<html>
<head>
<!-- Template generated by Exclaimer Signature Manager Exchange Edition on 04:27:57 Wednesday, 23 May 2018 -->
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<style type="text/css">p.imprintuniqueid {
margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt
}
li.imprintuniqueid {
margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt
}
div.imprintuniqueid {
margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt
}
table.imprintuniqueidtable {
margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt
}
div.section1 {
page: section1
}
</style>
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style><![endif]--><style><!--
@font-face
{font-family:"cambria math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:-webkit-standard;
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
p.msonormal, li.msonormal, div.msonormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"times new roman",serif;}
a:link, span.msohyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.msohyperlinkfollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"times new roman",serif;}
span.emailstyle18
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1f497d;}
span.emailstyle19
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1f497d;}
.msochpdefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page wordsection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.wordsection1
{page:wordsection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body link="blue" vlink="purple">
<p class="ImprintUniqueID"></p>
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> coar-member [<a href="mailto:coar-member-bounces@sub.uni-goettingen.de">mailto:coar-member-bounces@sub.uni-goettingen.de</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Kathleen Shearer via coar-member<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, May 22, 2018 3:12 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:members@coar-repositories.org">members@coar-repositories.org</a>;
<a href="mailto:partners@coar-repositories.org">partners@coar-repositories.org</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [coar-member] COAR Annual Meeting and new Executive Board </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#444444">Dear COAR members and partners, </span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;box-sizing:inherit">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#444444">Last week, the COAR Annual Meeting took place from May 14-17, 2018 in Hamburg, Germany. The meeting was filled to capacity and, with representatives from 30 countries, was the most
diverse COAR meeting to date. It offered an opportunity for COAR to take stock of the current status of the work being done to build a global knowledge commons through strengthening and connecting next generation repositories across the world. <br>
<br>
Meeting participants were taken on a (virtual) world tour of the open science landscape from Australia – through South Africa, Ethiopia and Sudan – to the European Union and Russia – through the nine Latin American countries participating in LA Referencia –
through Canada and the US – and to Asia via China, South Korea and Japan. While there is significant diversity in approaches across these regions and countries, we also share much in common and have many similar challenges. </span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;box-sizing:inherit">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#444444">The <u>
critical components for building the knowledge commons were discussed intensively</u>. In particular, the issue of how we can reflect local needs while still supporting the global nature of research through a distributed, networked system. Efforts are progressing
towards the widespread adoption of next generation repositories and there is significant interest by the repository platforms to implement the technological recommendations, as well as the national and regional networks to support new functionality that will
enable social networking, annotation and peer review and common usage statistics across our systems. It was agreed that we need to support the adoption of common standards, data sharing, and strengthening communities of practice at the local, national and
regional levels.<br>
<br>
Breaking down geographical silos will be critical for the commons, but there are other silos that need to be addressed as well. We envision an integrated, international ecosystem that bridges the disparate worlds of data, publications, and other valuable research
outputs. In his opening talk, Klaus Tochtermann, Director of ZBW Leibniz Information Center for Economics, discussed the intersections between the COAR next generation repositories concept and another parallel effort in Europe to build an Open Science Cloud.
He pointed out that while our principles and aims are very well aligned, there has not been much interaction between these two initiatives and we need to develop better ways to engage. Working together on the implementation of the FAIR principles may offer
just such an opportunity. </span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;box-sizing:inherit">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#444444">As we aim to define the technological requirements for the knowledge commons, we are also aware that the social aspects are extremely important and present us with a grand challenge.
