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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79">Dear Colleagues<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79">AOSP and ASSAf are proud to support the following global initiative, with Africa also being represented on the Steering Committee. Throughout the work
done by AOSP, it has become clear that Africa heavily relies on available open infrastructure services to align with science and scholarly publishing globally. From the ICT Infrastructure Framework and Roadmap currently being developed for the future AOSP,
it is further clear that open source will play a major role in building the required ICT Infrastructure. Please demonstrate support for this initiative on behalf of yourself or your organisation, through signing the statement:
</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif"><a href="https://investinopen.org/">https://investinopen.org/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#203864;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#203864;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%">Also please share this invitation with all your networks. Thanking you in advance.<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#203864;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#203864;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%">Kind regards<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#203864;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#203864;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%">Ina<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif">-------------------------------------------------------
<span style="color:#1F4E79"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">Invest in Open Infrastructure Launches</span></b><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">Read more at
</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif"><a href="https://investinopen.org/2019/05/14/ioi-launch.html">https://investinopen.org/2019/05/14/ioi-launch.html</a><span style="color:#1F4E79"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">Tuesday 14 May 2018 saw the formation of Invest In Open Infrastructure (IOI) a global initiative to increase the availability and sustainability of open
knowledge infrastructure.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">The needs of today’s diverse scholarly communities are not being met by the existing largely uncoordinated scholarly infrastructure, which is dominated by vendor products that
take ownership of the scholarly process and data without appropriate governance and oversight from the communities they serve. We imagine a world in which communities of researchers, scholars, and knowledge workers across the globe are fully enabled to share,
discover, and collaborate using tools and platforms that are designed to interoperate and complement one another rather than compete and exclude.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">IOI will consist of two functions, one is an assessment and recommendation framework that will regularly survey the landscape of open scholarly infrastructure with respect to
its functionality, usage, health and financial needs and make funding recommendations for that infrastructure.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">IOI’s second function will coordinate funds to follow the recommendations of the framework. Coordinating financial resources from institutions, agencies and foundations, we will
work to increase the overall funding available to emerging and critical infrastructure.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">IOI grew out of last year’s</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#727272"> <a href="https://jrost.org/"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">Joint
Roadmap for Open Scholarly Tools (JROST)</span></a> </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">and within the context of </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#727272"><a href="https://www.coalition-s.org/"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">Plan
S</span></a>, the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/research/openscience/index.cfm?pg=open-science-cloud"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">European Open Science Cloud</span></a></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">,
the </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#727272"><a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25116/open-science-by-design-realizing-a-vision-for-21st-century"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">US NAS Open
Science by Design</span></a> </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">effort,</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#727272"> <a href="http://scoss.org/"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">SCOSS</span></a>, <a href="http://www.amelica.org/en/"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">AmeliCA</span></a>,
and the <a href="https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/committees/ucolasc/scholcommprinciples-20180425.pdf"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">UC Declaration of Rights and Principles to Transform Scholarly Communication</span></a></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">.
