Friends: In case you have not heard about this new discussion group ...... There are a few articles, in the resources section, on OA in different countries and regions. If this discussion group attracts many in Africa to join and if it creates great enthusiasm for OA in Africa, it would be very good. Agencies such as IDRC, IICD, Hivos, CoL, UNECA and SDC may not only kindly follow developments but may proactively promote OA in Africa. Often people tend to see the great value of open access in the context of research. But OA is also important in distance learning and in development. Best wishes. Arun ----- Original Message ----- From: Sue Adams To: arun@mssrf.res.in Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 1:48 AM Subject: Welcome to the Discussion Greetings from the Coady International Institute, and welcome to our online discussion on Open Access and Information for Development. We have around 95 participants from 19 countries registered so far ~ The discussion messages will come to your e-mail. You can contribute to the discussion by replying to the message (remember that your response will go to everyone on the list!) or by sending a new message to openaccess@dgroups.org If you want to send a message to only one person, please do not use the "Reply" option. The group also has a web page where we have posted some interesting papers to begin the discussion. One is a general introduction to Open Access, and there are also several short papers giving regional perspectives on Open Access. These papers were written specially for our discussion by participants who work in Nigeria, Tanzania, Nepal, Vietnam and Mongolia. You may want to look at the papers before the discussion officially begins on May 29. You can go to the discussion web page to read the papers at this address: http://www.dgroups.org/groups/openaccess You may be asked to enter your e-mail address and a password. You should have already received a message giving you an initial password (which you can change, if you wish). If you have any trouble accessing the web page, please let me know! Email me directly at sadams@stfx.ca Best wishes, Sue Adams Coady International Institute @page Section1 {size: 8.5in 11.0in; margin: 1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; } P.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } LI.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } DIV.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } A:link { COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } SPAN.MsoHyperlink { COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } A:visited { COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } SPAN.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } SPAN.emailstyle17 { COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial } SPAN.EmailStyle18 { COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial } DIV.Section1 { page: Section1 } Friends:   In case you have not heard about this new discussion group ......   There are a few articles, in the resources section, on OA in different countries and regions. If this discussion group attracts many in Africa to join and if it creates great enthusiasm for OA in Africa, it would be very good. Agencies such as IDRC, IICD, Hivos, CoL, UNECA and SDC may not only kindly follow developments but may proactively promote OA in Africa.   Often people tend to see the great value of open access in the context of research. But OA is also important in distance learning and in development.   Best wishes.   Arun       ----- Original Message ----- From: mailto:sadams@stfx.ca Sue Adams To: mailto:arun@mssrf.res.in arun@mssrf.res.in Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 1:48 AM Subject: Welcome to the Discussion Greetings from the Coady International Institute, and welcome to our online discussion on Open Access and Information for Development. We have around 95 participants from 19 countries registered so far ~ The discussion messages will come to your e-mail. You can contribute to the discussion by replying to the message (remember that your response will go to everyone on the list!) or by sending a new message to mailto:openaccess@dgroups.org openaccess@dgroups.org   If you want to send a message to only one person, please do not use the “Reply” option. The group also has a web page where we have posted some interesting papers to begin the discussion. One is a general introduction to Open Access, and there are also several short papers giving regional perspectives on Open Access. These papers were written specially for our discussion by participants who work in Nigeria , Tanzania , Nepal , Vietnam and Mongolia . You may want to look at the papers before the discussion officially begins on May 29. You can go to the discussion web page to read the papers at this address: http://www.dgroups.org/groups/openaccess http://www.dgroups.org/groups/openaccess You may be asked to enter your e-mail address and a password. You should have already received a message giving you an initial password (which you can change, if you wish). If you have any trouble accessing the web page, please let me know! Email me directly at mailto:sadams@stfx.ca sadams@stfx.ca Best wishes, Sue Adams Coady International Institute