Jean-Claude Guedon, Professor at the Université de Montreal and respected open access advocate, urged us to consider two important principles within our repository network: intellectual proximity and problem solving complementarity. These principles will act
as the social glue to tie our repositories together and only when we adhere to these principles, he says, can we offer a viable option for the research community. Demonstrating this value to research communities and supporting intellectual dialogue on top
of our collective content will be a priority for us in the coming years.<br>
<br>
During the meeting, there was an announcement about the Swedish consortium, BIBSAM’s move to cancel their national license for access to Elsevier journals. This came as a striking reminder of why we are building a knowledge commons. Journal prices are at an
all-time high, and the large commercial publishers have little incentive to innovate. This has created an extremely flawed system that is propped up through our over reliance on journal based impact measures to evaluate research, measures that are in large
part defined and controlled by the commercial publishers themselves. Is it time to radically reimagine the system so that it better serves the academy and our societies?<br>
<br>
At the organizational level, I am pleased to announce a new and expanded Executive Board that was elected during our General Assembly. Four members will remain for a second term, providing continuity from previous years, while four new members will bring us
fresh perspectives and wider regional representation. There are now board members from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America (see the picture below).<br>
<br>
I left this meeting with renewed energy and great enthusiasm for pursuing the many great ideas that surfaced during our discussions. Thanks again to the COAR community for their engagement and participation, and to our partners for their financial and organizational
support: Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition, OpenAIRE, SPARC North America, and the University of Alberta Libraries.
</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:red">All the presentations are now available on the COAR </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#444444"><a href="https://www.coar-repositories.org/community/coar-annual-meeting-2018/programme/"><span style="color:#31927A;text-decoration:none">website</span></a>. </span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;box-sizing:inherit">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#444444">As always if you have comments or question, please feel to get in touch. </span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;box-sizing:inherit">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#444444">All the best, </span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;box-sizing:inherit">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#444444">Kathleen Shearer, COAR Executive Director </span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;box-sizing:inherit"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Participants in the COAR Annual Meeting 2018 (photo by Timo Wilke)</span><span style="font-family:"-webkit-standard",serif"> </span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="box-sizing:inherit"><img border="0" width="1600" height="1067" id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:16387f7075274cd26342"> </p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Photo: COAR Executive Board 2018-2021 and Executive Director - Daisy Selematsela, Bianca Amaro, Wolfram Horstmann, Kathleen Shearer (Executive
Director), Eloy Rodrigues (Chairman), Martha Whitehead, Kazu Yamaji (Vice-Chairman), William Nixon (Treasurer), Oya Rieger.</span> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><img border="0" width="1600" height="1200" id="_x0000_i1026" src="cid:16387f823e73a168dd73"> </span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
</div>
</div>
<p></p>
<p class="ImprintUniqueID"><br>
<a href="http://"><img width="211" height="73" style="border: 0px Solid ; " src="cid:imageb696ed.JPG@c3f79a8c.45be20cc"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>
<table style="BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: white 1pt solid; WIDTH: 103.1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: white 1pt solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; BORDER-LEFT: white 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt" valign="top" width="137">
<p><font size="1" face="Arial">
<table style="WIDTH: 100%; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><font size="1"><font face="Arial">Meiring Naude Road</font><br>
<font size="1"><font face="Arial">Brummeria</font><br>
<font size="1"><font face="Arial">PO Box 2600</font><br>
<font size="1"><font face="Arial">Pretoria, 0001</font><br>
<font size="1"><font face="Arial">South Africa</font><br>
<font size="1"><font face="Arial"><a href="http://www.nrf.ac.za/">http://www.nrf.ac.za</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</font></p>
</td>
<td style="BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: white 1pt solid; WIDTH: 204.3pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: white 1pt solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt" valign="top" width="272">
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"><font face="Arial"><font size="1"><b>
<table style="WIDTH: 100%; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="WIDTH: 100%" width="100%"><font size="1" face="Arial"><strong>Lazarus Matizirofa</strong><br>
<font size="1" face="Arial">Team Leader: Digital Curation and Content Management Services</font><br>
<font size="1"><font size="1" face="Arial">Information Technology & Knowledge Resources</font></font><font size="1"><font size="1"><font size="1"><font face="Arial"><font size="1" face="Arial"><br>
Tel: +27 12 481 4016</font></font></font></font></font><font size="1"><font size="1"><font size="1"><font face="Arial"><font size="1" face="Arial"><font face="Arial"><font size="1" face="Arial"><br>
Email: lazarus.matizirofa@nrf.ac.za</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</b></font></font></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
<font size="1" face="Arial">
<p><font size="1" face="Arial"><a href="http://www.nrf.ac.za/email-legal-notice.php">http://www.nrf.ac.za/email-legal-notice.php</a></font></p>
<p class="ImprintUniqueID"></p>
</font>
<p></p>
<p class="ImprintUniqueID"></p>
<p class="ImprintUniqueID"> </p>
</body>
</html>