UW Libraries Blog

October 17, 2022

Celebrating Open Access Week 2022: Open for Climate Justice

UW Libraries

International Open Access Week 2022 (October 24-30) is an annual worldwide celebration of the growing and transformative power of barrier-free Open Access (OA) to scholarly information. The OA movement grew in response to an increasing awareness that the current scholarly publishing system no longer meets the needs of scholars and those who could benefit from their research. Making research openly available by bringing scholarly works out from behind publisher paywalls benefits individual researchers, the wider research community, and the public at large.

This year’s OA Week theme, Open for Climate Justice, “seeks to encourage connection and collaboration among the climate movement and the international open community. Sharing knowledge is a human right, and tackling the climate crisis requires the rapid exchange of knowledge across geographic, economic, and disciplinary boundaries.”

Going Public

The UW Libraries’ annual Going Public event will anchor this year’s OA Week offerings. For over five years, the Going Public series has brought a wide lens to the concept of “open” research, examining not only open access publishing but also topics like community engagement, advocacy, and digital storytelling around research. 

FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship can be accessed hereCo-sponsored by the eScience Institute, this year’s Going Public features a presentation and discussion on eco-mindfulness from Dr. Michelle Montgomery of UW Tacoma on October 26th. Dr. Montgomery’s research focuses on Indigenizing and decolonizing the climate justice narrative, environmental ethics connected to Indigenous Peoples’ identities, and eco-critical race theory to eliminate racial and environmental oppression.  Following the keynote, we will offer a workshop on the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance.  See the schedule below for details on these and all OA Week Events. 

Other OA Week offerings include sessions on using Pressbooks to create Open Educational Resources, the importance of planning for accessibility in data visualization and tips for how to review them to make sure visualizations are accessible, and how Creative Commons licenses can help you easily share your work without complicated license restrictions. We’re also pleased to be able to include a Hacking the Academy session showcasing projects developed by recent recipients of this year’s Simpson Center Digital Humanities Summer Fellowships.

All events are online via Zoom and we invite you to register and attend.

OA WEEK 2022 SCHEDULE

Monday, October 24, 2022  – Advanced Pressbooks Publishing Webinar

10-11:15am

Sign-Up

UW Libraries Pressbooks is available for current UW students, faculty and staff. Pressbooks can be used to:

  • Create textbooks, monographs, teaching materials, course modules.
  • Apply an open license to your published work.
  • Export books in multiple digital and print formats.
  • Create custom course materials and open textbooks that save students money!

This training session is open to all users on hosted PressbooksEDU networks (including the University of Washington) and is designed for users who have some familiarity with Pressbooks and are ready to engage in more complex activities, like adding interactive elements or integrating Pressbooks with supported third-party tools. A more detailed description of webinar topics can be found in our guide: networkmanagerguide.pressbooks.com…

Tuesday, October 25, 2022- Introduction to Accessibility and Data Visualization Workshop

12-1pm

Sign-Up

Data visualization best practices and tools do not always discuss accessibility, which can exclude many groups of people. This workshop will review ways to make your visualizations more accessible. We will work through a visualization together and add features to make it more accessible. You are encouraged to follow along, but no active participation is necessary. Data visualization experience is not required, though some familiarity with accessing and using spreadsheet software may be helpful. 

Wednesday, October 26, 2022- Going Public: The Reciprocity of Eco-Mindfulness. A Conversation with Dr. Michelle R. Montgomery, University of Washington Tacoma

10-11am

Sign Up

As we continue to witness the realities of climate justice, always ask yourself – how do I bring my whole self while simultaneously acknowledging the emotional journey of knowledge? How do we invite each other into a conversation with humility and grace? Mindfulness is shaped by our identities as forever students and guided by our actions. We should engage in ways that hold deep commitments to serving under-served and under-represented communities through decolonizing the act of curing versus healing. Aspire to be an equity minded bi-directional student and empowering decolonizer to re-define best practices for human health. Knowledge should be a form of healing through a lens to enact accountability and responsibility for difficult, complex problems. When we acknowledge the reciprocity of relationships, there is a gentle reminder -we -are all authors responsible for writing the narratives of memories for future generations. We must ask ourselves who will remain a part of the story?

Montgomery M. (2023 Forthcoming). Eco-Mindfulness: The Spirit Within. In Montgomery, M. (Ed). Voices of Indigenuity. CO: University Press of Colorado and Utah State University Press

Wednesday, October 26, 2022- Going Public – Responsible Research Data Management with the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance

2-3pm

Sign Up

This workshop introduces the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance. Just as the open access movement would never advocate for the unconstrained sharing of personally identifiable medical data, so too must open data proponents embrace a nuanced approach to the appropriate collection, sharing, use, and stewardship of data about Indigenous individuals, Indigenous cultures, and Indigenous land. The CARE Principles are a companion framework to the FAIR Data Principles, providing a structure to more fully engage with Indigenous Peoples’ rights and interests. Attendees will be introduced to the CARE Principles and their application throughout the research data lifecycle.

Thursday, October 27, 2022 (two events)

Copyright and the Creative Commons
9-10am
Sign Up

Would you like to use media without complicated rights restrictions? Would you like to allow others to use your work? You can do both with the Creative Commons (CC)! Join us to learn how the CC works and where to find and share media freely and easily.

Hacking the Academy: Simpson Center Digital Humanities Summer Showcase

3:30-4:00pm

Sign Up

Back by popular demand, come learn about funding opportunities for faculty and graduate students available through the Simpson Center for the Humanities. Learn about the projects developed by recent recipients of this year’s Simpson Center Digital Humanities Summer Fellowships. Short talks will be given on:

    • C.R. Grimmer, Funding opportunities for digital humanities work through the Simpson Center for the Humanities
    • Samantha Thompson, “‘We Deserve Rent Control’: Digital histories of rent control debates in Seattle, USA and Vancouver, Canada”
    • Sarah Moore and Andreas Bassett, “Marlowe in Sheets”

Short talks will be followed by time for questions and discussion. The Hacking the Academy series is designed to take a closer look at the new ways in which scholarship is produced, shared, archived, and reused.

Friday, October 28, 2022 – Data Visualization Accessibility Audits Workshop

12:30-1:00pm

Sign Up

This online workshop will review data visualization accessibility auditing tips, as well as tools to help check the accessibility of web visualizations. The first half will go over an auditing worksheet and discuss the importance of reviewing visualizations for accessibility. During the last half, we will start to work through a visualization audit together. You are encouraged to follow along, but no active participation is necessary. Data visualization experience is not required. This workshop will not be recorded.

For questions about any of these events, contact the Open Scholarship Commons. 

###