It’s clear that while the advances of digital scholarship have resulted in many benefits, that scientists and scholars who generally work in the public interest have a need for more open infrastructure which mirrors their social focus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">As Geoffrey Bilder, Jennifer Lin and Cameron Neylon </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#727272"><a href="http://cameronneylon.net/blog/principles-for-open-scholarly-infrastructures/"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">put
it in 2015</span></a>: </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">“Everything we have gained by opening content and data will be under threat if we allow the enclosure of scholarly infrastructures.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">IOI is a collaboration between many, including the</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#727272"> <a href="https://jrost.org/"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">Joint
Roadmap for Open Scholarly Tools (JROST)</span></a>, <a href="https://sparceurope.org/"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">SPARC Europe</span></a>, <a href="https://sparcopen.org/"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">SPARC</span></a>, <a href="https://scholarlycommons.net/map/"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">Mapping
the Scholarly Communication Infrastructure</span></a>, <a href="http://www.orfg.org/"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">Open Research Funders Group (ORFG)</span></a>, <a href="http://operas-eu.org/"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">OPERAS</span></a></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">,
and the </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#727272"><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nDn6uex8o5n8VxuXsPkxJjWSA9jNeWVLGvMIvCl-5zY/edit"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">Open Platforms
Group</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">Our</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#727272"> <a href="https://investinopen.org/participants"><span style="color:#267CB9;text-decoration:none">steering
committee</span></a> </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">includes Ginny Barbour (Australasian Open Access Strategy Group), Arianna Becerril (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México), Leslie Chan (University
of Toronto Scarborough), Raym Crow (SPARC), Peg Fowler (Hypothesis), Heather Joseph (SPARC), Pierre Mounier (OPERAS), Cameron Neylon (Curtin Univ), David Lewis (Mapping the Scholarly Communications Infrastructure), Lucy Ofiesh (Center for Open Science), Vanessa
Proudman (SPARC Europe), Kristen Ratan (Coko Foundation), Danielle Robinson (Code for Science and Society), Mike Roy (Middlebury College), Katherine Skinner (Educopia), Ina Smith (Academy of Science of South Africa), Greg Tananbaum (Open Research Funders Group),
Evviva Weinraub (Northwestern), Dan Whaley (Hypothesis), and Maurice York (University of Michigan).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black">This is the beginning of a process for which community feedback, a truly global perspective, and participation by all stakeholders will be critical to its success.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h2 style="mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#393939">Prof Himla Soodyall, Executive Officer, Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white">
<i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#727272">“ASSAf is committed to working with other African Academies within the NASAC network to ensure that evidence-based science is used to advance societal issues. There are many
initiatives within ASSAf that uses open infrastructure services to facilitate scholarly activities. We are happy to endorse and support this initiative.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<h2 style="mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#393939">Dr. Heide Hackmann, Chief Executive Officer, International Science Council<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white">
<i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#727272">“The open science imperative is about advancing the rigour, reliability and relevance of science in addressing the complexities of today’s global challenges. The African Open
Science Platform (AOSP) is an example of the action now critically needed to ensure that science systems — particularly those that remain under-resourced — are able to adapt to the open science paradigm through proactive coordination and collaboration at a
regional scale.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white">
<b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#393939;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA">Ina Smith, Project Manager, Academy of Science of South Africa<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.0pt;background:white"><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#727272;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA">“The world is catapulting towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR, the ‘data
revolution’) whilst in the midst of the Third Industrial Revolution (the ‘digital revolution’). As with the digital revolution, the data revolution is expected to have profound implications for scholarly publishing, utilising — among others — artificial Intelligence
to develop services that can offer even more benefits to the global scholarly community. Africa relies heavily on the current open infrastructure scholarly publishing services available, and will also rely on possible future services brought along by the 4IR,
to align with best practises and standards applied globally. The IOI initiative towards finding solutions and support for sustainable scholarly publishing services is much needed, since the majority of African countries cannot afford the services offered by
profit-driven businesses. Open infrastructure services benefit Africa in many ways — to catch-up with what is happening in scholarly publishing, but also to become and remain an equal player towards addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We cannot
afford a further digital divide, and with the world being more connected more than ever before, all are to equally benefit from good-quality research supported by existing and future open infrastructure services.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA">Ina Smith</span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA">Project Manager African Open Science Platform<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA">Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA">Phone: +27 12 349 6600
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA">Email:
</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA"><a href="mailto:ina@assaf.org.za"><span style="color:#0563C1">ina@assaf.org.za</span></a></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA">1st Floor Block A, The Woods, 41 De Havilland Crescent, Persequor Park
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA">Meiring Naudé Road, Lynnwood 0020, Pretoria, South Africa.
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</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F4E79;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA"><a href="http://www.assaf.org.za/"><span style="color:#0563C1">www.assaf.org.za</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color:#1F4E79;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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