![]() Further, there will be an examination of the challenges that Africa faces in establishing and maintaining a repository and the role of AOARI in bridging the challenges. The authors will examine the rationale for the creation of the platforms with specific reference to the role of open access in changing Africa's low profile of research output: the importance of the platform in addressing Stellenbosch University's ‘HOPE’ mission and the need to strengthen higher education on the continent. Corroborating this assertion is the view of Mbambo-Tata who claims that ‘by advocating for responsible sharing of digital content, open access presents Africa with an opportunity for bridging the information divide that has followed the same contours as the digital divide‘ 5.Īgainst this background, the creation of the African Open Access Repository Initiative (AOARI) platforms, to foster sharing of African research content, will be discussed in this article. In the current knowledge economy, open access presents Africa with opportunities to transform from a consumer of knowledge to a contributor to the world's knowledge production. One of the significant outcomes of this networking is the capacity to draw the ‘south’ (the ‘developing world’) to the epicentre of the world's knowledge production and facilitate the cross pollination of knowledge to and from the ‘north’ (the ‘developed world’) and south. There is great anticipation that the growth of the open access movement will radically improve access to the world's scholarly output it will also serve as the impetus for networking the world of scholarship. This alternate mode, open access (OA), provides researchers with a conduit to make their research findings available to the widest possible audience and improve their research impact and visibility without compromising the integrity and rigour associated with quality academic publishing 4. The collusion of ubiquity and the web serves as the perfect foil for an alternative mode of distribution of scholarly literature and the radical improvement in access to such literature. This restricted access must also be viewed against the backdrop of the unprecedented way in which the web can facilitate collaboration in the production, dissemination and exchange of knowledge and information by scholars the world over, irrespective of their geographical location 3. The implosion of access is of immense concern as results of publicly funded research are not freely available to the widest possible readership 2. The exorbitant cost of subscriptions to scholarly literature has contributed significantly to restricting access 1. ![]() The transformation of scholarly literature from paper copy to the digital version has not improved access despite the ubiquitous nature of corroborative technology and its capacity to deliver scholarly literature anywhere and at any time. It is anticipated that AOARI will be the bridge that facilitates the sharing of research output and nurtures a culture of research production in Africa. #Boost 1.44 download ubuntu 14.04 software#Given the challenges that have plagued Africa in developing processes for the distribution of their research, Stellenbosch University has developed the African Open Access Repository Initiative (AOARI) which uses open source software for two platforms that support the ‘green’ and ‘gold’ route to sharing scholarly literature: Ubuntu is used as the operating system, DSpace is used for its repository and Open Journal Systems for its publication platform. Stellenbosch University, a leading research institution on the African continent, is committed to contributing to changing this status quo through the distribution of its own research output utilizing open sources. A significant factor influencing this status is the low research output, with the main contributor to this status being minimum access to scholarly content to support research. ![]() Africa is viewed as a consumer of the world's knowledge production. ![]()
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