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Open Access Week

Open Access Week is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Open Access Week rather than just read about it. In short: Open Access Week is an annual scholarly communication event focusing on open access and related topics. It takes place globally during the last full week of October in a multitude of locations both on- and offline.

Open Access Week — main illustration
Open Access Week — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Open Access Week belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Open Access Week to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Open Access Week from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Open Access Week is an annual scholarly communication event focusing on open access and related topics. It takes place globally during the last full week of October in a multitude of locations both on- and offline. Typical activities include talks, seminars, symposia, or the announcement of open access mandates or other milestones in open access. For instance, the Royal Society chose Open Access Week 2011 to announce that they would release the digitized backfiles of their archives, dating from 1665 to 1941.

History

Open Access Week has its roots in the National Day of Action for Open Access on February 15, 2007, organized across the United States by Students for Free Culture and the Alliance for Taxpayer Access. In 2008, October 14 was designated Open Access Day, and the event became global. In 2009, the event was expanded to a week, from October 19–23. In 2010, it took place from October 18–24. From 2011 onwards, it is taking place at the last full week of October each year.

Themes In the early years, organisations celebrating Open Access Week set their own themes. Since 2012, an 'official' theme was established and received special attention at the corresponding kick-off events held at the World Bank.

2012: "Set the default to open access" 2013: "Redefining impact" 2014: "Generation Open" 2015: "Open for Collaboration" 2016: "Open in Action" 2017: "Open In Order To" 2018: "Designing Equitable Foundations for Open Knowledge" 2019: "Open for Whom? Equity in Open Knowledge" 2020: "Open with Purpose: Taking Action to Build Structural Equity and Inclusion" 2021: “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity” 2022: "Open for Climate Justice" 2023: "Community over Commercialisation" 2024: "Community over Commercialisation" 2025: "Who Owns Our Knowledge?" 2026: The Cost of Knowledge

Events Each year's Open Access Week events are recorded in the Open Access Directory and the Open Access Week website.

See also Science festival

References

External links

openaccessweek.org, a dedicated online platform for Open Access Week, sponsored by SPARC Peter Suber (ed.). "(OA Week)". Open Access Tracking Project. Harvard University. OCLC 1040261573. News and comment from the worldwide movement for open access to research International Open Access Week at the University of Porto (Presence at the OA International Site Archived 2014-01-04 at the Wayback Machine) Open Access Week in France Open Access Week 2013 at the University of Cape Town

Illustrations

Open Access Week: A cake baked for Open Access Week 2010 celebrations at the University of Lincoln, featuring the Open Access logo
A cake baked for Open Access Week 2010 celebrations at the University of Lincoln, featuring the Open Access logo
Open Access Week: A web banner (in Swedish) for a Wikipedia edit-a-thon during Open Access Week 2015
A web banner (in Swedish) for a Wikipedia edit-a-thon during Open Access Week 2015
Open Access Week: A stencil and a card with the text "Open Access Week"
A stencil and a card with the text "Open Access Week"
Open Access Week: Example event, a symposium at the University of Arizona, October 25, 2011[2]
Example event, a symposium at the University of Arizona, October 25, 2011[2]

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Open Access Week

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Open Access Week claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Open Access Week before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Open Access Week ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Open Access Week

In research
Open Access Week appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Open Access Week in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Open Access Week is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Awareness weeks, Library science, October observances, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Open Access Week outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study Open Access Week in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Open Access Week means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Open Access Week out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Open Access Week in simple terms?

Open Access Week is an annual scholarly communication event focusing on open access and related topics. It takes place globally during the last full week of October in a multitude of locations both on- and offline.

Why does Open Access Week matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Open Access Week?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Open Access Week.

Tags

  • Awareness weeks
  • Library science
  • October observances
  • Open access projects
  • Recurring events established in 2009
  • Scholarly communication

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