Current potential Open Access content creators lack awareness of the full potential of digital technologies, and sometimes lack some basic skills related to use of software systems. Most acutely, many academics, scientists and researchers fail to enter the scientific debate at all, and rarely publish the results of their work, as number of citations and other measures of scientific/academic influence play very minor role in their career advancement, as opposed to political or personal influences. They also lack awareness of the general concept of Open Access and its interrelations with the way the web functions, especially in terms of it to spread information. This is especially acute in the area of social sciences where Macedonia is often left out of debates in which its scientists could provide valuable contribution, such as archeology, cultural heritage, linguistics, human rights, peace studies etc.
Overall goal: to contribute to constructive use of digital technologies as tools for critical thinking and democratization in Macedonia, through increasing the quantity and quality of e-content.
Objectives
- To raise awareness of the importance of Open Access as a concept and contribute to improved legal/institutional environment conducive to content creation
- To improve visibility of academic publications and create new resources to promote and aggregate open-access publications
- To build capacities of academic institutions
- To increase the quality of local scholarly content available online through increased awareness and level of IT skills, based on application of best practices
