Knowledge Sharing Advocacy Workshop

Over the past three decades, numerous initiatives have shaped the modern approach to knowledge sharing. Movements such as Open Access, Free Knowledge, Access to Knowledge, Open Education, and Open Data have played key roles in this evolution. As a result, knowledge sharing has become a well-established field, complete with its own institutions, frameworks, and infrastructures. However, it now faces new challenges driven by evolving societal trends and the rapid development of emerging technologies.

Open Future, he Budapest Open Access Initiative, and SPARC Open have organized a series of four events – three online workshops and a two-day, in-person convening – with the aim to explore how emerging challenges are affecting knowledge sharing. The main goal of the meetings was to discuss how advocates can collaborate to identify and strengthen areas of shared interest within their advocacy agendas.

In pursuit of this goal, a convening was organized on September 19-20 in Lisbon. This followed online sessions on issues such as privacy and surveillance, the role of AI in research and education, and the growing platformization and consolidation of research infrastructure. The workshop brought together Open Access advocates, copyright reform activists, and other knowledge-sharing experts. This also included participants from related fields such as Open Education and Open Data.

The outcomes of the workshop are captured in a blogpost titled “Reclaiming control: privacy, platforms, AI and governance in the public interest”.