MEDEV

School of Medical Sciences Education Development

Representatives of the RVC, London, JISC Collections, Rightscom, Elsevier and MEDEV came together for the PublishOER start up meeting on Weds 23 November 2011 (with heartfelt thanks to Elsevier for hosting in their London offices, and for a scrummy lunch).

It is a long time since I have walked into a room and not recognised anyone at all! Gillian, Barbra, Caroline, Caren, Hugh, Mark, David, Suzanne, Asha, Graham, Robert and Megan were able to attend with apologies from Liz, Simon, Lorraine, James, Caroline and Nick. This was a relatively new configuration of people and organisations, brought together by a shared interest in the policy, technology and implementation of ways of working to benefit those wishing to see published works appearing in educational resources made availalbe digitally to students.

This meeting was primarily to establish relationships and working groups that we would need throughout the project. We covered the following agenda with a focus on the workpackages.

The work packages were discussed in detail with the WP 'leaders' updating the team on the purpose of the WP, proposed timing and ways of working. 

We decided to plan the stakeholder analysis in WP2 very carefully (and this would mean slipping the dates) in order to maximise engagement with stakeholders, and in collaboration with other OER projects (especially those working with publishers). This work linked particularly to WP5 policy, licences and procedures. The technical aspects (WP3) would need to both horizon-scan potential developments and practically explore solutions for publishing, while the case study/ies (WP4) will test out and document the approaches identified.   

Thanks to the partners for their enthusiasm and an excellent start up meeting for PublishOER.