In the past year, nearly 1,000 people attended OSC events that explored trends and perspectives around various facets of open scholarship and its importance to research for the public good, including:

• Going Public: Advocacy, Activism, and Building Trust: keynote speaker Nikita Oliver delivered a powerful and memorable keynote address along with UW faculty, staff and students who shared wide range of perspectives on equity in the production of and access to scholarship.
• Hacking the Academy: this series looks at the new ways research is produced, shared, archived, and reused. A few highlights from this series include:
  • New Platforms for Engagement looked at creative ways faculty are sharing research through podcasts, blogs, twitter, and other partnerships including even consulting with Sesame Street to develop a puppet character!
  • Open Democracy, Accessibility & Data Visualization—this cross-disciplinary panel explored how we can build equitable systems of sharing knowledge to further democratic processes.
• Supporting First Generation Students Online: campus partners from the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity, Core Programs, first generation students came together to share ideas and best practices to support first generation college student success in the online classroom. 

Featured Projects

We also worked collaboratively with students and faculty to create and share new open digital research and creative works, including these outstanding project:

• Dr. Maya Angela Smith’s Reclaiming Venus: the Many Lives of Alvenia Bridges 
• The Center for the Informed Public’s How to Host Your Own MisinfoDay;
• Music of Greek and Roman Mythology from students in Classics 430 and
• Jacob Lawrence in Seattle created by students in Art History 100.

Embracing the ethos of our values, the OSC continues to evolve, including new Libraries services such as Open Education and Open Pedagogy, Metadata Support, and Research Impact, designed to help you track, expand, and document the impact of your research. We have also been fortunate enough to bring campus partners such as eScience Institute and the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities into the OSC as we work toward our aspirational goal of being a HUB for new knowledge creation and mobilization for the UW Seattle campus community. While we remain virtual (for now), we look forward to connecting with the campus community through our events, workshops, and consultations in a variety of service areas. 

Explore OSC services:

Data Visualization

Data preparation & visualization design support More…

Geographic Information Services

GIS software, StoryMap, & data-finding support
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Media Production

Audio, visual, & imaging technical support
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Metadata Support

Metadata support for digital collections and open scholarship at UW
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Geographic Information Services

GIS software, StoryMap, & data-finding support
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Online Publishing Platforms

Workshops & tools to support sharing your work with wider publics
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Open Education & Open Pedagogy

Help finding & creating free, openly licensed course materials
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Research Data Management

Help finding/accessing, managing, reusing, sharing, storing, & citing data
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Research Impact

Support for tracking, expanding, & documenting your research impact
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Scholarly Publishing & Copyright

Help with publishing, sharing research, project & data management
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Text Mining

Help identifying patterns in texts & analyzing textual data
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Thesis & Dissertation Publishing

Information about publishing & copyright for UW’s ETD program
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