At Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI), we believe investment is needed to sustain community-run technologies and initiatives that support science and scholarship worldwide. We seek to provide guidance and recommendations as to where best to direct that investment and how to unlock and coordinate new funding sources.
Investment needs and gaps differ across the globe. They are of course influenced by the geopolitical landscape and other power dynamics, which impact the allocation of financial and other resources within communities, nations, and regions. For IOI to be effective globally, it is important that we are aware of and understand the initiatives, people, and issues involved in scholarly infrastructure in different regions and political contexts.
During the months of March and April, we will conduct initial exploratory research focusing on three regions: Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Our research team has conducted desk research to identify key stakeholders to reach out to each of the world regions and are in the process of setting up interviews and designing a conversation guide for this work.
You can find out more on our Regional Research project webpage.
We’re prioritizing research on Africa and Latin America in particular. Later this month, members of the IOI team will be in Ghana to learn more about open infrastructure needs and funding and to connect with key stakeholders in the region. Similarly, next month, we'll be in Argentina, joining csv,conf,v7 and the “Accelerating Open Science in Latin America” workshop hosted by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to learn more about needs and funding in Latin America..
At the same time, we've started a virtual listening tour of India. We hope to later expand the tour to include other countries in the vast Asian continent.
This exploration is fundamental in informing and shaping key pieces of work that we’re looking to advance this year, including the next phase of the collective funding pilot, funding trends research, the Catalog of Open Infrastructure Services (COIs), and the fund we’re aiming to launch in 2024.
How can you contribute? Please contact us at research [at] investinopen [dot] org to recommend people for our research team to speak with in any of our three focus regions. We’re particularly interested in speaking with and learning from:
- People who provide infrastructure services
- Institutional librarians and research support staff
- Researchers involved in open science and scholarship
- Research, technology, and ICT infrastructure funders
- Government actors and policymakers interested in research and education
- Civic tech and open source tech initiatives
In addition, if you are attending the WACREN 2023 Conference in March and/or csv,conf,v7 in April, we’d love to meet you there!
Social media image by the New York Public Library on Unsplash.