Dear Members, Patrick Inglis, who is part of the team which has developed the Open Journal Systems (OJS), is giving a talk on 21st January, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. in the Seminar Hall of NCSI, IISc, Bangalore. (See below for abstract and profile of the speaker). If you cannot attend the talk but have specific queries for him relating to OJS or Journal Publishing, please send the queries to me. The answers to these questions will be posted on the forum. with regards, Suvarsha --------------------------------------------------------------------- Title : Open Journal Systems and the Challenge to Improve Research Capacity in India Speaker: By Patrick Inglis, PhD student in sociology at the City University of New York Graduate Center Abstract of the talk: India remains a leader in the field of science and technology. Some of its institutions of higher education, as well as several research and design facilities, are some of the best in the world. But there are also the less prestigious institutes that do not enjoy the same research facilities as the privileged ones. This has the effect of creating a deep division between those who have access to knowledge and those that do not, but it also limits the ability of students and scholars at these other institutions to partake in the production and dissemination of information. Not only will more researchers gain from greater access to knowledge with free online publication media, but that this greater access will improve the scholarly quality of the research produced. When knowledge is free and open access it can provide a foundation for further research to emerge from the exchanges made between increasing numbers of participants. The presentation will expand upon the argument for open access scholarship in the public interest by introducing the Open Journal Systems developed at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada and the benefits this software can bring to the intellectual community in India. (A demo of the Open Journal Systems (OJS) software will also be given.) About Patrick Inglis: Patrick Inglis is a PhD student in sociology at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He studies the effects of globalization on labor and business management and will conduct part of his dissertation research in Bangalore, India. While a master's degree student in education at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, he was a member of the Public Knowledge Project research team that developed the first version of the Open Journal Systems. He continues to work with the Public Knowledge Project in shaping current and future versions of the software. ------------------------------- Please confirm your participation to Prasanna (t.s.prasanna at intel.com) or Suvarsha (suvarsha@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in) Warm Regards, NCSI-NET coordinators